Pastoral beauty.
For an alphabetical index of the New England College series of pieces, click here.
We have visited many beautiful New England colleges but none comes close to the sheer physical beauty of Colgate, a school for 2,900 undergraduates adjacent to the charming town of Hamilton, New York. Where some schools insist on the latest architect du jour as designer of the newest buildings, Colgate sticks to its classical style and the result is glorious.
A solid endowment sees to it that nothing is cheapened and we were lucky to chance on a guided tour by two enthusiastic sophomores who showed us the ropes on a beautiful New York summer day. The school dates from 1819 and rests on an 575 acre campus an hour out from Syracuse and Ithaca. Student car ownership is permitted which makes access to these larger cities feasible.
Pastoral serenity.
The Admissions building.
The Memorial Chapel
Inside the Chapel.
Student housing.
Picture perfect.
Michael and Cassie, our enthusiastic sophomore guides.
The main dining hall, one of many dining facilities on campus.
This building was slated for demolition as a stylistic mismatch, but a student protest saw to it that it survived.
Olin Hall. Yes, yet another Olin building, this one an arts center.
Neptune’s Horn by Jonathan Kirk.
The Robert H. N. Ho Science Center is beyond magnificent.
Errant dino.
Botany and biology. Superb architecture.
In the Student’s Center. Winston at left.
Cassie and Michael frame the beautiful vista with Taylor Lake in the background.
Donovan’s Pub, yet another dining facility. Colgate has made major efforts to enhance the quality of food offered, a smart move in a competitive universe.
The Case-Geyer Library.
Distinguished alumni include journalists Andy Rooney, Gloria Borger and Monica Crowley, John Dean of Watergate fame (oops!), John Cassavetes and Bob Balaban.