Visitors who like to see unique places that are often on a road less traveled will enjoy touring college campuses. Normally only seen by students or those on a college tour, many campuses in the United States are worth a visit. Lovely gardens and forests, wonderful architecture, unique collections on display in their galleries, memorials to the founders, and works of art make a trip to these campuses memorable. Here is a list of some of the best.
1. University of Washington, Seattle Campus – Set against Mount Rainier, this campus features Gothic buildings, and includes a library with 35-foot high stained glass windows and 65-foot vaulted ceilings. In March, the school’s cherry trees bloom and add pink blossoms to the Gothic buildings. The schools Neptune theater also has over 100 productions a year of various musical acts.
2. Stanford University, Palo Alto, California – Endowed by the Stanford family, this campus covers over 8,000 acres. The campus includes a mile long tree lined main street that leads to the center quad. At the quad is the Memorial Chapel, which is decorated in striking mosaic art. At the Hoover tower, you can see the entire Bay Area on a clear day. The Cantor Arts Collection contains 170 works of art by Rodin, the largest outside Paris. The football field has also just been rebuilt and is a great place to take in a game.
3. University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio – This striking university is completely urban modern, and looks like a city from the future. Rebuilt over the last several years, this school is all about incorporating modern into a working environment. The clock tower is especially unique located atop a 90-foot high atrium.
4. University of San Diego, San Diego, California – This campus was built using architecture of the Spanish renaissance, and is full of tile, archways, brick, and iron works. The campus features a striking main chapel and the Garden of the Sea behind the Kroc Peace memorial. Overlooking Mission Bay, the sea views here are breathtaking.
5. Berry College, Mount Berry, Georgia – This school was built by Henry Ford and it is designed around gardens with reflecting pools and ponds. The buildings are structured after the English Gothic style and built of rose colored stone with towers topped by stone ceilings. Set on 26,000 acres of forests, fields, lakes and mountains, this school is simply gorgeous to walk around.
6. Cornell University, Ithaca, New York – This university is built overlooking the Cayuga Lake and the main quad is composed of buildings that use this view in their architecture. The latest building on the quad has eight 400-foot waterfalls that flow all the way down to Ithaca. Cornell Plantation has a 150-plant arboretum, and the Newman Overlook provides views of all the surrounding area.
7. Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey – Grey stone buildings designed with graceful Gothic facades dots this campus. The grounds of this campus make the buildings stand out even more. The University Chapel is a popular site for weapons and the Cleveland Tower offers views of the whole campus. Ivy covered Nassau Hall was the site where the Continental Congress met. The Princeton Art Collection has Mayan artifacts to Andy Warhol’s paintings.
8. Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio – This college is built on the top of a large hill and has a 10-mile long path that runs through the campus and on into town. The path is lined with trees of all sorts, and in the fall, this path is magnificent. The Victorian Gothic Ascension Hall is built after a medieval castle and stands out from the background. Another building, Rosse Hall is modeled after Greek architecture and has gorgeous white columns.
9. Swarthmore College, Swarthmore Pennsylvania – The crowning glory of this campus are the plants, especially at the Scott Arboretum. The Dean Bond Rose Garden has 200 varieties of roses alone. The highlight of the arboretum is its outdoor amphitheater surrounded by tulip trees, holly and rhododendrons. Hydrangeas, lilacs and tree peonies cover the campus. As a bonus to visitors, the school is constantly offering classes in gardening at the arboretum on campus.
10. Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana – The entrance of this campus is easy to find since the road is made out of brick. Leading through the Dunn Woods, the path reaches the Crescent District of campus with its historic carved limestone buildings. From here you can visit the Art Museum which holds over 30,000 pieces including art by Picasso and Matisse.
[box]Author Jenny Masterson is a college enrollment advisor and also writes for thebestcolleges.org, a website providing lists and information about college degrees, such as online msn programs for nurses.[/box]
