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McLeansvilleAppFan

Lead Service Attendant
Joined
Jul 29, 2019
Messages
485
Location
Greensboro, NC
The Amtrak station itself is staffed 24/7 and has a waiting room and checked baggage. A small convenience store is open during most of the day time hours. There is an ATM located in the station and vending machines as well. A food truck is often operating at the complex nearer the city transit area.

The Amtrak Station is about 2 blocks walking towards the west to the main eating/pub/bar eating establishments downtown, with lots of variety and price points.

The International Civil Rights Center and Museum is located in the former Woolworth store downtown. Another small museum a few blocks south is Elsewhere. Triad Stage hosts live theatre and is very well respected for their performances. Cone Denim Entertainment Center hosts live music and other live acts. The Carolina Theatre hosts live music, live plays, movies and at certain times silent films with an accompanying pipe organ. This is one of the few 1920-era grand theatres that still has a working pipe organ on site and is used.

The Greensboro Children's Museum and Greensboro History Museum is about 4 blocks away walking north out of the station.

Blandwood Mansion, a National Historic Landmark, was originally constructed in 1795. Blandwood later served as NC Governor John Motley Morehead’s home. In 1844, nationally renowned architect Alexander Jackson Davis designed expansions which turned the farmhouse into an Italianate wonder. Today, it is operated as a museum, and provides visitors with a remarkably thorough ensemble of 19th-century art, architecture, furnishings, and landscape.


The Greensboro Cultural Center is the city’s hub for arts and culture. It is home to art galleries including GreenHill, Center for Visual Artists, African American Atelier, and the Guilford Native American Art Gallery and Gift Shop, as well as the state-of-the-art dance venue, the Van Dyke Performance Space. The Greensboro Children’s Museum, the Greensboro History Museum, and Greensboro Public Library are all located in this general area of downtown.


Center City Park & LeBauer Park are a combined 5-acre urban green space located downtown. The parks feature public art displays, recreational equipment and facilities for children, athletic spaces for people of all ages, educational and learning environments, café dining, and performing arts spaces.


Still farther away but walkable from the station is the First National Bank Field, which is home to the Greensboro Grasshoppers minor league baseball team. They play in the Single-A South Atlantic League. Currently. their major league affiliation is with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The North Carolina Folk Festival is a free, 3-day outdoor annual celebration of cultural roots and heritage held annually in downtown Greensboro. Hosted the first weekend in September, the event features more than 300 artists on multiple stages, with continuous performances. It’s family-friendly fun that brings local artisans and food trucks. In 2019 event dates are September 6-8.

Soon to open with be the Tanger Performing Arts Center in downtown. Touring Broadway shows and internationally known musical artists will call on this location starting in the spring of 2020.

Also downtown is some shopping from antique type stores to more upscale boutiques clothing stores. An independent bookstore is located downtown as well.

Intercity Bus lines (Greyhound) and intra-city transit are based in the same complex as the Amtrak Station and it is possible to receive a free bus transfer to visit parts of the city served by city transit. It is also possible to move around the different parts of the multi-modal station without being in the weather, which is nice if the weather is less than ideal.

The Greensboro Coliseum Complex has a 20,000 seat arena that hosts athletic events from college basketball (ACC tournaments and UNCG basketball) to indoor football (Carolina Cobras) and musical acts and entertainment from around the world. An open convention style space is adjoining the main arena. On the Coliseum grounds is the arena used by the G-League Greensboro Swarm which is the minor league team of the Charlotte Hornets. A large aquatic center has hosted national events and is open to the public as well. The White Oak Amphitheatre is an outdoor concert venue that brings national musical acts to Greensboro during the outdoor concert time of the year. In the same complex is the Odeon Theatre, which hosts small dramatic productions, cinema and press briefings.

On the north side of the city is the Guilford Courthouse National Military Park. On this site was an important battle leading to the end of the American Revolutionary War. A walking/drive park and welcome center with displays, dioramas, and gift shop on are site.

Adjacent to this site is the Greensboro Science Center which is one of the few science museums with all three (zoo, aquarium, and museum) attractions. The GSC is NC's only dually accredited AZA (Association of Zoos and Aquariums) and AAM (American Alliance of Museums) science attraction – an honor only 14 attractions in the nation can claim. The museum hosts traveling exhibits at times and includes a planetarium, the Omnisphere, which is also rather unique in that it has the ability to show full-dome, 3-D, or laser shows in this space. On select Fridays each month the Omnisphere hosts evening laser shows with accompanying music from popular rock bands. A large year-round carousel is also being built at the Science Center. SkyWild is a tree-top adventure ropes challenge at the Science Center. A large city park is located in the same area. It is possible to walk between all three locations in what is being called the Battleground Parks District.

During the summer months Wet'n-Wild Emerald Pointe is a large water park with wave pool, slides and other water rides.

Just to the east of the city is the Charlotte Hawkins Brown Historic site, which is located in Sedalia, NC. On the north side of the city is the Haw River State Park. Haw River SP is one of the newest state parks in North Carolina. It has hiking trails, a fishing pond, and meeting space for organizations of various sizes.

In the same county and also served by Amtrak is High Point, NC. Just beyond the county of Guilford is Winston-Salem. The NC Zoo is a 30-minute drive south of Greensboro to Asheboro, NC.

Greensboro is served by multiple Piedmont trains a day that run from Charlotte to Greensboro, to Raleigh, NC. The Carolinian runs from Charlotte, to Greensboro to Raleigh and then north the DC and New York. These trains make stops during day light hours mostly so arranging for car rentals should be easy. The Crescent runs from New Orleans to Greensboro and then on to New York City. This train does include sleeper-type accommodations along with other classes or travel. This train arrives early in the morning when traveling in both directions.
 
Greensboro station has free overnight parking but you have to get a pass at the counter to post in your car.

On the property is a model train club that allows visitors but it is only open on weekends with very limited hours.

Apparently because of the onsite bus station, they don't seem to like to see those just wandering around, using the restrooms or sitting in the many empty seats to relax for a few minutes.
 
Thanks for adding to my thread about Greensboro.

The Greyhound waiting area, city transit waiting area and Amtrak waiting area are three separate areas but connected by stairwells and hallways for those that look around. There is not a lot of signage inside the buildings as I assume each different area would just as soon not have lots of foot traffic from one section to another. There is adequate signage outside directing people to the correct part of the depot. However I don't remember seeing any signage stating the hallway/stairway that connects the various areas is off limits. Movement between these areas is not really needed unless you are wanting to explore the various parts of the J. Douglas Gaylon Depot. But it is nice to be able to move around if needed and stay out of the weather. The bus slips are also under cover.

The Amtrak bathrooms are locked and one must ask the station agents for the access code, though I doubt it changes day to day. Unlike the Amtrak station which is open 24/7 the Greyhound station is open from 7 am to 11 pm. The city transit is advertised as being open 24/7 on the website but that may not be correct as the last bus runs in the early AM hours just after midnight and the next day starts around 5 AM. I doubt the sitting area stays open for these 4 or 5 hours without buses running. The city transit and Greyhound waiting rooms also have seating areas and restroom facilities and vending machines for light snacks and drinks but they may request you leave if you linger.

There are signs in the Amtrak waiting room that the waiting room is for ticketed customers only, though I have stayed there and waited with passengers and I did not have a ticket. Metered parking spots are available for short term parking as well as free long term parking spaces. Greensboro parking meters can be paid with change at the parking meter or through smartphone apps but this method will add on a convenience fee on top of the price of parking. For a long term parking space you must ask the station agent for a pass, and they are usually given for one day longer than stated on the ticket, at least that has been the case for me. The long term parking area is at ground level and exposed to the weather. Greensboro has a few parking desks a couple of blocks away that would allow a automobile to stay out of the weather but the price is around $10 a day and is not really designed for Amtrak passenger parking. I have personally never had any trouble with parking at the station.

I generally find a taxi or two waiting at the station for train arrivals though I can not guarantee they are waiting for anyone or someone called ahead. Ride-hailing services are available in Greensboro as well.

The model train club is directly beside the Greyhound station which at one time was part of the freight handling building decades ago. It is hard to find them open for visitors but they do meet, from my understanding on Thursday evenings.

There is a very small freight yard that is still used for MOW equipment at times just to the south of the Amtrak station and it can be viewed while standing on the platform. The Greensboro freight yard (NS-Pomona Yard) is a few miles on the other side of downtown. It is possible to see passing freight trains from outside the station but the sitting area is below the tracks and does not really offer a view of outside onto the train tracks. Only ticketed passengers are allowed onto the platform.
 
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