Live in Adams Farm
A planned development of the late 1980s and 1990s in Greensboro's southwest corner, with paved walkways, a lake and a park inside, where every child is zoned for middle and high school in Jamestown and the nearest bus stop is 1.68 km away.
Adams Farm is a 692-acre area that the City of Greensboro's own neighborhood map draws along Adams Farm Parkway and Bridle Ridge Parkway in the city's southwest corner, and the 2020 census counted 6,556 residents in 2,671 housing units in the blocks inside it, more than in any other Greensboro guide on this site. It was planned as one development: Planned Communities Development Corp. brought its plans to the City in 1986, the land came into the city in 1987 as most of what the News & Record called Greensboro's largest voluntary annexation, 1,044 acres, and by January 1999 the development held almost 1,600 houses and townhouses and 900 apartments. OpenStreetMap maps Adams Farm Park and a reservoir it names Adams Lake inside the line, and the 1999 account describes a swim and tennis club beside a 17-acre fishing lake and asphalt walkways between the neighborhoods. What a buyer trades for that is distance: Jamestown Middle and Ragsdale High are in Jamestown, the nearest bus stop runs on weekdays only, and the County and City tax rate is 158.80 cents per $100 on 2022 values.
One planned development at the city's edge, and the distance is the price of it
This guide uses one feature of the City of Greensboro's neighborhood layer, Adams Farm (object 122), 692 acres, wholly inside the City limits. The layer is the City's estimated neighborhood map, published on its ArcGIS Online organization for the Neighborhood Traffic Management Program and marked VERIFIED NO; the City says the centers of these areas should not be considered accurate. It is not the community association's territory or a recorded plat, and it is not the 710 acres the 1999 News & Record account gives for the original farm. Read against the City's street centerlines, the line follows lot lines and creeks more than streets: it meets Hilltop Road for about 400 meters on the north and Mackay Road on the south, and West Gate City Boulevard runs about 90 meters outside its east side. Adams Farm Parkway, about 4 km of it, and Bridle Ridge Parkway run through it, with Old Fox Trail, Watercrest Drive, Heritage Woods Drive and Windermere Drive.
Adams Farm, as this guide draws it, is an area on the City of Greensboro's own neighborhood map: one of 335 polygons on a layer the City publishes for its Neighborhood Traffic Management Program, estimated by the City's own description and marked VERIFIED NO. It is not the community association's territory and not a plat, and it covers 692 acres in the city's southwest corner, where the 1999 newspaper account gave the original farm 710. The 2020 census counted 6,556 residents in 2,671 housing units in the 29 blocks inside it, 2.45 people a unit.
It was built as one plan. In 1986 Planned Communities Development Corp., now East-West Partners, brought Greensboro's leaders a planned-unit development, in which lot-size rules were relaxed so houses could cluster and leave trees, streams and lakes between them, with each neighborhood built by a different developer under style limits. The land came into the city in 1987, the bulk of what the News & Record called Greensboro's largest voluntary annexation, 1,044 acres, and the first families moved in that year. By January 1999 there were almost 1,600 houses and townhouses and 900 apartments, with 27 lots left. The developers planned a swim and tennis club beside a 17-acre fishing lake and asphalt walkways between the neighborhoods; OpenStreetMap maps Adams Lake and Adams Farm Park inside the line today.
The covenants are the part this guide could not read. The 1999 account names the Adams Farm Community Association and its architectural covenants. No page from the association could be read, so its dues, its rules and whether the swim club is a separate membership are not known here. A buyer should ask for all three in writing.
Distance is what a buyer trades. The nearest GTA stop, on West Gate City Boulevard at Mackay Road, is 1.68 km from the reference point in a straight line, and Route 11 serves it on weekdays only, every 30 minutes at midday and last at 7:05 p.m. By this guide's table, the Harris Teeter and Lidl on Gate City Boulevard are about 2 km away, Wesley Long Hospital about 12.5 and downtown's LeBauer Park about 16, while Piedmont Triad International Airport is about 12. Children go further: every resident is zoned for Jamestown Middle and Ragsdale High, both in the town of Jamestown.
The tax bill and the price. Every house pays Guilford County's 78.95 cents per $100 and the City's 79.85, 158.80 cents for 2026-27, on 2022 revaluation values, because Senate Bill 889 put the 2026 reappraisal off to the 2027 bills, at rates not yet set; the seller's assessment sets the first bill. Stormwater and solid waste come on the City's water bill, at figures read only secondhand. No sale figure for Adams Farm was readable: Zillow's typical value for ZIP 27407 was $243,452 in August 2026, down 0.2% in a year, but that ZIP held 49,803 people in 2020 and is not this area's figure. The citywide arithmetic is on the Greensboro page.
- Get the association's covenants, its dues and the swim club's membership terms in writing before an offer
- Run the address through Guilford County Schools' locator: 482 residents of 2020 were zoned for Millis Road Elementary rather than Pilot
- Pull the FEMA or state flood map at the address: 8.9% of the area, along its creeks, is a mapped flood hazard area
- Look up the seller's 2025 assessed value, which sets the 2026 bill; the February 2026 reappraisal notice sets 2027's
- Drive the school run to Jamestown Middle and Ragsdale High at the hour it happens
How Adams Farm got here
- 1986Planned Communities Development Corp., later East-West Partners, shows Greensboro's leaders its plan for a planned-unit development on the farmland; some officials are skeptical, by the News & Record's 1999 account.
- 1987The City annexes the land: its annexation layer dates every 2020 resident's block to 1987, and the News & Record calls Adams Farm the bulk of Greensboro's largest voluntary annexation, 1,044 acres. The first families move in that year.
- 1999In January the News & Record counts almost 1,600 houses and townhouses and 900 apartments, with 27 lots left to build.
- 2020The census counts 6,556 residents in 2,671 housing units in the blocks inside the line.
- 2026New FEMA flood maps take effect on 10 June; the County and the City raise their rates to 158.80 cents per $100 on the old 2022 values after Senate Bill 889 defers the reappraisal; the City's neighborhood layer, with Adams Farm marked unverified, is created on 9 July.
- 2027The PGA TOUR event founded in 1938 as the Greater Greensboro Open, and the Wyndham Championship from 2007 to 2026, plays Sedgefield Country Club, south of the line and outside the city, as GO by Raymond James, 4 to 8 August.
Adams Lake, Adams Farm Park and the walkways
OpenStreetMap maps Adams Farm Park and a reservoir it names Adams Lake inside the line, and the 1999 account describes the development's 17-acre fishing lake and the paved walkways that follow its main roads and run between the neighborhoods. Who owns the park and the lake, and who may fish, were not read. Outside the line, Oaks West Park lies about 4 km northeast by road and Gibson Park about 4.5 km west.
What the map does not show: 8.9% of the area is in a special flood hazard area along the creeks, 5.6% of the area in the floodway itself, though no 2020 resident lived in one by block; the reference point is zone X on the panels that took effect on 10 June 2026.
Elsewhere in Greensboro, not Adams Farm
23 places, with real drive times
Road-adjusted distance and drive time from the centre of the community to each destination, nearest first. Filter by category.
Showing 1–12 of 23 places, nearest first.
Method: distances and drive times are computed from the OpenStreetMap place point for Adams Farm, using straight-line distance multiplied by a road factor and a tiered speed model: honest ranges, not routed times. Bus distances are to the nearest served stop.
Every gym within reach
The City's Griffin Recreation Center on Hilltop Road is just past the line's northwest corner, though the City's layer gives no hours for it. The Mary Perry Ragsdale Family YMCA in Jamestown has an indoor pool and track, the Trotter Active Adult Center on Betula Street opens weekdays from 9 a.m., and the City's indoor pool is the Greensboro Aquatic Center. The swim and tennis club the developers planned was not read: whether it runs today, and on what terms, is a question for the association.
- Griffin Recreation Center, 5301 Hilltop Road: about 1.6 km by road
- Mary Perry Ragsdale Family YMCA, 900 Bonner Drive, Jamestown: indoor pool, track and gymnasium
- Greensboro Aquatic Center, 1921 West Gate City Boulevard: the City's indoor pool
| Facility | What it is | Drive |
|---|---|---|
| Griffin Recreation Center open | The City's recreation center at 5301 Hilltop Road, just past the line's northwest corner. The City's facility layer gives no hours for it, and its programs were not read. | 4–6 min |
| Mary Perry Ragsdale Family YMCA open | The YMCA at 900 Bonner Drive, Jamestown: an indoor pool, an indoor track, a gymnasium and a basketball court, open from 5:30 a.m. on weekdays. | 6–10 min |
| Trotter Active Adult Center open | The City's center at 3906 Betula Street: Monday to Friday 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Saturday 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the City's facility layer. | 9–13 min |
| Greensboro Aquatic Center open | One of the City's two indoor pools, at 1921 West Gate City Boulevard. Pool hours and fees were not read. | 12–18 min |
The free option is the walkway network the development was built around, and the lake.
Pilot for most, then Jamestown for middle and high school
On Guilford County Schools' 2026-27 locator layers the point is zoned for Pilot Elementary on Chimney Springs Drive, just east of the line, as were 6,074 of the 2020 residents; the other 482 were in the Millis Road Elementary zone. Both were graded C for 2024-25 and 2023-24. All go on to Jamestown Middle, graded D both years, and Ragsdale High, C both years. No magnet elementary is within 3 km.
| School | Board | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Pilot Elementary School | Guilford County Schools | 4701 Chimney Springs Drive, just east of the line. The point is zoned for it on the district's 2026-27 locator layer, as are 6,074 of the 6,556 residents of 2020. NC School Report Card grade C for 2024-25 and 2023-24. The 1999 News & Record account records a neighbor's complaint that it should have been built sooner. |
| Millis Road Elementary School | Guilford County Schools | 4310 Millis Road, Jamestown. The other 482 residents of 2020 are in its 2026-27 zone, so the area is split at elementary level. Grade C for 2024-25 and 2023-24. |
| Jamestown Middle School | Guilford County Schools | 301 Haynes Road, Jamestown, about 4.5 km south in a straight line. The point and every resident of 2020 are in its 2026-27 zone. Grade D for 2024-25 and 2023-24. |
| Ragsdale High School | Guilford County Schools | Lucy Ragsdale High, 1000 Lucy Ragsdale Drive, Jamestown, about 3.7 km south. The point and every resident are in its zone. Grade C for 2024-25 and 2023-24. |
| Grades for 2025-26 | NC Department of Public Instruction | The state's Annual Testing Report of 2 September 2026 says 2025-26 grades exist, but no school-level 2025-26 file was found, so the grades here are 2024-25 and 2023-24. Check the NC School Report Cards site. |
| Choice programs | Guilford County Schools | No district magnet elementary is within 3 km of the point. Families may apply in the fall to choice programs elsewhere; most seats are filled by lottery and some need an application and acceptance. The 2026-27 deadline was not read. |
Check the exact address in the district's School Assignment Locator. The state released 2025-26 grades in September, but no school-level file was found, so these grades are a year old. Choice applications open in the fall, and most seats go by lottery.
Month by month, what living here looks like
Not a highlights reel: the actual annual rhythm, including the dates residents have to remember.
- Highs near 9.6 °C and lows near -1.1 °C at the airport normal, with 19.5 nights at or below freezing
- The snowiest month on the 1991 to 2020 normal, 7.4 cm
- 86 mm of precipitation on the normal, some of it as ice
- Highs near 11.8 °C, lows near 0.4 °C and 5.1 cm of snow on the normal
- Route 11's nearest stop has no weekend service, which matters more when the walk is icy
- The 2027 tax bills will carry the 2026 reappraisal values, at rates not yet set
- Highs near 16.3 °C, 2.3 cm of snow on the normal
- 8 freezing nights on the normal, down from 15 in February
- 8.9% of the area, along its creeks, is in a mapped flood hazard area: check the map at an address before the spring storms
- Highs near 21.7 °C and lows near 8.8 °C
- Showers on about 7 days a month, 96 mm in all, on the normal
- County tax relief applications for the next bill are due by 1 June
- Highs near 25.6 °C, with a day at 32 °C or more on the normal
- Lows near 13.9 °C
- 89 mm of rain on the normal
- Highs near 29.6 °C and 6.6 days at 32 °C or more
- The fiscal year's tax rates are adopted: in 2026 the County on 25 June and the City on 16 June
- The Eastern Festival of Music opens at Guilford College on 26 June 2027
- Highs near 31.4 °C, 13.7 days at 32 °C or more, and lows near 20.7 °C
- The Fun Fourth Festival runs along Elm Street downtown on 4 July
- The Eastern Festival of Music runs at Guilford College to 1 August 2027
- Highs near 30.3 °C and 111 mm of rain, mostly in thunderstorms
- GO by Raymond James, the Wyndham Championship until 2026, plays Sedgefield Country Club, south of the line, 4 to 8 August 2027
- The 2026 tax bills went out by 15 August; paying by 31 August took 1% off
- 117 mm of rain on the normal, the most of any month, with highs near 26.9 °C
- The North Carolina Folk Festival fills downtown in mid-September; 2027 dates are not posted
- The 1% early payment discount ends with August
- Highs near 21.7 °C and lows near 9.7 °C
- N.C. A&T's homecoming week runs 25 October to 1 November 2026
- Choice program applications open in the fall
- Highs near 15.9 °C and 7.7 freezing nights on the normal
- Lows near 3.8 °C and 83 mm of precipitation on the normal
- Highs near 11.1 °C and lows near 0.6 °C, with 3.0 cm of snow on the normal
- Downtown's Festival of Lights is an early December Friday; the 2026 date was not posted
- Holiday bus service in 2026 cannot be read from GTA's feed, which carries only 2024's holidays
6 more photographs of Greensboro and the region
Drawn from the site's shared, freely licensed Greensboro photo library, not photographs of Adams Farm itself. Filter by category.
Showing 1–6 of 6 photographs.
About these photographs. Openly licensed images from the site's shared Greensboro library, found on Wikimedia Commons and served from there with full attribution. None of them is presented as a photograph of Adams Farm.