Davie Poplar is a large tulip poplar tree located in McCorkle Place on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill . Named in honor of Revolutionary War general and university founder William Richardson Davie , the tree is approximately 300 to 375 years old.
15-467: As plans were being drawn up for the university in 1792, it was already a large tree, and legend has it that Davie personally chose to locate the school lands around the tree after having a pleasant summer lunch underneath it. The story is not true – the university's location was chosen by a six-man committee in November 1792 – and the tree was named by Cornelia Phillips Spencer in the late 1800s to commemorate
30-588: Is a repository of distinct archival collections at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill which document the culture and history of the American South. These collections are made up of unique primary materials, such as manuscripts , letters, photographs, diaries, drawings, scrapbooks, journals, oral histories , maps, ledgers, moving images, literary manuscripts, albums, and other materials. The North Carolina Historical Society began collecting manuscripts at
45-580: The Southern Historical Collection was officially established. Dr. Hamilton served as director, and the initial endowment was offered by Sarah Graham Kenan . Upon Hamilton's 1951 retirement, the Southern Historical Collection held roughly 2,140,000 manuscript items. The Southern Historical Collection now holds more than 15 million items, which are organized into over 4,600 discrete collections. The collection can be found in Wilson Library on
60-701: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1844. The collecting stopped in the early twentieth century when the Society ceased operation. The holdings were then transferred to the University Library. By the 1920s, Dr. J. G. de Roulhac Hamilton, a professor of history was corresponding about the idea of creating "a great library of Southern human records." Hamilton began traveling the South, in his "faithful Fords," seeking out and gathering materials. On January 14, 1930,
75-415: The campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Materials are available for on-site research, but are non-circulating due to rarity and fragility. The collections held in the Southern Historical Collection are described in online and print finding aids , which contain information on the history or background of the entity (person, family, or organization) that created the collection, as well as
90-520: The fire. In 2024, a large population of chimney swifts was documented to use the tree as a roosting site. This marks one of the only known modern cases of swifts roosting in large, hollow trees, which were their ancestral roosting sites prior to mass logging of such trees after European settlement. 35°54′46″N 79°03′06″W / 35.9128°N 79.0517°W / 35.9128; -79.0517 Cornelia Phillips Spencer Cornelia Phillips Spencer (March 20, 1825 – March 11, 1908)
105-399: The legend. The most enduring legend associated with the tree is that as long as Davie Poplar remains standing, the university will thrive; if it falls, the university will crumble. As such, many steps have been taken to preserve the tree. In 1918, after the tree was struck by lightning and fear that the tree was dying, UNC grafted a new tree, called Davie Poplar Jr. A second Davie Poplar Jr.
120-477: The school's reopening and, on March 20, 1875, Spencer climbed to the roof of the South Building and rang its bell to celebrate. She contributed to the university by writing hymns for special occasions, organizing community events and keeping the alumni records. In 1895, she became the first woman to receive an honorary degree from the University. Cornelia Phillips Spencer died at her home in on March 11, 1908. She
135-479: The trees were planted is not known, except for the Burke County seedling, which is in front of Table Rock Middle School. In 1996, Davie Poplar was damaged by Hurricane Fran . A fire was set and a small device was detonated at the base of Davie Poplar on November 2, 2017, producing a small fire ball and scorching the side of the tree. The explosion caused minor injuries to Dr. Daniel Reichart who tried to stomp out
150-588: The university for local newspapers. She published regular columns in The North Carolina Presbyterian and the Raleigh Sentinel . She urged the North Carolina legislature to close the university in 1870 to protect the school from Reconstruction politics, later revealed to be her own disagreement with the politics of university leaders at the time. After Reconstruction, she similarly urged
165-555: The university, was awarded annually from 1994 until 2004, when it was retired following the discovery that Spencer espoused racist views, based on letters found in university archives, including opposing the admission of African-American students. The University Awards for the Advancement of Women were created following the Bell Awards' retirement. Posthumously: Southern Historical Collection The Southern Historical Collection
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#1732869533540180-467: Was United States solicitor general under President Ulysses S. Grant.) In 1826, James Phillips took a post as a mathematics professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill . She married James Monroe Spencer in 1855 and moved to Alabama, where their only child, Julia (later known as June Spencer Love), was born in 1859. Spencer and her daughter returned to Chapel Hill after her husband's death in 1861, where she began her first book and wrote about
195-523: Was a poet, social historian and journalist in North Carolina , United States, who was instrumental in reopening the University of North Carolina after a five-year shutdown during the Reconstruction era . Cornelia Ann Phillips was born on March 20, 1825, in Harlem , New York City , New York , the youngest of three children born to James Phillips and Judith Vermeule Phillips. (Her brother Samuel F. Phillips
210-624: Was interred in Old Chapel Hill Cemetery . Her collected papers are in the Southern Historical Collection at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The university's Spencer Residence Hall is also named for her. As part of the university's bicentennial activities, the Cornelia Phillips Spencer Bell Award was established. The award, given to a woman who has made outstanding contributions to
225-463: Was planted near Hinton James Hall. Later, another tree, called Davie Poplar III, was planted nearby with a seed from the original tree. A steel band was added to Davie Poplar in 1953 to attach cables to other trees, and the base has been filled with concrete and pruned to keep it upright. As part of the university's bicentennial celebration in 1993, 100 seedlings from the tree were given to 100 children planted across North Carolina's 100 counties . Where
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