| Davie Poplar | |
|---|---|
 Davie Poplar in spring 2004 | |
| Location | McCorkle Place, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina |
| Established | c. 1650 |
| Website | Davie Poplar |
Davie Poplar is a large tulip poplar tree located in McCorkle Place on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Named in honor of Revolutionary War general and university founder William Richardson Davie, the tree is approximately 300 to 375 years old. [1]
As plans were being drawn up for the university in 1792, it was already a large tree, and legend has it that Davie personally chose to locate the school lands around the tree after having a pleasant summer lunch underneath it. The story is not true – the university's location was chosen by a six-man committee in November 1792 – and the tree was named by Cornelia Phillips Spencer in the late 1800s to commemorate the legend. [1] [2]
The most enduring legend associated with the tree is that as long as Davie Poplar remains standing, the university will thrive; if it falls, the university will crumble. As such, many steps have been taken to preserve the tree. In 1918, after the tree was struck by lightning and fear that the tree was dying, UNC grafted a new tree, called Davie Poplar Jr. A second Davie Poplar Jr. was planted near Hinton James Hall. Later, another tree, called Davie Poplar III, was planted nearby with a seed from the original tree. A steel band was added to Davie Poplar in 1953 to attach cables to other trees, and the base has been filled with concrete and pruned to keep it upright. [1]
As part of the university's bicentennial celebration in 1993, 100 seedlings from the tree were given to 100 children planted across North Carolina's 100 counties. [1] Where the trees were planted is not known, except for the Burke County seedling, which is in front of Table Rock Middle School.[ citation needed ] In 1996, Davie Poplar was damaged by Hurricane Fran. [2]
A fire was set and a small device was detonated at the base of Davie Poplar on November 2, 2017, producing a small fire ball and scorching the side of the tree. [3] The explosion caused minor injuries to Dr. Daniel Reichart who tried to stomp out the fire. [4]
Chapel Hill is a town in Orange and Durham County, North Carolina, United States. Its population was 61,960 in the 2020 census, making Chapel Hill the 17th-most populous municipality in the state. Chapel Hill and Durham make up the Durham-Chapel Hill, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area, which had an estimated population of 608,879 in 2023. When it's combined with Raleigh, the state capital, they make up the corners of the Research Triangle, which had an estimated population of 2,368,947 in 2023.
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolling students in 1795, making it one of the oldest public universities in the United States.
Research Triangle Park (RTP) is the largest research park in the United States, occupying 7,000 acres (2,833 ha) in North Carolina and hosting more than 300 companies and 65,000 workers. It is owned and managed by the Research Triangle Foundation, a private non-profit organization.
William Richardson Davie was an American statesman, politician, military general, Founding Father of the United States who served as the 10th Governor of North Carolina from 1798 to 1799. A member of the Federalist Party, Davie also served as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention as a representative of North Carolina. He is also one of the key founders of the University of North Carolina.
The Confederate Monument, University of North Carolina, commonly known as Silent Sam, is a bronze statue of a Confederate soldier by Canadian sculptor John A. Wilson, which once stood on McCorkle Place of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) from 1913 until it was pulled down by protestors on August 20, 2018. Its former location has been described as "the front door" of the university and "a position of honor".
The Old Well is a small, neoclassical cyclostyle on the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill campus at the southern end of McCorkle Place. The current decorative form of the Old Well was modeled after the Temple of Love in the Gardens of Versailles and was completed in 1897. It was designed by the university registrar Eugene Lewis Harris (1856-1901), an artist and 1881 graduate of the institution, who served as registrar from 1894 to 1901. It is the most enduring symbol of UNC.
Woody Lombardi Durham was an American play-by-play radio announcer for the North Carolina Tar Heels football and men's basketball programs from 1971 to 2011.
The William Lanier Hunt Arboretum is an arboretum and natural area that forms part of the North Carolina Botanical Garden. It is operated by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Old Mason Farm Road, Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The arboretum is private and not open to the public. Arboretum property was donated by William Lanier Hunt between the 1960s and the 1990s in order to protect natural areas and conserve woody plants of the southeastern United States. It includes several rhododendron bluffs in a gorge along Morgan Creek.
Rameses is the ram mascot of the North Carolina Tar Heels. The anthropomorphic version of him wears a Tar Heels jersey. Two versions of Rameses appear at UNC sporting events. One is a member of the UNC cheerleading team in an anthropomorphic ram costume; the other is a live Dorset Horn sheep named Rameses who attends Carolina football games with his horns painted Carolina blue. There is a third UNC mascot; another anthropomorphic ram, Rameses Jr., or RJ for short.
Franklin Street is a prominent thoroughfare in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Historic Franklin Street is considered the center of social life for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, as well as the town of Chapel Hill.
Mount Ulla Township is one of fourteen townships in Rowan County, North Carolina, United States. It is currently the smallest township in Rowan County by population.
On the morning of March 5, 2008, Eve Marie Carson was shot and killed in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States where she was a student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a coeducational public research university located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. It is one of three schools to claim the title of the oldest public university in the United States. The first public institution of higher education in North Carolina, the school opened on February 12, 1795.
Charles Wilson Harris was briefly presiding professor of the University of North Carolina during 1796.
Halloween on Franklin Street is a yearly tradition in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, that encompasses a massive gathering on Franklin Street, the cultural hub of the town. The Halloween celebration began in the early 1980s as a considerably smaller event, involving Chapel Hill residents and college students from The University of North Carolina. Attendees of the event dress up in creative Halloween costumes and walk up and down Franklin Street celebrating the holiday. Since its beginnings, the event had grown in size every year until 2008. Although not sponsored by the Town of Chapel Hill, the celebration has become an attraction for visitors from across the South. Between 2004 and 2007, it was estimated that about 80,000 people converged on Franklin Street for the event, while Chapel Hill is estimated to have a population of 54,492 as listed in the 2007 census, evidence of the number of people who make the trip to Chapel Hill to attend. Because of the size of the celebration, the Town of Chapel Hill closes Franklin Street to all vehicular traffic and prohibits parking anywhere near downtown. Along with the big crowds come safety issues, with some of the biggest concerns being alcohol poisoning and gang-related violence. To deal with these issues, hundreds of police officers patrol the downtown area throughout the entire night. In 2007, approximately 400 police officers were deployed to Franklin Street to ensure that nothing got out of hand. In 2008, the Town of Chapel Hill implemented new measures to attempt to cut down on the size of the Halloween celebration in an action dubbed "Homegrown Halloween" to reduce the crowd size and discourage people from out of town to come to Chapel Hill. The shuttle service that had formerly transported people from park and ride lots to Franklin Street was shut down and the results of Chapel Hill's efforts showed when about 35,000 people showed up for the event.
The UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy is located at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and includes a satellite campus at UNC Asheville. The Asheville School of Pharmacy campus opened in 2011, and graduated its first class in 2015.
The Unsung Founders Memorial at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a memorial located in McCorkle Place, one of the University's quads. It consists of a black granite tabletop supported by 300 bronze figurines and surrounded by 5 black stone seats. The inscription around the edge of the table reads:
The Class Of 2002 Honors The University's Unsung Founders – The People Of Color, Bond And Free – Who Helped Build The Carolina That We Cherish Today.
Daniel E. Reichart is an American astronomer. Reichart’s dissertation research on distant, cosmic explosions called gamma-ray bursts was ranked by Science Magazine as one of the top ten discoveries in science in 1999, and in 2003 earned him the Robert J. Trumpler Award, for top astrophysics dissertation research in North America. In 2005, he and his students discovered the most distant explosion in the universe yet known, a gamma-ray burst that occurred 12.9 billion years ago, when the universe was only 6% its current age.
Samuel Eusebius McCorkle was a pioneer Presbyterian preacher, teacher, advocate for public and private education in North Carolina, and the interceptor and progenitor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who first promoted the idea of establishing a university in the state.
Glendon is an unincorporated community in Moore County, North Carolina, United States.
35°54′46″N79°03′06″W / 35.9128°N 79.0517°W
