Carolina up-close

With the campus rush during the academic year, it’s easy to miss some of the small details that bring immense beauty to Carolina.

We invite you to slow down for a moment and take an up-close look at some of Chapel Hill’s most iconic spots.

One of the busiest spots on campus, the University’s well on McCorkle Place once served as the primary source of drinking and bathing water for students, faculty and staff.

In 1897, a wooden shelter based on the Temple of Love at Versailles was added to cover the well. The current structure — what we now call the Old Well — was built in 1954 using wooden columns, a marble base and copper roof.

Over the last 65 years, the Old Well has become an icon for Carolina.

Named for the late William D. Carmichael Jr., Carmichael Arena is currently home to the volleyball, gymnastics, wrestling and women’s basketball teams. Before moving to the Smith Center, the Tar Heel men’s basketball team compiled an amazing 169-20 record at Carmichael Arena.

Today, 6,822 fans can fill the arena to cheer on the Tar Heels.

Outside the Morehead Planetarium and Science Center sits a grand sundial that was created by Joe Hakan, chief engineer for campus construction in the 1950s and 1960s. Tasked with creating a sundial so accurate that Chapel Hillians could rely on it to catch a train, Hakan stayed up nights pinpointing the location of the North Star to be accurate.

At nearly 36 feet in diameter and 113 feet in circumference, it is one of the largest in the world. The shadow-casting gnomon is approximately 24 feet long and 20 feet tall.

Completed in 1931, Graham Memorial Hall was built in honor of Edward Kidder Graham, who served as the 10th president of the University of North Carolina. The building initially functioned as the University’s first student union and included a library, a barbershop, a bowling alley and a game room.

The building is now home to the James M. Johnston Center for Undergraduate Excellence.