Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / Aug. 25, 1980, edition 1 / Page 52
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D 1 2OrientationTha Daily Tar Hee! Monday, August 25. 1980 . o ,o ft 4 Ey GOIICS CIIABnOUI SlaTf Writer Mark Twda said a classic book was one that everyone wanted to have read, but no one reads. Landmarks are sort of like that. Everyone is sjppo:ed to know about th:m, but few do. Even fewer will admit to their ignorance. Ecir.3 somewhat ignorant of landmarks before undertaking this story, I decided to take a quick tour cf campus late one niht and dhcover for myself Care AAA a's revered past. Across the street from Four Comers restaurant and bar no doubt freshmen already have discovered this part of Carolinastands Silent Sam. This statue of a man holding a rifle is a tribute to the 321 Carolina students who died in the Civil War. It was ' erected in 1913 by the North Carolina Division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. As I passed by it, trying to imagine a campus emptied by such a bitter war, I heard a scream. An inebriated youth, surely overcome by emotion, was hanging from Sam's leg. Three friends watched him as he struggled to descend. Legend has it that Sam fires his gun whenever a virgin walks by. Perhaps our statue climber wanted to check the musket for gunpowder. Further down the path is the Caldwell monument, built in memory of the University's first president, Joseph Caldwell. As I approached the white marble monument I detected the odor of grass the kind you smoke. Three people huddled together were breathing deeply. I stopped. The OLb lA W OrMCE i o I V7 5A " O przi s I - CftUlA ( I i ... t? f -AstBaRETUrt U E3 do" 1 Thcattpc n 1 v I r i U r&i ri r i I ' CVKMiCHAtJ I (flUp. J DTH Sandy Safcata 4Vant some," one of the three said. "Uh. . .no thanks," I said, content to move on to the next stop on the tour. Years ago the Old Well served as the only water supply in Chapel Hill. That was before the pillars and dome were added in 1897. 1 would have stopped for water, but did not want to disturb a couple melted together in bliss. Nearby the oldest state university builaing in the country, Old East, provided the area with music as stereos blare out the windows. The dorm, built in 1973, once housed Thomas Wolfe, the novelist, and Andy. Griffith, the actor. In 1966 the building was named a National Historic Landmark. Wolfe, by the way, has an entire section of the North Carolina Collection dedicated to his life's work. A 1920 graduate, he was editor of The Daily Tar Heel and wrote several plays for the PlaVmakers. A bronze sculpture located on the northeast corner of New East was donated by the class of 1565 in remembrance of Wolfe's contributions to the University and the world. A slight detour took me to Person Hall, which was once a chapel and is now used as a recital hall. Besides being .the second oldest state university building in the United States, the hall is famous for the sculpture surrounding it. By then it was early morning and the throngs from Franklin Street-were groggily returning . from an intense night of hedonism. They eyed me curiously as I studied the statues of two gargoyles and a former Archbishop of Cantebury. These sculptures were given to the University in 1933 by Katherine Pendleton Arrington. j ; Particularly interesting are .the gargoyles, evil looking beasts that once decorated Big Ben in London. Arrington salvaged the statues when the Londoners removed them because of weather corrosion. On the opposite side of Person Hall another statue of a young man trying to control a rearing horse symbolizes "Youth." Only the sounds of students retreating to their dorms broke the silence as I walked by the Playmakers Theatre. One of the most beautiful buildings on campus, it is patterned afjer a Greek Revival temple. Wolfe, Griffith, Pulitzer-Prize winning Paul Green, and bandleader Kay Kyser and Damn Yankees author Richard Adler are only a few of the notable artists who launched careers there. Down the road from the theater is Coker Arboretum, five acres of land containing almost 400 varieties of exotic plants and shrubs. Besides its solitude and beauty, the arboretum also is known for one unsolved murder in 1965. Women are urged not to walk there alone at night. On the corner of Franklin and Hillsborough streets sits the old law school office, which was built in the Tho Unlvcra'ty's Cc!dv.'c3 f cnu.T.cr.t ...it's a greet pSaco to sit end think' 1840s. DTH staffers fondly refer to this antiquated building as The Daily Tcr Heel immobile float, mainly because several former staff members have lived there and the Beat Dook parade passes by the front yard. From the front yard I saw the Morehead Planetarium, built in 1945 with funds from the John Motley Morehead foundation. Among the many popular attractions at the planetarium are a telescope 24 inches in diameter, a projector that displays numerous space and constellation programs on a huge dome ceiling, paintings by Rembrant, Anthony Van Dyck and Thomas Gainsborough, and a 35-foot sun dial. Content that my tour was complete, I walked wearily to the DTH office in the Carolina Union. But I was reminded of another historical landmark on the the Carolina campus. The Bell Tower plays its muiic daily. It has played during Christmas, throughout the hostage tragedy and on each day of class, come rain or sun, exams or skip days. No doubt it will play long after future Woifes, Kuralts and Greens have made names for themselves and the University. And, no doubt,, it will continue to harbor what has become known as the "High Noon Society," a group ot students who meet there regularly to smoke pot, thus demonstrating their commitment to enjoying the present just as the landmarks celebrate the vintage past. Thanks to Marguerite E. Schumann's book The First State University A Walking . Guide, which . supplied much of the historical information for this article. From- a .modeot otart mwershy has gro mm a md pjrosp e re d By WILLIAM PESOIEL Staff Writer Legend has it that in 1792, a group of men led by William Richardson Davie paused for dinner under a poplar tree during their search for a new state university site. The committee viewed the beauty of the area and the bountiful springs end decided to build the . University of North Carolina in what is now Chapel Hill. Another more unlikely legend says the men had been drinking all day and fell off their horses near that same pcplar. Too drunk to go on, they decided to build the Univeristy here. Whatever story you believe, it is true that in 1739, Davie, lawyer, orator and one of the writers of the U.S. Constitution, submitted a bill to the N.C. General Assembly for the establishment of a state university. The bill was approved and in 1792 Davie was appointed to a committee to find a site. They chose this area because of its plentiful springs, its location in the center of the state, and most importantly, because the residents of the area donated 1,20 acres of land and 7C3 pounds to the new university. In 1795, Old East was completed, and with the arrival of its first student Hinton James classes bean. Students paid 15 pounds per year for board and $5 per year for rent. The campus grew rapidly in the yean before the Civil War. The UrJvenity raised money through the sale of 11 donated lands and twice held lotteries. The first commencement was held July 4, 1798, as the University graduated seven students. The college survived during the Civil War, but not without problems. Students and faculty dropped out to join the armies, and only old men and clergymen were left to teach the few students. In 1865, when Union cavalry came to occupy Chapel Hill, most of the students fled. Only four of 15 seniors were present for commencement that year. The University was protected by General William Sherman from damage, but the surrounding countryside was not, and livestock and personal possessions were confiscated. The last straw came when the commander of Union troops. General Atkins, married the University president's daughter. The University suddenly became very unpopular in the South. The ax finally fell during Reconstruction. With few students and no money, the Board of Trustees closed UNC in 1871. For the next four years Carolina was closed while money was being raised. During that time, the University was stripped of nearly all its possessions by students and faculty. When UNC reopened in 1875, ads were run begging for the return of the property. Fraternities came into existence by 1851, but they disappeared by the end of the Civil War. After the war, fraternities were forbidden, but they were formed anyway. Around 1892, fraternities such as Delta Kappa Epsilon, Phi Gamma Delta, Zeta Psi and Theta Nu Epsilon existed. UNC's first intercollegiate football game was in 1ES3 ' f I 1 i ! I I 1 j against Wake Forest. Wake Forest won. During the fall of 1897, the Old Well was rebuilt from an old well to its present structure. The design was by President Edwin M. Alderman and was derived, he said, "largely from the Temple of Love in the Garden at Versailles." That same year, the first women students were allowed in after a long fight. Carolina's ram mascot wasn't introduced until 1924. Head cheerleader Vic Huggin decided that the football team should have a mascot like North Carolina State University's Wolfpack. Because one of UNC's more popular football players was known as "The Batterins kam," Huggins chose the ram. Ramase I was brought from Texas in time to see UNC beat Virginia Military Institute. Since then, Ramese's descendants have been present at each football game. During the '20s UNC underwent a building program that included the construction of Aycock, Lewis and Graham dormitories, Venable Hall, Kenan Stadium, Woollen Gym, Graham Memorial Hall and the Bell Tower. World War II reduced the number of students, but that was made up after the war, as the returning veterans quicklytlried up the housing market. Trailers and quonset huts appeared in the area as a short-term answer. Now, 187 years later, tripling is the short-term answer to that age old problem. But you wouldn't know that was the case, especially while tripping over all the new construction that's going on. History never fails to repeat itself. i - ...hcuc'.ntj thsrugss fcrccd tempecry dcrrr.s in th:; c'J Tin Can , . 4 - 4 '(?4tzl4)) it C -Tz.t 'CZZT- rtSsrl.i' 4C,,''j(tt'M: ,yl tfStJt'M fftfW. . . (f-tf. tl!.. Tha 10CG commencement ba!l cnncunccmcnt ...soms names on it shocked administration "frCl an old gcIiooI traditi ty WILLIAM PDiCIII L Suff Wrisf One of Carolina's oldest traditions the cptn expression of student views. Many have been voiced in the ht I 6 Of those, quite a few were :K-i exercises cf freedoms. And then, there were some that were a tit more In IS2S, for instance, UNC sophomore William Lee Kennedy was brought before the faculty after a professor observed him ery ir.tcr.tly the bench on hich he vas stated." Afirr being irked to stop, a faculty report said, "he quick! rtrlicJ that he p :. : i for them, and c! .i.r :J a rirJ t to occupy himulf in this r-irnrr." '.The f-cu!;y suiper.-icJ him fcr ti fr.nrithi . ta:er, the Ur.iv cni:y reccird a letter frcm Ker.r.eJy S'i"? ihit he t-e rtr.J.Tiitted. After ir.fcrr.:r. his fjrr cf th? tzzc. ff lis e.r! return h ;:re. Kennedy wrote. "The zrfr.cr.: I u:J rae sitfi-J rr.y rn.nd a tu t ccrreetnsii cf his c-plr.in." I 1 - rt: t:.J ie ?-:? ffev"":i r; reared t efre t fir':y a r:f !trr. fcr J t-.rl i: :':-:;'::'$ U::::. T: :y vet: c.: their r ::.";r.1 1, lie r,;:.r i 1 ' ? : e r-.r v. :fc t 1 it ' "i :1 ti In January 1855, students were discovered reveling In South Cuilding. After that was broken up, the faculty went to the students' rooms "to ascertain the condition cf the young men." They were found, 1$ the furu'ty put it, "To be more or lens intoxiccted." While meeting with the faculty the next day, the four students admitted fccir.g drunk. They were suspended for four weeks. One reveler v es siii to be too intoxicated that mornin; to ccms and answer the charge cf being intoxicated the r.'.-'-t before. In January 1S55. the trustees pc-ed an ordinance prchititing students frc:n keeping dc;s and c:pc.ns in Ct;:l 11.11. Other Jaws were pat-.ed cenrern. ng drinking, dancing, .arr.ll.rg cr s ; ht of hand perfwrmancei. Tl.D-e actions cccted thir-s dzn fcr a while. Put in tf 5, the cc: .r, - ::r cf the North's oceup;r; forces i.i C.pel li.il married the U.n.-,cr;ity pr '':nt'l daughter. ;::ude."t sen'i-rnt cc.'J r.ut leccnti.'ned. the cer.-.-ncT., zri f t three h:s ,';ercrd. t -cdrn's t. . :d the I :l in ' ;:h I This i'"---l Mird ty !:3 the p?r.i.!en! sr-.J r;fo,-r-.i in cfT;y. A ). : I 1 r. C:-z I: n, the students made Confederate I'rt-.i lent Jrffrrun Da-. Is. C.-nera! He tert I, Ice. z:.S t.-4 rr cU'.. ! "try c .': f f t ? I r : 1 (f :, v. i t -' e C ;
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Aug. 25, 1980, edition 1
52
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