As the academic year opens, Friends Center plans an open house along with a dedication and blessing of its new location, the historic Worth House that fronts on West Friendly Avenue and served as the Alumni House from 2000-16. The festivities will be held on Thursday, Sept. 7, from 3:30-5 pm, and are open to everyone. 

The dedication and blessing will honor the Worth House as well as the Campbell House, where Friends Center was located from 2014-23. Campbell House is named for Biology professor Eva Campbell (1924-61), who sent many students to medical school. The house has served as a spiritual home, a quiet place for prayer, and a space of connection for a generation of Guilford students and Friends Center staff.

Worth House will Host Many Activities

Friends Center provides programs and support that nurture the Quaker ethos and commitments of the College by working closely with students, staff, faculty and alumni, and building partnerships in the community. Beginning this month, Worth House will host the mid-week meeting for worship on Wednesdays at 9 am, “Practice of Silence” classes and seminars for students in the Quaker Leadership Scholars program (QLSP).

Wess Daniels, who has been William R. Rogers director of Friends Center and Quaker studies since 2015, says the move from Campbell to Worth House is a positive one for the campus and the wider Guilford community. “It gives Friends Center a larger and more accessible space that should engage more people in Quaker and multifaith programming,” he says.

“We honor the fact that Worth House has been a beloved home for the alumni community,” he adds. “In our discernment about the move, we connected with representatives of Black Alumni of Guilford College (BAGC), Alumni and Friends of Guilford College (AFOG) and Save Guilford College to ensure that this space continues to be a home for alumni, and we are excited that this move can deepen our connection to the entire alumni community.”

Alumni events will continue to be held in the house regularly, including on Homecoming & Family Weekend, which this year is Sept. 29-Oct. 1.

In addition to Wess, Friends Center staff includes Meagan Holleman, Multifaith Coordinator and Chaplain, and Liz Nicholson ’12, Director of QLSP, all of whom have offices in the house.

Worth House History

Worth House – on the south edge of campus but only 250 steps off the quad – is one of the historic buildings on campus. The two-story structure was built by Daniel Worth around 1880. Daniel was a New Garden Boarding School and Guilford trustee (1875-94) and the father of Laura Worth, a member of the College’s fourth graduating class in 1892 who later worked as the College nurse including during the flu epidemic of the early 20th century.

The house was painted white and remodeled in a Colonial Revival style in 1930 when the College became its owner. President Clyde Milner’s family and some faculty members lived there over the years. The Interlink program was headquartered there, and it was the Alumni House from 2000-16 and the President’s Office from 2016-20.

The Worth family built a second, smaller house about 1925 – “Worth II” – that is located between Worth House and Dana Auditorium. Laura was living there when she died in 1945. The house has been home to the international studies and Bonner programs.