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Walking Map and Tour of Historic Chapel Hill
by Charly Mann
In 1818 the University of North Carolina consisted of the following four buildings, Main Building (now known as South Building), Steward's Hall, East Building (now known as Old East), and Person Hall. Old East was an all purpose building in those days that housed 56 students in 14 small rooms, as well as having several classrooms. The Main Building was just four years old then, and had dorm rooms upstairs and most of the school's classrooms downstairs. The building looked far different then. It was not until 1861 that the small dome was added to the top of the building. The great entrance with the wide doorway was constructed in 1897, and the large porch supported by Roman columns was not added to the south side until 1927.
Map of Chapel Hill, 1818 - View large size
To the left of the Main building was Steward's Hall, a wooden building of 36 by 36 feet which contained four rooms. Two were for students to live in, one was a campus dining area, and the other was a kitchen with a brick floor. By 1818 the University no longer operated this building and it had become a private boarding house. The building was torn down in 1848 and replaced by Smith Hall (which is now the Playmaker's Theater).
Main Building at UNC, now known as South Building. Upstairs were dorm rooms and downstairs were classrooms
Person Hall is the second oldest building on the UNC campus. It was completed in 1798, and was the site of the University's first graduation in July of that year. In those days students and townspeople simply referred to it as the Chapel. It was then the only church in town, and students were required to attended religious services there every day.
UNC's Person Hall, The UNC Chapel which all students were required to attend daily
First painting of East Building (now called Old East) from 1797
The second oldest home in Chapel Hill today is the Puckett house built in 1796 by the widow, Mrs. Elizabeth Puckett, and stands at 501 East Franklin Street. The Widow Puckett, as she was known, was a very enterprising woman. She rented several rooms in her house to students, as well as offering the best home cooked meals in town. In addition she provided a laundry service for students. Across the street from the Puckett house is Chapel Hill's oldest home built for William Hooper, a university professor. It is located at 504 E. Franklin St., and was recently the home of the great band leader and movie star Kay Kyser.
As you look at this map you can see that in 1818 Chapel Hill only had about a dozen houses and two stores, Trice's and Tom Taylor's store. You can now follow William D. Moseley walking through Chapel Hill in those days in a letter he wrote many years later to UNC professor Elisa Mitchell on August 15, 1853.
I would take a stroll through the village, beginning at Nunn's and going eastwardly down the Main Street, first by Mrs. Mitchell's on the right; Trice's store on the left; then Major Henderson's, James Hogg's immediately opposite; then Tom Taylor's store; then, on the left, Edmund Pitt's dwelling, then Tom Taylor's house, then (East of the Raleigh road) President Caldwell's , then Mr. Hooper's; immediately opposite to the latter was Mrs. Puckett's. This was then the principal street. South from Mrs. Nunn's Hotel was William Barbee's house, and then your house (Elisa Mitchell's). Then west was Panell's and Watson's homes. These I believe were at that time the houses composing the village; with two college buildings; and Person Hall, Chapel.
Comments:
Greg Ferrell
1:31 PM Thu 12/17/2009
After looking at your map I finally understand how Hillsborough Street got its name. I always thought north Columbia Street was the primary road out of town towards Hillsborough, but obviously it did not exist until Chapel Hill was well established
K Fleming
2:48 PM Wed 12/16/2009
I want to thank you for all the historical pieces on Chapel Hill and the University of North Carolina. I really enjoy learning about the history of this wonderful university town.
Meaghan Christopher
2:27 PM Tue 12/15/2009
I have walked by the Hooper-Kyser house more than a hundred times without realizing, until reading this, that it is the oldest home in Chapel Hill. I often see the historical plaque by the door, but always assumed that it was because such a famous person had lived there.
Andrea H
10:12 AM Tue 12/15/2009
I moved to Chapel Hill in 2003 and have recently been learning about the history of the town through this website. It is really hard to believe that two hundred years ago this was all there was to Chapel Hill, yet in reality I can see the heart and soul of the place was there then.
Check out our other website:
Investment strategies and advice about Apple Inc. and related technology companies by Charly Mann. www.appleinvesting.com
Investment strategies and advice about Apple Inc. and related technology companies by Charly Mann. www.appleinvesting.com
Chapel Hill is located on a hill whose only distinguishing feature in the 18th century was a small chapel on top called New Hope Chapel. This church was built in 1752 and is currently the location of The Carolina Inn. The town was founded in 1819, and chartered in 1851.
What is it that binds us to this place as to no other? It is not the well or the bell or the stone walls. or the crisp October nights. No, our love for this place is based upon the fact that it is as it was meant to be, The University of the People.
-- Charles Kuralt
Dark Side of the Hill -- Pink Floyd, the creators of the most popular album in history, Dark Side of the Moon, took the second half of their name from Floyd Council, a Chapel Hill native, and great blues singer and guitarist. He once belonged to a group called "The Chapel Hillbillies".
Check out Charly Mann's other website:
Oklahoma Birds and Butterflies
http://oklahomabirdsandbutterflies.com
Oklahoma Birds and Butterflies
http://oklahomabirdsandbutterflies.com
There would probably be no Chapel Hill if the University of North Carolina Board of Trustees in 1793 had not chosen land across from New Hope Chapel for the location of the university. By 1800 there were about 100 people living in thirty houses surrounding the campus.
The University North Carolina's first student was Hinton James, who enrolled in February, 1795. There is now a dormitory on the campus named in his honor.
The University of North Carolina was closed from 1870 to 1875 because of lack of state funding.
William Ackland left his art collection and $1.25 million to Duke University in 1940 on the condition that he would be buried in the art museum that the University was to build with his bequest. Duke rejected this condition even though members of the Duke Family are buried in Duke Chapel. What followed was a long and acrimonious legal battle between Ackland relatives who now wanted the inheritance, Rollins College, and the University of North Carolina, each attempting to receive the funds. The case went all the way to the United States Supreme Court, and in 1949 UNC was awarded the money for the museum. Ackland is buried near the museum's entrance. When the museum first opened, in the early sixties, there were rumors that his remains were leaking out of the mausoleum.
The official name of the Arboretum on the University of North Carolina campus is the Coker Arboretum. It is named after Dr. William Cocker, the University's first botany professor. It occupies a little more than five acres. It was founded in 1903.
Chapel Hill's main street has always been called Franklin Street. It was named after Benjamin Franklin in the early 1790s.
Chapel Hill High School and Chapel Hill Junior High were on Franklin Street in the same location as University Square until the mid 1960s.
The Colonial Drug Store at 450 West Franklin Street was owned and operated by John Carswell. It was famous for a fresh-squeezed carbonated orange beverage called a "Big O". In the early 1970s, I managed the Record and Tape Center next door, and must have had over 100 of those drinks. The Colonial Drug Store closed in 1996.
Sutton's Drugstore, which opened in 1923, has one of the last soda fountains in the South. It is one of the few businesses remaining on Franklin Street that was in operation when I was growing up in the 1950s.
Future President Gerald Ford lived in Chapel Hill twice. First when he was 24, in 1938, he took a law couse in summer school at UNC. He lived in the Carr Building, which was a law school dormitory. At the same time, Richard Nixon, the man he served under as Vice President, was attending law school at Duke. In 1942, Ford returned to Chapel Hill to attend the U.S. Navy's Pre-Flight School training program. He lived in a rental house on Hidden Hills Drive.
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