Sewanee: The University of the South
N 35° 12.241 W 085° 55.237
16S E 598252 N 3896201
The University of the South is a private, coeducational liberal arts college located in Sewanee, Tennessee. It is owned by twenty-eight southern dioceses of the Episcopal Church and its School of Theology is an official seminary of the denomination.
Waymark Code: WM24TF
Location: Tennessee, United States
Date Posted: 09/03/2007
Views: 37
On July 4, 1857, delegates from ten dioceses of the Episcopal Church — Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas — met together at Lookout Mountain to found a denominational college for the region. The cornerstone, laid on October 10, 1860, was destroyed in 1863 by Union soldiers from an Illinois regiment; many of the pieces were collected and kept as keepsakes by the soldiers. Several figures later prominent in the Confederacy, notably Bishop Leonidas Polk, General Edmund Kirby Smith and Bishop James Hervey Otey, were involved in the founding of the University.
Due to the damage and disruptions of the Civil War, construction came to a momentary halt around that time. In 1866 the process was resumed, and this date is usually given as the re-founding of the University and the point from which it has maintained continuous operations. The University's first convocation was held on September 18, 1868, with nine students and four faculty members present. It is also noted that after the Civil War, Robert E. Lee was offered to head the school but declined, choosing instead to work at Washington College in his native Virginia.
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