The
University of North Carolina Campus: Natural
Environment and Landscaping (1792-1877)
William R. Burk
Librarian, John N. Couch Biology Library, University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The natural environment and landscaping of the
University of North
Carolina's grounds have played an important role in the life of the
institution since its founders selected
New Hope Chapel Hill as
the seat of the campus in 1792. The region is situated on a range of granitic
hills from which a vast plain extends to the coast. According to tradition,
several trustees — including
William Richardson
Davie
— rested under the shade of a tulip poplar (the
Davie Poplar, still living and honored as a symbol of the
University) and chose the spot for the college. In reality, eight
trustees were charged to inspect sites for the campus, and they ultimately
recommended
New Hope
Chapel Hill to the full body of
trustees. The
site's central location in the state, its accessibility by roads, and the
donation of land by local landowners were decisive factors for the selection.
Nature had also endowed the region with unrivalled beauty, captivating flora and
fauna, and a healthful environment. Writing about the
University in
a newspaper article, historian and former Governor of
Maine
William
Durkee Williamson particularly mentioned "the purity of the
water, the salubrity of the air, and the great healthfulness of the
climate."
1
The campus, frequently called the Grove
2 or ornamental grounds, consisted of almost one hundred acres. It was
bounded by land that would soon be divided into village lots to the north,
northeast and northwest, and by mostly forested areas on the remaining sides.
Grand oaks predominated and other trees such as hickories, poplars, pines, red
maples, persimmons, black gums, dogwoods, and sourwoods were interspersed. The
picturesque setting had an inspiring and lasting effect on students, faculty,
and visitors, instilling genuine respect and lifelong memories. The
reminiscences and reflections of students and others are preserved in the
University's archival records. A former student, who attended the
University in the 1830s, recalled each tree as he
walked through the grounds about twenty years later. Some of the oaks had been
replaced by the more rapidly growing elms.
3 In writing an editorial for a
University
magazine, a student from the mid-1850s exalted the Grove as "a retreat
of the Muses." This forward-thinking student was also concerned about
the conservation of the campus trees, noting that old dying specimens should be
replaced with young ones.
4 Local
residents were likewise concerned about the protection and preservation of the
trees.
North
Carolina writer and historian
Cornelia Phillips Spencer
expressed her dismay whenever trees were
felled or succumbed to natural causes such as disease and lightning.
5
The campus and surrounding land provided habitats for a number of animals.
Particularly common were deer, squirrels, chipmunks, rabbits, raccoons, wild
turkeys, quail, and a variety of song birds. While making a religious trip
through
North
Carolina in 1851 and 1852, Quaker Mary Kite wrote about her stop in
Chapel Hill. By
the wayside, she observed a group of students with a deer lying near by them.
She saw a variety of birds, including the titmouse and the eastern wood-pewee
(cited as "Pewee") and recognized the calls of a number of
others, including the Carolina wren.
6 Passenger pigeons were abundant during their migration, and large
flocks of them would darken the skies as they flew overhead. Writing in his
diary on 18 February 1858, sophomore Henry Francis Jones noted: "I
never saw the like of pigeons in my life as has been passing over here to day.
Immense droves ha[ve] been going over all day. Good many of the students ha[ve]
been shooting them all day."
7 Hunting the campus wildlife was a popular sport for the students, until
university officials banned the practice in late 1876.
8
Besides the noteworthy flora and fauna, another natural asset of the campus was
the water, reputed to be cold, pure, and delicious. Springs abounded,
particularly on the hillsides. According to
Cornelia
Spencer
, Professor
Elisha Mitchell
asserted that the campus
well, just north of
South Building
, had water second to none in the
region.
9
The care and improvement of the campus grounds were not neglected by
University leaders. Efforts first entailed the maintenance of the
grounds and in later years their beautification through plantings and the
construction of rock walls. Soon after the institution first opened its doors to
students in 1795, builder
James Patterson was engaged to clean up
debris remaining from construction and to fill up holes in the ground on
campus.
10 A decade later,
the
trustees instructed
John
Taylor
, the steward, to employ someone to trim trees and to remove
unsightly brush in the Grove and areas around the buildings.
11 At the close of 1810, the
trustees established the post of "Superintendant [sic] of the
buildings and lands of the
University" and appointed
John
Taylor
.
12 In the
ensuing years, several men held the post, which was modified to include
financial responsibilities in 1827. Two years later, the trustees directed that
the faculty fill it from one or more of their own. The faculty at first divided
the duties of the job among several of their members, and it was the versatile
professor
Elisha
Mitchell
who took responsibility for the buildings and grounds. Later
Mitchell
would assume all the duties of the Superintendency.
Under
Mitchell's
direction and with
University
President
David L. Swain's
keen support, work commenced in 1838 to
enclose the campus proper with rock walls to replace the rail fences on its
perimeter. Following a technique already well known in New England, of not using
mortar or other cementing material,
Mitchell's
workers, probably slaves whom he owned or
hired from other slaveholders, stacked and interlocked rocks into place. In June
1841, a reporter for the newspaper
Raleigh Register
noted that "the 'campus',—or grounds immediately adjoining
the buildings—would soon be enclosed with a neat and substantial
stone wall."
13 Much of
the campus had been enclosed by 1844, and
Mitchell
received $500 as
compensation for his work and supervision. An additional section (40 rods,
approximately 660 feet) of new wall was completed by 1852 under the direction of
Captain
John Brooks
Tenny, an
Orange County, North Carolina farmer.
14
These stone fences served several functions for the
University
landscape. From a practical perspective, the stone fences were supposed to keep
out the village livestock (cows and pigs) that freely roamed the region,
according to the common custom of the times. In his history of the
University, President
Kemp P. Battle
regarded this free-range grazing as "evil."
15 Even after the walls were completed,
however, the
trustees continued to deal with the livestock pasturing on the
grounds.
16 Aesthetically,
the walls enhanced the picturesque setting of the campus. Soon the villagers
adopted the practice of erecting similar fences around their yards. With age,
the rock fences took on a special character as mosses, lichens, and the elements
softened their ruggedness. Having been repaired and filled in with mortar, some
of the walls survive. They continue to be a signature feature of the
University campus.
The construction of the rock fences ushered in the beautification and improvement
of the grounds that would prosper and flourish through the late 1850s. By June
1841, an anonymous observer was impressed with the changes, writing:
"Trees have been set out in various parts of the College area, and the
venerable old grove has been so grubbed and trimmed and thinned, as to lose much
of its rude forest garb, while increased vigor has been given to the growth that
remains."
17 In
early 1844, noted architect
Alexander Jackson Davis
was a guest at a
meeting of the
trustees where he presented his plans for
landscaping the campus. He proposed a "Botanic Garden"
18 on the site of the present
arboretum, but this proposal came to naught. Efforts to hire a landscape
gardener began in 1845. Nearly two years lapsed until the position was filled
with
John
Loader
. The
trustees allotted $1,000 annually for
landscaping: $400 for
Loader's
salary; and $600 for other expenses, such as wages of
workers, purchases of plants and shrubs, and the use of horse and wagon.
Loader
established a
nursery in the rear of the campus proper. There, a stock of plants and shrubs
was grown for subsequent transplanting to the campus grounds. When
Loader
resigned at
the end of 1851, Thomas Paxton became his successor. Both men trained a number
of slave workers who learned horticultural skills and transferred plants onto
the campus.
Historian and Professor of Mathematics
Archibald
Henderson
commented on several landscape improvements that had been made.
In the southern half of campus, there was some trimming of trees, removal of
underbrush, and the creation of pathways. In the northern half, where the main
focus of landscaping endeavors took place, plantings included rose hedges,
mock-orange, osage orange, and hollies. Rose bushes and ornamental shrubs
adorned the sides of two gravel walks (one from
Old East
; one from
Old West
)
that extended to
Franklin Street.
19 There were a number of plantings of the flowering quince, a shrub
then in vogue and celebrated for its showy red flowers. Ground covers were also
used. According to a document in the
University's
archives, grass seed was purchased for this purpose as well as "oats
for the lot in front of the College."
20 In 1856, the retiring editors of the student publication
North Carolina University Magazine proclaimed the
campus "to be the prettiest college campus in the Union."
21
The deprivations caused by the "War between the States"
initiated a decline of the Grove that was further hastened by the suspension of
the
University from 1868 to 1869 and later by its
closure from 1871 to 1875 during Reconstruction. Without routine maintenance,
ornamental borders became overgrown with weeds, trees and shrubs went untrimmed,
and debris accumulated on the ground. The Grove also suffered from
"wood poachers" who sawed and chopped the magnificent
oaks.
22 In preparation for
the re-opening of the
University in September 1875, workers began
repairing buildings and cleaning up the grounds as early as that March.
23 Consider the scene as
planter, agricultural reformer, and friend of the
University
Paul Carrington Cameron described the restoration, which was
probably nearing completion later that year:
The outside stone walls
surrounding the campus have all been repaired, and new gates put up and all
stock have been excluded. The walks of the campus have all been cleaned and
reopen'd and all the dead wood of the shrubbery and oak grove have been cut
out and removed and the wild growth of briar & stick wood dug up by
the roots and carried out. The entire surface cut over by the scythe and
under the recent & copious rains present a lawn of green &
shade equaled by no educational establishment in the country.
24
The campus was donning its cloak of beauty and charm once again. In the summer of
1877,
Cornelia Spencer
affectionately described the revived
landscape of the campus that has captivated people throughout its
history:
Here are the groves and gravel-walks, — here the Halls
and Libraries, here is the deep shade and the green grass, here is the
deliciously cool clear water, and the pure air, here is kindness and
welcome, making of acquaintance, renewal of friendship, and general peace
and good will.
25
Endnotes:
1. W[illiam] D. W[illiamson], "University of North
Carolina," Boston Recorder, 14 December
1843.
2. In writing about the botanical endeavors of
Elisha Mitchell
, Rogers
McVaugh, Michael McVaugh, and Mary Ayers define the Grove as the forested
area of the
University between the college buildings and
Franklin
Street, not the whole square. See Rogers McVaugh, Michael R.
McVaugh, and Mary Ayers,
Chapel Hill and Elisha Mitchell
the Botanist (Chapel Hill: The Botanical Garden Foundation, 1996),
52, 67.
3. T. L., "A Visit to the University," The North Carolina Magazine 7 (1857): 227-231.
4. "The Campus," North Carolina
University Magazine 5 (1856): 378-379.
5.
Spencer's
concern for the campus trees is revealed
in a letter that she wrote to
Mrs. Swain (widow of former University President
David L.
Swain)
in August 1877. She reported on the news from
Chapel Hill,
including a note about the death of a venerable oak that had shaded the
college well. When the tree was cut down,
Spencer
"could not repress a groan." She
continued: "It was an old, old friend & had seen how
much!". See Cornelia P. Spencer to Mrs. Swain, 27 August 1877, box
3, folder 1874-1880, Personal Collection #7, North Carolina Office of
Archives & History, Raleigh.
6. [Mary Kite], "A Visit to North Carolina (concluded),"
Friend (Philadelphia) 43 (1869): 42-44.
7. Henry Francis Jones Diary, 1857-1858, Southern Historical Collection
#3019-z, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
8. At its 8 November 1876, meeting, the
Executive Committee of the University trustees
"Resolved, that hunting in the Campus grounds of the
University, by day or night, in session or vacation, with gun or
dog, net or trap, or otherwise, by any person whatsoever, is forbidden, and
the Bursar is directed to give public notice accordingly and to prosecute
all offenders against this Ordinance." See
Trustee Minutes, Volume 16, p.
29-30.
9. C[ornelia] P. S[pencer], "Our Springs," University Magazine 1(1878): 20-21.
10. "Agreement [between] Judge Williams & James Patterson;
Agreement with W. Patterson," [3 March 1795], folder 8, University
of North Carolina Papers #40005, University Archives, Wilson Library,
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
13. "Our University," Raleigh Register
and North-Carolina Gazette, 8 June 1841: [3].
14. Trustees of the University of North Carolina, invoice to John B. Tenny, 1
May 1852, folder 181, University of North Carolina Papers #40005, University
Archives, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
15. Kemp P. Battle, The History of the University of North
Carolina, (1907 and 1912; repr., Spartanburg, SC: Reprint Company,
1974), I:471.
16. At a meeting of 6 June 1860, the
trustees discussed
the problem of the roaming livestock that used the campus grounds as a
pasture. They subsequently passed a resolution "that the Bursar be
directed to take the most effectual measures for expelling all stock from
said grounds & keeping them away." See
Trustee Minutes, Volume 16,
p. 273.
17. "Our University."
18. John V. Allcott reproduces
Davis's
drawing for
a Botanic Garden in his book on the
University
campus. On the south side of the proposed garden were plots meant for
experimental agriculture. See John V. Allcott,
The Campus
at Chapel Hill; Two Hundred Years of Architecture (Chapel Hill:
Chapel Hill Historical Society. 1986), 31; fig. 37.
19. Archibald Henderson, The Campus of the First State
University, The University of North Carolina Sesquicentennial
Publications (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1949),
163-164.
20. "Account of Expenditures for the Improvement of the College
Grounds in the Year 1848," folder 174, University of North Carolina
Papers #40005, University Archives, Wilson Library, University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill.
21. "Local Items," North-Carolina
University Magazine 5 (1856): 236-237.
23. "Chapel Hill," Hillsborough
Recorder (New Series), 28 April 1875: [3].
24. Paul C. Cameron, report, [1875], Subject and Undated Files, 1788-1930 and
undated, folder 1714, University of North Carolina Papers #40005, University
Archives, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,
[5-6].
25. C[ornelia] P. S[pencer], "University Normal School,"
North Carolina Presbyterian, 18 July 1877:
[2].