Old Well

At the southern end of McCorkle Place on the University of North Carolina campus, the Old Well stands between Old East and Old West as the university’s best-known symbol. Once the school’s only water supply, it took on its present decorative form in 1897 under president Edwin A. Alderman. Modeled after the Temple of Love at Versailles and designed by Eugene Lewis Harris, it later gained benches, brick walls, and plantings in 1954. A marble fountain fed by city water anchors a student tradition that a first-day drink brings good luck. Its cultural stature has earned national landscape recognition, inspired a replica in Kinston, and made it a focal point for athletic traditions and vandalism alike.

Chapel Hill, North Carolina · United States