South Carolina College Tour

While visiting our son and daughter-in-love this fall we realized that there were a couple of college campuses nearby. So we did something we had never done before because Brian never wanted to go away to college. And since we were in the area we did a western South Carolina College Tour.

The first campus that we toured was Clemson University. Which, according to Clemson, is South Carolina’s University. This beautiful campus is home to “one of the most productive public universities in the nation. Clemson attracts and unites students and faculty whose greatest desire is to make a difference in the lives of others — starting with our neighbors in South Carolina and extending globally in the areas of health, agriculture, engineering and mobility.

Through an endowment from Thomas Green Clemson, the college was founded in 1889. Clemson was born in Philadelphia and got his education as an engineer, musician and artist in Europe. He married John C. Calhoun’s daughter, Anna Maria and eventually they settled at her family’s plantation in South Carolina. Clemson was a longtime advocate for an agricultural college in the Upstate, so he left his home and fortune to the state of South Carolina in order to create what is now known as Clemson University.

A bill was signed by SC Governor John Peter Richardson in November 1889 to accept Clemson’s generous gift. Thus establishing the Clemson Agricultural College.

When Clemson opened it was an all-male, all-white military school. Clemson Agricultural College opened in July 1893 and enrolled 446 students. In 1955 Clemson became a coeducational, civilian institution.

I also find it important to note that in 1963, with the admission of Harvey Gantt, Clemson became the first traditionally white institution in South Carolina to desegregate. Academic offerings and research pursuits at the institution elevated Clemson from a college to a University in 1964.

One of the things we really enjoyed on Clemson’s campus was their Botanical Gardens. We strolled for bit so we could view interesting and unusual plants. But it was very windy and chilly when we went so we cut our meandering short and headed for the Fran Hanson Visitors Center and Gift Shop. Now you didn’t think we were going to leave there without a souvenir magnet, did you?

Our conversation over dinner that night was filled with college stories. And that lead to Eve telling us about Furman University which was also nearby in Greenville, SC. She said it was the most beautiful campus she’d ever seen. So, of course, we had to see for ourselves.

A few days after our Clemson tour, we headed to Greenville. Our first stop in Greenville was at Duck Donuts because we needed the breakfast of champions. We needed our Maple Bacon donuts for sustenance. But obviously we had to bring some donuts home for our kids, since they are the once that originally turned us on to Duck Donuts when we first began our full time RV life.

Furman University’s campus is every bit as gorgeous as Eve said it was. The beautiful buildings, rolling green lawn and lush landscaping made me want to matriculate!!!

We definitely noticed that there’s something different about this campus. To begin with it’s nestled in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Furman’s residential campus is as beautiful as it is welcoming.

Furman University is the oldest private university in South Carolina. It was founded in 1826 and is also among the 75 oldest institutions of higher education in the nation. The university is named for Richard Furman, who was one of the most important Baptist clergyman of his time. He maintained lifelong ties to Rhode Island College which is now Brown University. Furman also “helped lead efforts to establish Columbian College (now George Washington University), South Carolina College (now the University of South Carolina), Furman, and Mercer University.

The South Carolina Baptist Convention established the original campus in Edgefield, SC. then, over the next three decades, the campus changed locations twice before settling in downtown Greenville, SC, in 1851. Furman began as a men’s academy and theological institute, but the theological school broke away from Furman in 1858 and the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

During the Civil Rights Movement legislation prohibited educational institutions from discriminating on the basis of race. On January 27, 1965, Furman admitted 3 African American students into its graduate education program. Only 2 days later, Joseph Allen Vaughn, a graduate of Greenville’s Sterling High School, desegregated Furman’s undergraduate student body.

Our South Carolina College Tour made me ponder where would I go to school if I was applying for college today. It would probably be Johnson and Wales so I could not only be a chef, but get my degree at the very same time. Now if only I could turn back the clock but retain all that I have learned over the years since high school!!!