I've noticed that my web site has recently had a number of visitors living in South Carolina. As a small thank-you to them, I'm posting eight pictures, many of which are of one of my favorite things in South Carolina, the "Old Main" building on the campus of Wofford College in Spartanburg, South Carolina. (For pictures, go to actual website listed at the end of this commentary).

The first two are logo-type images. The third picture is of an oil painting of "Old Main." The fourth image is an etching of The Main Building (Old Main) on Wofford College's campus in Spartanburg, SC. The fifth is from a rare postcard (I think from the early 1900s), and the following two are recherche, campus landscape daguerotypes, again from the early 1900s or before. The last is an image of the very first diploma awarded by the college.

A Spartanburg landmark since its construction between 1851 and 1854, "Old Main" was designed by the noted Charleston architect Edward C. Jones. The original architect's sketches, donated to the college in 1902 by Julia Chreitzberg, show that Jones conceived one of the most ambitious projects ever built in the classical Italianate style, then popular throughout the South for academic and other public buildings.

Wofford is one of only a handful of colleges and universities in the United States that were founded before the Civil War and still operate on their original campuses. The Wofford College campus has been named a National Historic District. It has five of the six original college buildings, all of which are in use today for various purposes. The beauty of its campus has resulted in its designation as an officially registered South Carolina arboretum.

Wofford is presently known in the academic world as a true "Pheonix rising from the ashes." It lost almost its entire endowment as a result of the Civil War. However, despite its meager financial resources, Wofford proudly struggled through the next twelve decades to provide an academically challenging education to its small student body. Forty-two Wofford alumni have gone on to become college and university presidents. For example, through the years Wofford graduates and faculty included the Founders or Presidents/Chancellors of Duke University, Vanderbilt University, The Candler School of Theology at Emory University, Southern Methodist University, Hendrix College, Randolph-Macon College and Mary Wahington College. A former President of the college went on to become the President of Southern Methodist University, Drew University and, finally, Chancellor of The University of North Carolina (as well as head of the entire University of North Carolina educational system).

Today, gaining increasing national recognition as a an academic "jewel" in the South, its endowment has been soaring, there has been an unprecedented level of restoration and construction of residence and academic facilities, along with the expansion of its faculty, with new faculty members drawn to the college from some of the most prestigious universities in the country. For many years, Wofford served students who came, for the most part, from South Carolina and immediate surrounding areas. Presently, it's become quite competitive in attracting exceptionally talented students from across the nation, as well as from abroad.

Intaminatus Fulget Honoribus
Shining with Untarnished Honor

Solitude and Hope:

http://disembedded.blogspot.com