PART I

CHAPEL HILL

The history of Chapel Hill and the history of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are one and the same. In 1789, the North Carolina General Assembly charted the creation of the University of North Carolina, which was to be the first public university to admit students in the United States. The University of Georgia had been chartered by the Georgia General Assembly in 1785 but did not admit students until 1801. Near an old Anglican church, the cornerstone was laid for the East Building on October 12, 1793. In February 1795, a young man named Hinton James, having walked all the way from Wilmington, North Carolina, arrived at the university as its first student. He was alone for two weeks before other students began to arrive. The university grew and prospered over the years and survived the dark days during and after the Civil War. The doors were closed briefly during Reconstruction, due to political and financial strife, but the school survived these times and again reopened its doors to students. In 1932, the process of consolidating the universities in North Carolina into one system began. The system became fully coeducational in 1965, as the Women's College of North Carolina became the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. It was during this period that the original campus became known as the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Today, the school has one of the most beautiful campuses in the United States and boasts traditions that rival any other university in the nation. The campus at UNC is made up of quads, the two main being Polk Place and the "Pit." Polk Place is named after President James K. Polk, who was a native of North Carolina and an alumnus of the university. The Pit does not have a great namesake, but it is the central part of the campus for the students. The bookstore and dining halls are located at the Pit, and it is close to the library. When the weather is nice, the Pit becomes a melting pot of students, talking and relaxing during the time that one could only hope is between classes.

Close to this hot spot, across the street between the Pit and Keenan Stadium, where the Carolina football team plays, is the Morehead- Patterson Bell Tower. The bell tower is a stunning sight, especially in the fall as the sun slowly sets, and the tower is illuminated against the autumn sky. Across the campus, between the Old East and Old West Buildings, is the Old Well. Modeled after the Temple of Love in the Garden of Versailles, the Old Well was built on the spot of the original working well at the university. It is said that if incoming freshmen drink from the well, they will receive straight As for their first semester of classes. This myth can be discredited by an ungodly number of people. Across McCorkle Place, near the infamous Franklin Street — the staging ground for the many celebrations for national titles and other big basketball game victories — stands the most controversial student at the school. Silent Sam is a monument that was built to honor the many young men that left the school to fight in the Civil War. Some argue that the statue represents the fight to uphold the practice of slavery, but supporters of the statue say that Silent Sam represents those who, as in most wars, did not make the policies or start the war but were drafted to fight in it.

The university has many traditions, such as the Halloween celebration that takes place on Franklin Street every year and draws the most charming people imaginable to the party. The sports traditions are the most famous for the university and, again, are comparable to any other university in the United States. The football team has a long-standing rivalry with the University of Virginia, which dates back to the creation of the football teams at both schools. In more recent history, this rivalry has been overshadowed by UNC's football rivalry with North Carolina State University, which is located right down the road in Raleigh. UNC's biggest rivalry, however, is on the hardwood with the Duke University Blue Devils of Durham, which is even closer than Raleigh. These two basketball powerhouses are located roughly eight miles apart and play at least twice a year. These games for fans of both schools are like the Super Bowl, Christmas and a trip to the dentist wrapped up in one. The games always prove to be close contests that are rarely decided before the final seconds, and losing could mean prodding by co-workers or friends from the time of the game until the next meeting.

In concluding this brief history of UNC, there only remains one question: what the hell is a "Tar Heel"? The answer is in legend rather than historical fact. Sometime during the Civil War (or, as sometimes told, the Revolutionary War), the soldiers from North Carolina were joshing the soldiers from Virginia about their inadequacy on the field of battle, when one of the Virginians stated that the North Carolinians needed to get some tar and put it on the bottoms of their shoes to help them to stick in battle instead of running away from the fight. The name, too, stuck and naturally was carried back to the place that represents the state that the men called home.

Because of its beauty, mystique and tradition, the University of North Carolina is a place where anyone who attends the school or lives in Chapel Hill would want to stay forever. It appears that some poor souls did, in fact, decide to spend eternity there. There are many stories and legends of ghosts in Chapel Hill. The unusal thing about the stories that are heard and passed down in a university town is that we will never know how much of the story is true and how much of the story is just urban legend handed down through generations of students. Either way, the stories are entertaining and certainly help to carry on the tradition of Chapel Hill.

The Horace Williams House

The Horace Williams House in Chapel Hill is owned today by the Preservation Society of Chapel Hill, and it serves as its headquarters. The house has gone through many changes and renovations over the years. The oldest part of the house is the dining room, or the farmhouse room, as it is sometimes called, which was built in the 1840s. The property, along with the house, was purchased from the university for $300 in 1855 by a chemistry professor named Benjamin S. Hedrick. During the time that Hedrick owned the...