Joseph Caldwell
Posted by: 
showbizkid
N 35° 54.763 W 079° 03.109
17S E 675789 N 3976020
Grave site and memorial to the first President of the University of North Carolina.
Waymark Code: WMCCE
Location: North Carolina, United States
Date Posted: 05/11/2006
Views: 40
Joseph Caldwell was born in Lammington, New Jersey, April 21, 1773 and died in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, January 24, 1835.
He graduated from Princeton in 1791, delivering the Latin salutatory, and then taught school in Lammington and Elizabethtown, where he began the study of divinity. He became tutor at Princeton in April, 1795.
In 1796, Caldwell was appointed professor of mathematics in the University of North Carolina. He found the institution, then only five years old, in a feeble state, nearly destitute of buildings, library, and apparatus, and he is understood to be the guiding force in saving it from ruin.
He was made its first president in 1804, and held the office until his death, with the exception of the years from 1812 till 1817. Princeton gave him the degree of D.D. in 1816. In 1824 he visited Europe to purchase apparatus and select books for the library of the university. Caldwell County in North Carolina is named for him.
His grave site is in a grove of trees surrounding the University buildings. The monument was installed 12 years after his death. The original marker had deteriorated. Caldwell's wife and son were late interred at the site.
To record your own visit to this waymark, post your own photo of the monument along with some comments about your visit. Logs must contain a photo as proof of your visit. Thanks.