The Student, Greensboro
The Student is a life-size statue of a young male student typical of those who would have attended David Caldwell’s “Log College” in the late 1700’s (see subject notes).
The six-foot tall barefoot figure is holding a thick book in the proper right hand with a finger in the book as if marking a passage. The proper left hand is holding a tricorn hat against the left hip. The head, with chin up, is looking slightly to the right with the right leg also turned in the same direction. The right leg is also somewhat in front of the left leg as if the figure is preparing to turn.
The statue stands atop a large boulder that is very roughly box shaped with the bronze inscription tablet mounted to the front. A walkway of stone pavers leads from a walking path to the statue.
Images (photo by Michael C. Wilcox, courtesy of HMdb.org):
Inscription
THE STUDENT / REPRESENTATIVE OF THE YOUNG MEN WHO ATTENDED THE DAVID CALDWELL / ACADEMY LOCATED ON THIS LAND DURING 1770 TO 1811. INSPIRED BY THIS / DILIGENT EDUCATOR, THEIR LEADERSHIP WAS INFLUENTIAL IN THE / DEVELOPMENT OF GREENSBORO, GUILFORD COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA AND BEYOND.
IN MEMORY OF / JOHN ARCHIBALD BOREN JOSEPH MARVIN HUNT, JR. / EMRY CAPELLE GREEN, JR. GRAVE ELLIOT SULLIVAN
Tanger Family Bicentennial Garden, City of Greensboro
May 4, 1979
36.092570 , -79.842090
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Alspaugh, Pat. “Life-size Bronze Statue Headed for Casting, Caldwell Log College,” Greensboro Daily News (Greensboro, NC), June 18, 1978
“Tanger Family Bicentennial Garden,” Greensboro Beautiful, greensborobeautiful.org, (accessed January 26, 2022) Link
“The Student,” The Historical Marker Database, HMdb.org, (accessed January 26, 2022) Link
“Weaver, Bill Rhodes. “Log College Lauded as Statue Unveiled,” Greensboro Daily News (Greensboro, NC), May 5, 1979
Yes
Bronze statue and tablet, stone base. To create the bronze, the sculptor first created three statues in pasteline, a type of clay, before making the final six-foot tall version. A plaster cast was then made, cut into pieces, and transported to the foundry for casting in bronze.
Greensboro Beautiful, Inc.
$20,000
Congressman L. Richardson Preyer of Greensboro was the keynote speaker. Among his comments he said, “We sometimes frown on our college students… but without their foresight, their bold ideas, where would we be today?”
Having graduated from what is now Princeton and receiving his ordination, David Caldwell came to what is now Guilford County as a Presbyterian missionary in 1765 and assumed leadership of Buffalo and Alamance Presbyterian churches. Realizing the lack of medical care available in the “backwoods”, he secured medical books from Philadelphia and taught himself medicine. Likewise, he recognized the need for formal schooling in the area and in 1767 founded the Caldwell School, also known as the “Log College”, where he and his wife Rachael taught for 40 years. Five state governors, three Alabama, one Tennessee and John Motley Morehead of North Carolina, and more than 50 pastors were schooled there. News reports from 1978 claim that this statue was the first life-sized historical bronze sculpture placed in Greensboro since 1913. The four previous bronzes were located at the Guilford Courthouse National Military Park.
The statue can be found in the Tanger Family Bicentennial Garden located at 1105 Hobbs Road, Greensboro, North Carolina.
The Tanger Family Bicentennial Garden covers 7.5 acres and is known for its massive annual plantings. Sculptures placed throughout the garden provide artistic and historic interest.
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