Women's history
Women who led, wrote, taught, founded and voted, and the schools and causes they built. 66 places on the trail.
Colonial North Carolina, 1585-1774
- A-75ANN MARWOOD DURANTFirst woman known to have acted as attorney in an N.C. court, 1673. Appeared before Council in Perquimans Precinct.
- A-22EDENTON TEA PARTYWomen in this town led by Penelope Barker in 1774 resolved to boycott British imports. Early and influential activism by...
- K-38FLORA MACDONALDScottish heroine who lived in N.C., 1774-79. Loyalist in the Revolution. Her home stood on this creek a few miles north.
- E-78PERSON'S ORDINARYIn operation by 1770. Revolutionary tavern & stage stop. Named for family of Thomas Person. Restored by Littleton Woman'...
The young state, 1790-1860
- K-29CAROLINA FEMALE COLLEGE, 1850-67Established by local planters, later operated by Methodist Church. Building was 150 yds. W.
- A-19CHOWAN UNIVERSITYOpened 1848 as Chowan Baptist Female Institute. Became four-year college, 1992. A university since 2006. Two blocks sout...
- N-30DAVENPORT COLLEGEFor women; chartered 1859 by Methodist Episcopal Church, South; merged with Greensboro College, 1933. Two bldgs. stand 1...
- J-34EDGEWORTH FEMALE SEMINARYEstablished by John M. Morehead, operated, 1840-1862, 1868-1871. Building, burned in 1872, stood at this site.
- I-25FLORAL COLLEGEOne of earliest colleges for women in the South, 1841-78. Centre Presbyterian Church, formerly the college chapel, is 15...
- J-11GREENSBORO COLLEGEFirst college chartered for women in North Carolina, 1838. Founded by Methodist Church.
- F-32MILITARY HOSPITALConfederate. Headed by Dr. S. S. Satchwell in building of the Wilson Female Seminary, which was chartered in 1859. Stood...
- M-18MITCHELL COLLEGEFounded 1856 as college for women. Presbyterian until 1959. Granted state community college status, 1973. Two blocks N.
- G-45OXFORD FEMALE COLLEGEOpened 1851 by Baptists, operated by individuals after 1857. Franklin P. Hobgood, president, 1880-1924. School closed 19...
- H-9PEACE COLLEGEFounded by Presbyterian elder Wm. Peace 1857 as school for women; opened 1872. Main building used as Confederate hospita...
- L-75QUEENS UNIVERSITY OF CHARLOTTEPresbyterian. Organized 1857 as Charlotte Female Institute. Campus moved to this location in 1915. Coeducational since 1...
- G-61SOLOMON LEA 1807-1897First president, Greensboro College, 1846-47. Led Somerville Female Institute, 1848-1892. He lived 100 yards N.
- O-44STONEWALL JACKSONThomas J. Jackson, later a Confederate general, married Anna Morrison, July 16, 1857, in her home which stood 200 yds. E...
- A-68WESLEYAN FEMALE COLLEGEFounded with Methodist support in 1853. Burned, 1877. Rebuilt 1881 and burned again in 1893. Site was 1 block south.
Civil War and Reconstruction, 1861-1877
- E-5ANNIE CARTER LEE 1839-1862Daughter of Robert E. Lee & Mary Custis Lee. Was buried 1/2 mile W. General Lee visited her grave in 1870.
- L-102BARBER-SCOTIA COLLEGEPresbyterian. Est. 1867 by Luke Dorland to educate Negro women, Scotia Seminary merged in 1930 with Barber Memorial Inst...
- J-55BENNETT COLLEGEMethodist. Begun 1874; reorganized as woman's college, 1926. Named for Lyman Bennett of Troy, N.Y. Campus 2 bl. S.
- B-14DR. SUSAN DIMOCKNative of Washington, Zurich graduate, head of a Boston hospital, 1st woman member N.C. Medical Society, 1872. Her girlh...
- K-32JOHN H. MILLSFirst head of Oxford Orphanage (1873-1884) & Mills Home. President Oxford Female College. His grave is 100 yds. N.
- P-43JUDSON COLLEGEBaptist. Chartered in 1861 as Judson Female College; later coeducational. Operated 1882-1892 in building which stood thr...
- D-57ROSE GREENHOWConfederate spy and Washington society woman. Drowned near Fort Fisher in 1864, while running Federal blockade. Grave 1 ...
- E-75WILLIAM H. WILLSMethodist Protestant minister. President of the General Conference, 1866. Head of Halifax Male Academy & Elba Female Sem...
The New South, 1878-1929
- L-14'CHRISTIAN REID' 1846-1920Pen name of Frances Fisher Tiernan, author of Land of the Sky and other novels. Her grave is 200 yards N.W.
- E-117ANNA EASTER BROWN 1879-1957A founder in 1908 of Alpha Kappa Alpha, nation’s oldest sorority for African Americans; history teacher. Her grave is ¼ ...
- P-97ANNE PENLAND 1885-1976Nurse anesthetist. Her WWI service influenced British medical corps to train female anesthetists, 1918. Home was here.
- L-116ANNIE ALEXANDER 1864-1929First female physician licensed in N.C., 1885. Acting assistant surgeon at Camp Greene during WWI. Office was here.
- C-70BAYARD WOOTTEN 1875-1959Pioneer photographer of N.C. and the South. An advocate of equal rights for women. Began career ca. 1904 in this house w...
- E-90BRICK SCHOOLEst. for blacks in 1895 through philanthropy of Mrs. Joseph K. Brick; became junior college in 1926. Closed, 1933. Build...
- J-116CIGAR INDUSTRYManufacture of cigars rolled by hand thrived in Greensboro, 1903-55. Employing mostly young women, 14 shops were cluster...
- O-53CLAREMONT COLLEGEFounded in 1880 by the Evangelical & Reformed Church as a school for women. Closed in 1916. Stood 300 yards east.
- I-64CONFEDERATE WOMEN'S HOMEBuilt in 1915 for the widows and daughters of state's Confederate veterans. Closed, 1981. Cemetery 300 yds. W.
- O-35CONNIE M. GUION 1882-1971Pioneer female physician. Gained national reputation from work at Cornell medical clinic, 1922-1970. Born 2/10 mile N.
- H-110FANNIE E. S. HECK 1862-1915Social activist; writer. Led the Baptist Woman's Missionary Union after 1892. A benefactor of present Meredith College. ...
- F-65GERTRUDE WEIL 1879-1971Advocate for extending voting rights to women, 1920; reformer active in labor, race, Jewish causes. Home was here.
- A-78INGLIS FLETCHER 1879-1969Novelist. Wrote Raleigh's Eden (1940), first of 12-volume "Carolina Series," based on early N.C. history. Her home, "Ban...
- H-95JANE McKIMMON 1867-1957Home economist. From 1911 to 1937 she organized and led N.C.'s home demonstration program. Lived here.
- N-43LEES-McRAE COLLEGEPresbyterian. Founded in 1900 by Edgar Tufts. Named for teacher Elizabeth McRae & benefactor Mrs. S. P. Lees. Senior col...
- P-79LILLIAN EXUM CLEMENT STAFFORD 1886-1925First female legislator in the South. Elected to N.C. House, 1920. Her law office was 400 yds. west; home 1/2 mi. NE.
- E-28LITTLETON COLLEGEChartered in 1883 as Central Institute and in 1887 as Littleton Female College. Burned 1919. Was located here.
- J-123LUCY ROBERTSON 1850-1930First female college president in N.C., Greensboro College, 1902-1913. Was Advocate for education. Her grave is 1 mile N...
- G-107MARY L. WYCHE 1858-1936A pioneer in field of organized nursing. In 1902 she founded the N.C. Nurses' Association. Home was 7/10 mile W.
- H-38MEREDITH COLLEGEAn independent women’s college chartered 1891 as Baptist Female University. Named 1909 for education advocate Thos. Mere...
- J-105N.C. FEDERATION OF WOMEN'S CLUBSVolunteer service group promoted suffrage, education, and other social, cultural causes. Founded 1902 one-half mi. SE.
- D-76NORTH CAROLINA SOROSISOldest Federated Women's Club in state; chartered 1896; organized in house 6 1/2 miles southwest.
- F-57SALLIE S. COTTEN 1846-1929Writer and advocate of women's rights. Helped organize N.C. Federation of Women's Clubs, 1902. Lived one mile south.
- M-50TABITHA A. HOLTONFirst woman licensed to practice law in North Carolina, 1878. Lived thirty yards northwest.
- J-10UNIVERSITY OF N.C. AT GREENSBOROEst. in 1891 as a normal school; became Woman's College of the University of North Carolina, 1932. Coeducational since 1...
Modern North Carolina, 1930 on
- G-117'TINY' BROADWICK 1893-1978Aviation pioneer & first woman to parachute from an airplane, 1913. Demonstrated uses of parachutes to Army, 1914. Grave...
- F-73ELIZABETH GOLD SWINDELL 1896-1983Journalist. Publisher of the Wilson Daily Times, 1956-1983. First woman to lead the N.C. Press Assoc. Lived here.
- E-120ELLA BAKER 1903-1986Civil rights leader. She organized the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, April 1960, at Shaw University. Her ch...
- Q-16ELLEN BLACK WINSTON 1903-1984Social worker. Led N.C. Board of Public Welfare, 1944-63; first Commissioner of U.S. Welfare. Her grave is 1/10 mi. W.
- Q-51GERTRUDE DILLS McKEEFirst woman elected to N.C. Senate, 1930. Civic leader and clubwoman. Home was 50 yds. west.
- J-119MARY NICHOLSON 1905-1943Early female commercial pilot. Joined the British Air Transport Auxiliary during WWII. Died in plane crash, 1943. Her gr...
- G-48PAULI MURRAY 1910-1985First African American female Episcopal priest; lawyer, activist, poet, & human rights champion. Wrote Proud Shoes, 1956...
- G-130ROSE BUTLER BROWNE 1897-1986Educator & civil rights activist. Chair, Education Dept., N.C. College for Negroes, 1948-63. Her grave is 100 yds. N.E.
- F-74RUTH W. WHALEY 1901-1977Pioneer female African American lawyer. First to be licensed in N.C., 1933. Was Secretary of N.Y.C. Board of Estimate, 1...
- J-115TOBACCO UNIONISMStrike by leaf workers, mostly black & female, June 17, 1943, 1/2 mile W., led to seven years of labor & civil rights ac...
- E-107WESTRAY BATTLE BOYCE LONGDirector of the Women's Army Corps, 1945-1947. Legion of Merit for N. Africa service, 1943- 1944. Grave 175 yds. S.
- C-88WOMEN AIRFORCE SERVICE PILOTSFifty-two highly skilled WASP flew training and test missions, 1943-44, from airstrip ¾ mi. N.
- P-89ZELDA FITZGERALDWriter, artist, Jazz Age icon; wife of F. Scott Fitzgerald. In 1948, she and 8 other patients died in fire at Highland H...