University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

=== Campus features ===
[[File:Old Well UNC.jpg|thumb|Students walk past the [[Old Well]], a symbol of UNC-Chapel Hill for years]]
[[File:The Morehead Patterson Bell Tower.jpg|thumb|upright|The Morehead–Patterson Bell Tower was completed in 1931 and stands 172 feet tall.<ref name="unc.edu">{{cite web|url=http://www.unc.edu/tour/LEVEL_2/belltower.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011223144653/http://www.unc.edu/tour/LEVEL_2/belltower.htm |archive-date=December 23, 2001 |title=Belltower Tour Stop|publisher=Unc.edu|access-date=July 10, 2012}}</ref>|alt=A bell tower in the night with lit up archways at the base and a clock near the top of the tower.]]

Located in McCorkle Place is the [[Davie Poplar]] tree under which a popular legend says the university's founder, [[William Richardson Davie]], selected the location for the university. The legend of the Davie Poplar says that as long as the tree stands, so will the university.<ref name="poplar">{{cite book|last=Loewer|first=H. Peter |title=Jefferson's Garden|publisher=Stackpole Books|location=Mechanicsburg, PA|year=2004|page=228|isbn=0-8117-0076-3}}</ref> However, the name was not associated with the tree until almost a century after the university's foundation.<ref name=McCorklePlace>{{cite web|url=https://gradschool.unc.edu/funding/gradschool/weiss/interesting_place/landmarks/mccorkle.html|title=McCorkle Place|website=UNC-Chapel Hill Graduate School|access-date=November 27, 2023}}</ref> A graft from the tree, named Davie Poplar Jr., was plated nearby in 1918 after the original tree was struck by lightning.<ref name=McCorklePlace/> A second graft, Davie Poplar III, was planted in conjunction with the university's [[wikt:bicentennial|bicentennial]] celebration in 1993.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.unc.edu/tour/LEVEL_2/davie.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011223154454/http://www.unc.edu/tour/LEVEL_2/davie.htm  |archive-date=December 23, 2001 |title=Davie Poplar |access-date=April 5, 2008 |year=2001 |work=A Self-Guided Tour of Campus |publisher=UNC Visitors' Center }}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Valle |first=Kirsten |date=2004-10-12 |title=Reflections of a storied past |url=http://www.dailytarheel.com/2.1393/1.174415 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081207171930/http://www.dailytarheel.com/2.1393/1.174415 |archive-date=2008-12-07 |access-date=2023-12-11 |website=The Daily Tar Heel}}</ref>The student members of the university's [[Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies]] are not allowed to walk on the grass of McCorkle Place out of respect for the unknown resting place of [[Joseph Caldwell]], the university's first president.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.unc.edu/di_phi/join.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080105084705/http://www.unc.edu/di_phi/join.html|archive-date=January 5, 2008|title=The Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies|publisher=Unc.edu|access-date=July 10, 2012}}</ref>

A symbol of the university is the [[Old Well]], a small neoclassical [[rotunda (architecture)|rotunda]] at the south end of McCorkle Place based on the Temple of Love in the [[Gardens of Versailles]], in the same location as the original well that provided water for the school.<ref name="landmarks">{{cite web|url=http://museum.unc.edu/exhibits/architecture/the-temple-of-love-versailles-1775-left-and-the-ol/|title=Architectural Highlights of Carolina's Historic Campus|access-date=September 11, 2010|publisher=The Carolina Story|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100610011548/http://museum.unc.edu/exhibits/architecture/the-temple-of-love-versailles-1775-left-and-the-ol/|archive-date=June 10, 2010|url-status=dead}}</ref> The well stands at the south end of McCorkle Place, the northern quad, between two of the campus's oldest buildings, [[Old East]], and Old West.

The historic [[Playmakers Theatre]] is located on Cameron Avenue between McCorkle Place and Polk Place. It was designed by [[Alexander Jackson Davis]], the same architect who renovated the northern façade of [[Old East]] in 1844.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.unc.edu/tour/LEVEL_2/playmakers.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020112001540/http://www.unc.edu/tour/LEVEL_2/playmakers.htm|archive-date=January 12, 2002|title=Playmakers Theater Tour Stop |publisher=Unc.edu|access-date=July 10, 2012}}</ref> The east-facing building was completed in 1851 and initially served as a library and as a ballroom. It was originally named Smith Hall after North Carolina Governor [[Benjamin Smith (North Carolina)|General Benjamin Smith]], who was a special aide to [[George Washington]] during the [[American Revolutionary War]] and was an early benefactor to the university.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://museum.unc.edu/exhibits/early_benefactors/benjamin-smith-1756-1826-1/ |title=The Carolina Story—Carolina's Early Benefactors |publisher=Museum.unc.edu |access-date=July 10, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120317051748/http://museum.unc.edu/exhibits/early_benefactors/benjamin-smith-1756-1826-1/ |archive-date=March 17, 2012 |url-status=live }}</ref> When the library moved to Hill Hall in 1907, the building was transferred between the school of law and the agricultural chemistry department until it was taken over by the university theater group, the Carolina Playmakers, in 1924. It was remodeled as a theater, opening in 1925 as Playmakers Theater. <ref>{{cite web|url=https://unchistory.web.unc.edu/building-narratives/playmakers/|title=Names in Brick and Stone: Histories from UNC's Built Landscape|website=UNC–Chapel Hill|access-date=November 27, 2023}}</ref> Playmakers Theatre was declared a [[National Historic Landmark]] in 1973.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nps.gov/nhl/designations/Lists/NC01.pdf|title=National Historic Landmarks Survey|access-date=November 4, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121104193510/http://www.nps.gov/nhl/designations/Lists/NC01.pdf|archive-date=November 4, 2012}}</ref>

The Morehead–Patterson bell tower, south of the Wilson Library, was commissioned by [[John Motley Morehead III]], the benefactor of the [[Morehead-Cain Scholarship]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.unc.edu/about/landmarks.html|title=UNC.edu|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19991003033211/http://www.unc.edu/about/landmarks.html|archive-date=October 3, 1999}}</ref> The hedge and surrounding landscape was designed by [[William Chambers Coker|William C. Coker]], botany professor and creator of the [[Coker Arboretum|campus arboretum]]. Traditionally, seniors have the opportunity to climb the tower a few days prior to May commencement.<ref name="unc.edu"/>