Free “Heart of the Hill” walking tours in Chapel Hill — registration required

Campus Architecture
Sunday, October 2nd, 2022
3 p.m.
Register

Campus Architecture. Guided by JJ Bauer, UNC Professor of Art and Art History. Our UNC campus is like an illustrated history book of architecture with its various styles, features and flourishes – all working in concert to bring character, substance and beauty to our built environment. Professor Bauer wrote the addendum to the revised edition of John Allcott’s “The Campus at Chapel Hill,” published by the Chapel Hill Historical Society, available for sale at the Historical Society’s website and at local bookstores.

Walk This Way!
Sunday, October 23rd
3 p.m.
Register

Walk This Way! with Stephen and Sandra Rich. In ninety minutes you will walk up one side of Franklin Street and down the other in Chapel Hill’s first historic district. Learn about the history of the old village and America’s first public university through the stories, impact and influence of the people that lived along the street. Stephen and Sandra Rich are seasoned tour guides for Preservation Chapel Hill and active volunteers around town and campus since their return in 2003.

The Noble Grove: A Walking Tour of Trees
Sunday, October 30th, 2022
3 p.m.
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The Noble Grove: A Walking Tour of Trees. Chapel Hill has always had a love affair with trees! “As I saw Franklin Street in 1912, it was a dusty red avenue cut through a forest of magnificent trees… My first impression of Chapel Hill was trees; my last impression is trees… It is no wonder that Chapel Hillians are ardent tree worshippers and the symbol of the place is Davie Poplar,” said Robert B. House, Chancellor of the University of North Carolina from 1945-1957, in 1964. (Source: Robert B. House. The Light that Shines, Chapel Hill, 1912-1916. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1964.) Explore the history, care-taking and future of our iconic and heritage trees, in town and on campus, with UNC Arborist Tom Bythell.

Beneath Our Feet: An Archeological Look at Chapel Hill’s Earliest Days
Sunday, November 6th, 2022
3 p.m.
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Beneath Our Feet: An Archeological Look at Chapel Hill’s Earliest Days. Over the past 80 years, virtually all of the major discoveries in the understanding of North Carolina’s ancient past can be attributed to the Research Labs of Archeology (RLA) or to researchers trained there. Steve Davis, associate director of RLA and professor of archeology (recently retired), will lead us to several former archaeological sites nearby and share artifacts and found objects of the people here in the early days of Chapel Hill – and before.

Angels on Campus to Carolina Tar Heels: The History of Women at UNC Chapel Hill
Sunday, November 13th, 2022
3 p.m. 
Register

Angels on Campus to Carolina Tar Heels: the History of Women at UNC-Chapel Hill. Guided by Sarah Carrier, Research and Instruction Librarian at UNC’s Wilson Special Collections Library.