The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill - Chapel Hill, North Carolina

On Franklin Street across from Henderson Street.

Ah, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC or Carolina).  Home to my beloved Tar Heels.  Still a small debate if that is one word or two.  I interchange that a lot, so no worries.  But what's important is that its mascot is Ramses the Ram, its color Carolina Blue matches the sky for a reason, and that our basketball team is better than that other one down Tobacco Road.  Since I'm from here, I figured this would be a good starting point.

The University was chartered in 1789, as per the 41st statement of the North Carolina Constitution written in 1776:

"41. That a school or schools shall be established by the legislature, for the convenient instruction of youth, with such salaries to the masters, paid by the public, as may enable them to instruct at low prices; and, all usefull [sic] learning shall be duly encouraged and pro moted [sic] in one or more universities."

This is still written into our state Constitution, albeit with more detail.  A whole section (Article IX) is devoted to education at all levels (elementary, secondary, and post-secondary), with a section stating that the state government "shall provide that the benefits of The University of North Carolina and other public institutions of higher education, as far as practicable, be extended to the people of the State free of expense" (Section 9).  How much would be considered either "as far as practicable" or "free of expense" is up for debate.  But I digress.

Now the date of charter is important to note.  If you ask any North Carolinian, this school was the first public institution in the country.  But if you go further south, you might hear people say it wasn't this school, but the University of Georgia located in Athens (henceforth referred to as UGA).  UGA was actually chartered before UNC; the charter was established in 1785, four years before Carolina's was written.  Yet UGA did not begin to admit students until 1801.  UNC had been providing education for six years by then (opened its doors in 1795).  So be careful who you ask and how you ask.

As to the details on why it took UGA so long to actually bring students to its campus, Wikipedia has not been so forthcoming.  There is a small page on UGA's website regarding its history, but it has not provided any more details than Wikipedia.  But I suppose this would be a story better saved for a later date.

If you do go to Wikipedia, you would notice there are a couple of other schools claiming the title of "Oldest Public Institution in America": Rutgers University and the College of William and Mary (W&M).  Neither of these schools, I personally feel, have true legitimacy to their claims.  But that can be a story for a later post.

Now at the time of its founding, William Richardson Davie had met with a committee to select a site as close to the center of the colony as possible - the university's current location.  They had named the area Chapel Hill, in honor of an abandoned Anglican chapel that had been found on the top of a hill.  I don't have any verification on this, but it is said that the Carolina Inn near campus is where that Anglican chapel once stood. It might also be where Top Of the Hill now stands, but maybe that's just me giving to much credit to the nightlife on Franklin Street.

Another little story goes that Davie had met with this committee (he was not an official member of this committee, but I suppose he had enough influence that they wanted his opinion on matters) under a poplar tree on the chosen site.  As they had met and decided, he is supposed to have said that "so long as this tree stands, this university will live."  Or something like that, I feel like I'm paraphrasing.  Again, no real verification on this story.  However, in the middle of what is now known as North Campus (which would have been the main campus at its founding) there is a tree named Davie Poplar.  It was struck by lightning once, but it still stands, thankfully.  The lightning strike had spooked enough people to have Davie Poplar being partially held up by a strong wire, and to have two seeds from it taken to produce Davie Poplar, Jr., and Davie Poplar III.  It's cute, but somewhat unnecessary.  All three still stand on North Campus.

There are lots of other little stories, but some of them require visual aids (if you get the chance, I can tell/show you the story about the Bell Tower and Wilson Library).  That's as much as I can give you.  Oh, and the Old Well is iconic.  And if you drink from its fountain, you will apparently have straight A's all four years.  It didn't work for me, but I didn't go to Carolina.  My dream is to have my groom and I drink from it before our kiss during the wedding ceremony.  But I'm thinking too far ahead :)

Until next time, folks!