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Harvard Campus Tour: 15 Best Places to Visit at Harvard

From lofty libraries to picturesque walks, from Harvard Square to Charles River, here are the 15 best places to include on your Harvard campus tour!

Whether you’re a new Harvard student starting your school year, or visiting Harvard University on a campus tour, there is so much to discover. My lovely university is a heaven for students, tourists and photographers alike. During my time at Harvard, I got plenty of visitors, both friends and family. And for everyone, it was an overwhelming experience taking in all the beauty of our breathtaking campus.

Harvard University is one of the most visited places in Boston, and even all of East Coast. A Harvard University tour is a memorable experience, since every visitor has seen parts of the campus either in movies, pictures or places that have been inspired by Harvard architecture.

Harvard Campus Tour – Where to Go

Harvard University is full of new and old buildings, beautiful architecture and iconic spots to take your pictures. Of course, some of the best places at Harvard are reserved for the students, so if you aren’t one, it’s best to visit with a student or during the Open House.

But whether you have a Harvard ID or not, Harvard University will have a lot to offer you if you’re visiting. From hallowed libraries to historic dining halls, busy dorms to picturesque riverside walks, here is my list of the 15 best places to visit at Harvard.

Harvard Square and the Coop

Harvard Square may not be the most iconic place at Harvard if you’re just googling images of the university. But for every student and visitor, this is where the tour starts. Harvard has a whole T station (metro, subway or underground) dedicated to it, called Harvard Square, which can be the starting point of your Harvard university tour. It’s also the meeting point if you ever lose your tour partners!

Located at the junction of John F. Kennedy Street and Massachusetts Avenue is the building of Cambridge Savings Bank, which has become something of a landmark over the years. Along with this building, other structures and shops such as bookstores, toy stores, and a Bank of America also surround Harvard Square.

Harvard Square is unmissable, central and is the congregation point, where students run into old friends, meet new acquaintances and grab a bite to eat. The most popular and central spot is Starbucks, below the Cambridge Savings Bank, which is right at the corner of Mass Ave, and opened while I was a student at Harvard. Right outside is the Cambridge Visitor’s Information Center booth.

Some other popular spots next to it are the Au Bon Pain, next to Starbucks, and The Coop, across the road, where you can buy all possible books and official Harvard merchandise.

Harvard Yard & John Harvard statue

The green space between undergraduate dormitories is called Harvard Yard, which is enclosed by iron fences, walls and gates. Harvard Yard is the most iconic place at Harvard University, and is a must on any Harvard campus tour.

It is one of the oldest areas that became a part of Harvard University in the late 1600s, housing Harvard College dorms. Now it is also home to the famous John Harvard Statue, where you can see throngs of tourists taking pictures every time, everyday, touching his shoe to take pictures.

However, Harvard students would never touch it, because we all know that urinating on John Harvard’s shoe is one of three traditional deeds some Harvard College students strive to complete. It still remains the most touched spots of Harvard University. Sigh.

Harvard Yard is spread over 25 acres (10 ha) and it’s boundaries have 25 gates, opening at Mass Ave, Science Center. The yard is also home to libraries and memorial church, where the Harvard graduation ceremony takes place annually.

The Yard is the best place to soak the sun and read, be around College students. If you’re traveling in the fall season, it’s a beautiful place to take pictures. Here, you can see the New England fall colors in their full glory.

Widener Library

This is right in the part of Harvard Yard that is behind the John Harvard statue (called Tercentenary Theater). Widener library is the oldest one at Harvard University. And it’s the largest private and university-owned library in the United States. It is home to 3.5 million books, countless stacks and all types of reading spaces.

The library is named after Harvard College alumus and book collector Harry Elkins Widener, who died in the sinking of the RMS Titanic in 1912.

Although Harvard has many beautiful libraries, Widener is my favorite one. With high ceilings, chandeliers and royal chairs, it’s easy to forget Widener can also have so many hidden low-lit spots in its depths too. I used to spend all my free time there as much as possible, discovering new reading spots and books. My favorites were the comfy high-backed chairs that face the tall windows opening into Harvard Yard.

Memorial Church

Situated right across Widener Library, this is another iconic building in Harvard University and one of the best parts of Harvard. Most Harvard students see and pass by it daily, whether on their way to their dorms, dining halls or classes. And of course, almost all Harvard students graduate here, although not every student has been inside it!

The interiors themselves are often used for ceremonies, commemoration, etc. For example, the only time I ever went inside was for a candlelight vigil for Japan’s 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

Although every year, the Church is home to bittersweet memories for everyone. The area in front of Memorial Church, the central green of Harvard Yard, is known as Tercentenary Theater. This is where the Harvard commencement ceremony takes place every year. Many celebrities and famous Harvard alumni have delivered graduation speeches on its porch, such as Steven Spielberg, Mark Zuckerberg, J.K. Rowling and John F. Kennedy.

Memorial Hall & Sanders Theater

Memorial Hall is yet another iconic building in Harvard University. The building is located near the Yard, at the junction of Cambridge, Kirkland, and Quincy Streets. It has high Victorian Gothic architectural style. Constructed in 1878, the building has many stained glass windows, ribbed vaults, spires and pointed arches.

Also called Mem Hall or just ‘Mem’, the building used to be the background of the John Harvard Statue in the early 1920s and before. Mem Hall houses three parts: Sanders Theater, Annenberg Hall and Memorial Transept.

Memorial Transept is a vault that anyone can enter, and is serves as the congregation space for Sanders Theater. It has a high vaulted ceiling and large stained-glass windows above the entrance on either side. Great place to take pictures, if only it were better lit. Either way, it’s an important one to include in your Harvard campus tour.

The Sanders Theater is Harvard University’s largest indoor space. Used for lectures, concerts and most notably, the annual graduation ceremony for Harvard College students. Sanders is where they receive their diplomas.

Even Harvard students aren’t allowed inside, unless it’s for a mandatory lecture or they have a pass for a particular lecture or ceremony. Most lectures that take place in Sanders are by celebrities or famous alumni, such as Winston Churchill, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Theodore Roosevelt have spoken there. One of the times I have attended a lecture there was when Bill Gates came to speak.

Although if you are accompanied by a Harvard student and you request, they may allow you to take a peek inside when the theater is not in use.

Annenberg Hall

Located inside the Memorial Hall, Annenberg Hall serves as the dining hall for freshmen of Harvard College. When it was constructed in 1874, people from all over the country came to visit, since it was one of the largest indoor meeting spaces ever constructed in the US.

It is also breathtakingly beautiful, and serves a large selection of food (yum!). With its large expansive, unobstructed space, Annenberg Hall is designed in Gothic style. It has stained glass windows, wooden trusses and vaulted ceiling. The hall is decorated with large hanging candelabras. Its walls have paintings of benefactors and presidents and its ceiling is so high I’m not even sure it exists!

Originally meant to be a place for alumni meetings, Annenberg was soon converted to a dining commons. Now it is used for the freshmen students only. And as a grad student, I only got the opportunity to eat there during the days my own dining hall was closed. (Of course, then my dorm mates and I loved it, because we were treated to their desserts, ice-cream and beautiful entrées.)

It is also used for dances, banquets, examinations and more. Also, Annenberg is what inspired the Great Hall in Harry Potter movies. Only Annenberg Hall is more beautiful.

Read more: Annenberg Hall & Harvard Memorial Hall: All You Need to Know

Science Center

Located north of Harvard Yard, Science Center is home to the computer labs, classrooms and science library for undergraduates. The first floor also houses a nice cafe where I frequently lunched.

To someone expecting the classic Harvard style of architecture, Science Center is not much to look at. In fact, not even many Harvard students find it pretty. That’s because it was constructed in the ’70s, amid the modernist movement, when designers sought to do something different than the existing antiquated Georgian architectural style.

The plaza in front of the Science Center is home to the beautiful Tanner fountain, where kids are often found playing and water-splashing! Students often put up Yard sales, College club events and protest rallies there. Oftentimes, you can also find food-trucks, farmers’ markets and even Quidditch practices there.

Harvard Graduate School of Design

Graduate School of Design or GSD is my alma mater, which is mainly located on 48 Quincy Street in a building named Gund Hall. The Gund is also constructed in glass, steel and concrete (just like the Science Center) and is different from the iconic Harvard architectural style.

Gund Hall has a stepped design, where different studios form the levels, called trays. The building has a lot of clear glass, allowing natural lights into the trays, where students have their drawing boards or desks.

GSD also has a yard where student works are often exhibited, including those using 3D printing, robotic machines, CNC machines, etc.

The area near the entrance at the first floor of GSD is used to exhibit student work throughout the year. These exhibitions are specifically designed to give a new “interior look” to the space with each exhibit, often theme-based or interactive. This space also houses temporary events, student performances and the spillage from the events happening in cafeteria called Chauhaus and the Piper Auditorium.

Harvard Law School & HLS Library

Harvard Law School (HLS) is located near the northwest of the Harvard Yard. The HLS library is a beautiful old building with a big yard in front of it. Named Langdell Hall, it is immediately recognizable with its large windows, columns and Harvardian architecture style.

HLS library has a large, high-ceilinged chandelier-lit reading space with countless stacks filled with law-books. But they serve free hot-chocolate at night, so it’s a good place for non-law-students to study, too. You can get in with a Harvard ID, and discover their chessboard coffee tables, too! HLS library is my second favorite library after Widener, and was also my first workplace after my Harvard graduation, where I worked for a whole year to create digital learning spaces.

Wassterstein Hall Harvard Law School

Take a secret underground passage from the HLS library and it takes you to the newly built Wasserstein Hall. (You can also get to it from above the ground, tho, but where’s the fun in that?) It is one of the newest and most beautiful buildings in all of Harvard University, and was opened when I was a student.

The Wassterstein houses a large fireplace-lit study space with the coziest high-backed chairs, two cafeterias and a bar, pool table and the most gorgeous toilets you can find on-campus. Even balconies and a grand semi-circular staircase. What more reason could there be to include it in your Harvard campus tour? I used to lunch here everyday when I was an employee at the HLS library, and the first-floor cafe is great for an evening snack (they have great fries).

Natural History Museum

Located north of the Science Center and near the graduate dorms, the Natural History Museum is a great place where many students don’t even go throughout their time at Harvard! Although admission is open only to Harvard community.

It is such a hidden gem within the university, especially to go if you’re visiting harvard with kids. In fact, the only time I went here was when I was showing my parents around the campus the day before my graduation ceremony (they loved it!).

The museum is home to many permanent and temporary exhibits that any student will love. These include a paleontology exhibit, which has the fossils of Kronosaurus, a 42-foot-long prehistoric marine reptile. Also, there’s exhibits of birds, wildlife microbes and a famous glass-flower exhibition.

Radcliffe Quad

Located north of the Harvard campus, the Radcliffe Quad, or just “Quad”, is not much of a touristy spot, but is a great place to visit if you’re a Harvard graduate student and looking to explore the campus. The Radcliffe Quadrangle houses the Quad green and undergraduate dormitories, including the oft-photographed Cabot house and Pforzheimer house.

The walk from Cambridge Commons to Radcliffe Quadrangle is a beautiful one, and depending on the season, you’ll see brilliant tulips or fall colors.

Malkin Athletic Center & Harvard Stadium

Harvard stadium.

The Malkin Athletic Center (MAC) and the Harvard Stadium are located at completely different parts of the campus, but I have to include them together here.

The Harvard Stadium is south of the campus, across from HBS. The world-renowned stadium was built in 1903, and is a National Historic Landmark. It’s an essential part of any Harvard campus tour.

The Stadium is primarily a College football stadium, but they also use it for music festivals and other sports. It’s next to the humongous Blodgett Pool (one one that you see Robert Langdon swimming in in the Da Vinci Code movie).

Malkin Athletic Center (MAC)

The MAC is my favorite gymnasium at Harvard and is the perf spot for all Harvard students to work out. The gym is located south of the Harvard square, and is a large five story facility.

In the center is a large pool, and the upper floors have the cardio rooms with a view of the pool. Actually, I find the group exercise mezannine space overlooking the pool even prettier! This is where I discovered my passion for Zumba (miss it!). The building also houses many weight rooms, strength training equipment, basketball court and what not.

Charles River

The Charles river is an iconic body that divides the main Harvard campus. The north part of the campus on the north of Charles is the Cambridge campus, that borders at Memorial Drive. And the southern one is Allston campus, that starts at Soldiers Field Road. These two are connected by the Anderson Memorial Bridge, which is the perfect spot to take pictures and view both sides. It’s a must-see spot when visiting Harvard and MIT.

The space next to Memorial Drive is where you’ll see the bike path, students lounging around after classes, and skateboarders. The John F. Kennedy Memorial Park is right next to it, featuring a fountain. And while you’re here, also walk around to discover tiny lanes, tree-lined avenues. If you’re on a self-guided harvard tour, walk west, and enjoy a quiet cappuccino at Darwin’s, or go up north to have a cup of tea at Pete’s Cafe.

Harvard Business School

Harvard Business School is the top-pick for MBA tourists or student-visitors who like business management. Located in Allston, the HBS campus is a bit separated from the main campus by the Charles River. However, it’s a beautiful campus that all students and visitors should check out on their Harvard campus tour.

Right from across the river, you’ll see the iconic Baker Library, a world-famous building. It has the best place to take a picture at Harvard – in the HBS yard, with Baker Library forming the backdrop. And if you want one with the Harvard sign, check out the HBS sign at the back entrance.

The next spot to check out is Spangler Center, which is the student center. A relatively new building, Spangler has the same Georgian architecture style that the old Harvard buildings have. Inside is a massive student lounge that’s actually the last place I can concentrate in, because it seems a bit daunting.

The HBS cafeteria is inside too, which is rather nice and serves different cuisines everyday. The dining hall is gorgeous with large tables and chandeliers (although nobody joins you if you’re eating alone). Step underground to their bar and also check out their underground passages while you’re at it. (It leads to the library).

– Experience the Harvard Student Life with Me: How is Life at Harvard – Is Harvard Worth It? Analyzing Costs to Benefits for a Degree – What Kinds of Students Get into Harvard?

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• Harvard Public Art & Culture Tour: Allston

Named after Washington Allston—a visionary painter and 1800 Harvard graduate—the neighborhood of Allston features vibrant, eclectic art that reflects its creativity and diversity. On this self-guided tour, you'll discover "can't-miss" public art installations along Western Avenue (and beyond!) and learn the stories behind them and their artists. Follow along to explore hand-painted murals, sky-high sculptures, 25-cent art prints, and more!

• What You'll See & Learn
• Recommended Routes

Frequently Asked Questions

Discover public art.

Take this free, self-guided tour by downloading the Visit Harvard mobile app, available on iOS and Android devices.

Download on the Apple App Store     Download on Google Play

What you'll see:.

Pictured: Hand-painted murals featured on the Walls on Western garage at Zone 3.

10 Sculptures

Pictured: the bronze sculpture, 'quest eternal' as seen near the entrance of smithfield playground in allston..

Pictured: Mural 'Interconnected' by Sophy Tuttle reflected in the windows of the Harvard Science and Engineering Complex.

What you'll learn:.

Stories behind the art

Pictured: presence by mary frank, 1985–86, bronze. hbs art and artifacts collection.

Artist inspirations

Pictured: the artist, imagine (aka sneha shrestha), posing in front of the mural 'saya patri (one with a hundred petals)'.

Local history

Pictured: 'interconnected' by sophy tuttle, painted on the facade of the old new england deposit library, choose your own path:.

Whether you only have 30 minutes or you're on your way to/from Cambridge, we've compiled a list of recommended routes for you to take in order to get the best tour experience! Find previews below and learn more by downloading the Visit Harvard app!

Playground Path

Going to the Smith Field Playground? This route features stops between Zone 3 and Trader Joe's—with plenty of time to take a ride down a slide!

Short On Time

Are you strapped for time? Need a new dog walking route? Take a quick and easy stroll along Western Avenue for beautiful murals by local artists. Route highlight: Get your quarter out for your own copy of Art in Print!

Coffee & Greenspace

Stop in one of several bakeries or cafes for a coffee (and a sweet treat!) before making your way towards the Harvard Business School campus, featuring sky-high sculptures and innovative art installations.

Crossing the Bridge

Are you coming from or heading to Cambridge? Check out the art installations closest to this commute and learn about Harvard's cultural initiatives along the way. Route Highlight: Take a peek into Harvard's 15,856 sq ft ceramics studio!

Campus Loop

Hit all the tour stops located around Harvard's Allston campus, including the ArtLab, Harvard Business School, Harvard's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences Complex, and the Harvard Ed Portal.

What is the Visit Harvard mobile app?

Visit Harvard is a free mobile app by the Harvard Visitor Center that features a collection of self-guided tours centered around the Harvard University experience. The Visit Harvard mobile app can be downloaded by anyone with a smartphone, tablet, or desktop, to be enjoyed from wherever you might be visiting, whether it’s in-person or from the comfort of your own home.

What is the Harvard Public Art & Culture Tour?

The Harvard Public Art & Culture Tour is a self-guided tour collection that highlights the local art that surrounds—and beautifies— the Harvard community, from hand-painted murals to sky-high sculptures. The first released tour in the collection focuses on the Allston neighborhood, specifically along the Western Avenue corridor and into the Harvard Business School campus. Not only will you be guided to view these artworks in-person, you'll also learn the history behind each piece as well as the artist who created them. The tour features guided mapping, photos, and audio tracks for convenience and accessibility.

In the near future, we will release the next tour in the collection which focuses on the public art throughout Harvard's Cambridge campus.

How long is the mobile tour?

This self-guided tour takes place across 27 mapped stops along Western Avenue, including several stops on Harvard Business School's campus. At a standard walking pace, it will take up to 1 hour to complete the 2 mile long tour.

Note that we have also included information about several shorter tour routes in the app. Some of these routes include options that will only take 30 minutes to complete. You can view this information by downloading the Visit Harvard app, navigating to "Harvard Public Art & Culture Tour," and selecting "Allston."

Where does the mobile tour begin?

The official tour route begins at the tour stop Evo, located at 395 Western Avenue, Allston, MA 02134. In the app, we've suggested several other routes that begin at other locations, including the Harvard Business School or Barry's Corner.

What is the terrain like for people who use mobility aids, like wheelchairs or canes?

This self-guided tour takes place on flat terrain (easy grade urban sidewalks) and is mobility-friendly, wheelchair accessible, and stroller-friendly. The self-guided tour also has additional in-app accessibility options for visitors who are visually or hearing impaired, including voiceover and image descriptions.

Can I take the mobile tour in-person or virtually?

This mobile tour is designed to be accessed in-person throughout the Western Avenue corridor in Allston. It can also be viewed from the comfort of your own home. Simply download Visit Harvard in the app store, navigate to "Harvard Public Art & Culture Tour," select "Allston," and begin your journey!

Where can I download the Visit Harvard mobile app?

You can download the Visit Harvard mobile app on the Apple App Store and Google Play .

Who should I contact if I have further questions?

For any questions about the Visit Harvard mobile app, you can contact the Harvard Visitor Center .

Continue your art adventure in Cambridge! Take a customizable self-guided tour of public art in & around Harvard and discover a new side to the University's iconic campus

The Harvard Public Art & Culture Tour is part of a collection of self-guided tours featured on the Visit Harvard app by the Harvard Visitor Center. For more information about Visit Harvard or other tour offerings (including in person student-guided tours), please visit the Harvard Visitor Center's official website .

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Where can i find a tour of harvard’s campus.

A tour is a great way to get to know the campus! Harvard Information Center, located in the Smith Campus Center, offers free student-led walking tours through Harvard Yard. Tours are one hour and provide a general overview of the main Cambridge camps and University history. The Information Center also has maps for self-guided walking tours. For details and schedule, as well as links to tour information at the graduate schools go here . The Admissions Office offers separate tours for prospective students.

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Reserve Your Spot with Confidence! Full Refunds with 24 Hrs Notice. Reschedule at any point, even after tour, if space allows!

Harvard University Walking Tour

This post covers how to tour Harvard University and the surrounding Cambridge area, including our pay-what-you-wish tour and our audio tour which you can take any time.

There is also a tour guided by students, as well as a self-guided option.

Harvard University is the oldest college in the United States (1636).

Eight U.S. presidents attended Harvard University and the name is known worldwide.

WHERE IS HARVARD?

Harvard University is located in the City of Cambridge, just across the Charles River from Boston.

It's located approximately 4 miles (6.5 km) away from the Boston Commons (or 15 min on the subway).

Regardless of how you decide to get here, we recommend using this Google Maps link for directions to Harvard Square .

Be sure to read our how-to guide on riding the Boston T (subway).

TIP: If you are considering purchasing a hop-on-hop-off trolley ticket, be aware that Old Town Trolley has a stop for Harvard University.

GUIDED HARVARD WALKING TOURS

To start with, our 2-hour, pay-what-you-like tour not only covers Harvard University but also the surrounding area of Cambridge.

Below us, you can read about a shorter tour led by current Harvard students.

FREE TOURS BY FOOT

Reservations:  REQUIRED.  Click here to reserve . Groups of 6 or more must  contact us  before booking.

Where:  At the Cambridge Tourism Information Booth in Harvard Square ( map ).

Cost:  This tour is free to take, and you get to decide what, if anything, the tour was worth when it's done. A  name-your-own-price tour  is a tour for anyone's budget.

Duration:  Approximately 2 hours. Tour distance is approximately 1 mile (1.6K)

When: 

• Jan. to Feb. : No Tours
• March to April:   Saturdays and Sundays 10 am
• May to June 20:   Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, Mondays 10 am
• June 20th to Labor Day : Everyday 10 am
• Sept. to Oct:   Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, Mondays 10 am
• Nov. to Dec .  Saturdays and Sundays 10 am

You can also take this tour as a self-guided GPS enabled audio tour .

Here is how it works:

• Purchase an  audio tour from our Booking Page .
• You'll receive a confirmation email with a .pdf, Google Map link, and audio tour.
• Enjoy the tour(s).

Listen to a sample of the Harvard and Cambridge audio tour.

Hahvahad Tours (that's phonetically spelled) 

This company offers 70-min tours several times each day that are led by current Harvard students, enthusiastic ambassadors of the university.

Tours are inexpensive, light-hearted, but are limited to the university grounds, so you won't see much of Cambridge. 

Tours run daily at 10:30 am, 11:30 am, 12:30 pm, and 1 pm.  

$19.50/adults | $18.50/students, seniors and children (Free with the Go Boston tourist concession card )

Book your tour here .

SELF-GUIDED TOUR OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY AND CAMBRIDGE

You can also take this tour as a self-guided GPS-enabled audio tour .

How to Get to Harvard University

Reaching the start of this tour is easy.

The best way to access the area is by mass transit. You can take the red line T to Harvard Square MBTA Station.  

Use this Google map for directions to Harvard Square .  

Click on the map for a larger version.

Out of Town Newsstand

Your tour starts outside the Harvard Sq. MBTA (subway) Station.

Notice the Out of Town Newsstand which is a Cambridge landmark. 

The newsstand since it opened in 1955, has been providing Harvard professors, students, and Cambridge Residence with newspapers and magazines from all over the world.

The building is a national historic landmark.

From Out of Town News walk up JFK Street (to your right if you are facing Out of Town News).

Follow JFK St. to Mt. Auburn St. and take a left down Mt. Auburn St. to the Harvard Lampoon Building at 44 Bow St.

1. Lampoon Building

The Lampoon Building is also known as the Lampoon Castle.

The best place to view this building is by standing on the island where Bow St. and Mt. Auburn St. meet.

This building houses Harvard's comedy magazine The Lampoon, where students like Cohan O'Brien and John Updike wrote while undergraduates at the university.

John Updike also served as president of The Lampoon at his time there.

This is one of the most unique buildings on Campus.

Opened in 1909 the building is designed in the form of a human face wearing a Prussian helmet. The front door looks like a bow tie turned sideways.

Notice the Ibis on top. This is made of copper and weighs about 70 pounds. The Ibis was stolen a few times by members of Harvard University's newspaper The Crimson as a prank.

The bird is now said to have an electrified wire attached to it to prevent future thefts.

Costing $40,000 to construct in 1909, at the time the building was the most expensive headquarters for a student publication in the nation. Look to your right you will see Lowell House, the structure with the white bell tower.

This undergraduate dorm is where Matt Damon stayed while a student at the university.

Notice the bell tower of Lowell House. The tower houses 18 bells ranging in size from 22 pounds (the smallest bell) to 27,000 pounds (the Mother Earth bell).

After what is known as The Game, the annual Harvard vs. Yale football game, the Harvard team score is rung out on the Mother Earth Bell.

The Yale score is chimed on what is known as the bells of Pestilence, Famine, and Despair.

As you walk around the Lampoon Building you will notice two dates, 1909 and 1876. 1909 is when the building opened and 1876 is when the Harvard Lampoon Magazine was first published

Continue walking up Mt. Auburn St following the Lampoon Building and take a left onto Plympton St. At 26 Plympton St. you will see the undergraduate dorm of the Adams House.

2. Adams House

Opened in 1900 the dorm is named in honor of the United State's 2nd President John Adams and his son, America's 6th President John Quincy Adams, who both graduated from the university.

There is a suite inside Adam's House called the FDR Suite where the United States' 32nd president Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) lived while a student at Harvard.

It is restored to the 1904 appearance to honor the president who stayed there as a student.

The FDR Suite inside Adams House is the only memorial to FDR on campus.

Including FDR, John Adams, and John Quincy Adams, Harvard University has had 5 other US Presidents who attended: Barack Obama, George W. Bush, John F. Kennedy, Theodore Roosevelt, and Rutherford B. Hayes for a total of 8 U.S. Presidents who attended the university.

Continue up Plympton St. to 14 Plympton St. to the student newspaper The Harvard Crimson.

3. Harvard Crimson

Founded in 1873 it was called The Magenta for its first two years, and in 1875 the paper changed its name to The Crimson when the University changed its color to crimson.

The Harvard Crimson is the only daily newspaper in the City of Cambridge and is run entirely by the university's undergraduate students.

It is also the only college newspaper in the United States that has its own printing press.

Some of the famous folks who wrote for the Crimson include US Presidents Franklin Delano Roosevelt (who served as the newspaper president) and John F. Kennedy (a business editor).

Look up to the second-floor glass door and you may be able to see the big chair inside.

This chair has small brass makers attached to the chair with the names of the former presidents of the newspaper.

Like the Ibis on top of the Lampoon Building, members of the Harvard Lampoon sometimes steal this chair as a prank and revenge for the Crimson's members' theft of their Ibis.

The chair is now chained to the floor to help thwart future thefts.

Continue up Plympton St. and cross Massachusetts Ave. and enter Old Harvard Yard through Dextor Gate.

Notice the carved inscription above the entrance and the words "enter to grow in wisdom" and on the exit/inside of the gate the words "depart to serve better this country and thy kind."

4. Wigglesworth Hall

After you enter Harvard Yard, take a left and will see the dorm, Wigglesworth Hall.

All freshmen who enter Harvard are required to stay in the Halls of Old Harvard Yard. All the freshman dorms are called Halls and the upper-class dorms are called Houses.

Some of the famous students who lived in Wigglesworth Hall include Leonard Bernstein, Senator Edward Kennedy, and Bill Gates.

Follow the path to the Henry Elkins Widener Memorial Library.

5. Henry Elkins Widener Memorial Library

This is the largest college library in the United States and is the nation's 3rd largest library. The library has 57 miles (92 km) of shelves along five miles of aisles on ten floors.

Only the US Library of Congress and the New York Public Library hold more volumes of books.

The Library is six floors high and four floors below and was built in honor of 1907 Harvard graduate Henry Elkins Widener who was killed in April 1912 at the age of 27 during the sinking of the Titanic.

The library was built with funds donated by Widener's mother Eleanor to honor her son's memory.

Look directly across the Old Yard and you will see Memorial Church. This church was built in 1932.

Inside these walls engraved alongside a sculptor named “The Sacrifice” are 373 names of alumni who were killed during WWI.

Since then other memorials have been established inside the church for Harvard Students and Alumni who were killed in WWII, The Korean War, and Vietnam.

Walk around the Widener Library and follow the path to the Dragon Statue.

6. Dragon Statue

This statue was donated to the university in 1936 by Chinese Alumni in honor of the university's 300 anniversary.

The statue is made of marble and weighs 27 tons. It was carved between 1796 and1820 in Beijing and formally resided in the Winter Palace before being donated and shipped to the university.

As you continue down the path look to your right and you will see Weld Hall where President John F. Kennedy lived during his freshman year at Harvard.

Follow the path around University Hall and you will see the most famous site on campus, the John Harvard Statue.

7. John Harvard Statue

This is also known as the Statue of "three lies".

The first one is on the statue's base and states Harvard was formed in 1638. Wrong, as we know Harvard was formed in 1636.

It says that John Harvard was the founder of Harvard. Wrong, Harvard was founded in 1636 by the Great and General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. John Harvard endowed Harvard with books and money in 1638.

And the third and probably the biggest lie on the statue is that the man in the chair; not John Harvard.

When the statue was designed in 1884 by Daniel Chester French there was not any likeness of John Harvard.

French used a Harvard Student by the name of Sherman Hoar as the inspiration for John Harvard's face. Sherman Hoar was a descendant of the brother of Harvard's fourth president Leonard Hoar.

The statue is one of the most photographed statues in the United States, and you will notice the worn-out bronze of the statue's left foot where millions of visitors have rubbed for good luck.

There is also the legend that if you rub/touch the foot of the statue you will acquire some of the knowledge of Harvard.

Take the path away from the John Harvard Statue and towards the street. On the left, you will see Massachusetts Hall.

8. Massachusetts Hall

Opened in 1720, Massachusetts Hall is the second oldest college dorm in the United States.

Some of their legendary student residents include John Hancock, Samuel Adams, and America's second president John Adams.

During the siege of Boston in 1775, 640 members of the Continental Army led by George Washington were housed there.

Currently, Massachusetts Hall houses the office of Harvard's President, Treasurer, and Vice President, all of which have their offices on the first two floors and part of the third floor.

On the fourth floor are freshman dorms.

Exit the Old Yard through Johnston Gate.

9. Johnson Gate

Opened in 1890, Johnston Gate was the first gate constructed around Old Harvard Yard.

Johnston Gate cost $10,000 to construct in 1889-90 and was a gift to the university by 1855 Harvard Graduate Samuel Johnston.

For several hundred years, on Harvard's commencement day, sheriffs from Middlesex and Suffolk Country have entered Harvard Yard on horseback before the Middlesex Sheriff's call to order.

It has become a tradition that they enter through Johnston Gate. Another tradition at Harvard regarding Johnston Gate is that after the commencement ceremony, graduates exit Harvard Yard using only Johnston Gate.

As you exit Harvard Yard through Johnston Gate you can now consider yourself an honorary graduate of Harvard University.

After exiting Johnston Gate, cross Massachusetts Ave. to the island in the middle and you will be at the sculpture of Charles Sumner (1811-1874).

10. Charles Sumner Statue

He was a lawyer, abolitionist, orator, and US Senator from Massachusetts.

One of the many things he is known for is while a US Senator he was an incident that took place on the Senate floor when he was arguing against the Kansas/Nebraska Act.

This was an 1854 legislative act that would allow the expansion of slavery in the new states of Kansas and Nebraska.

On May 20th, 1856, Sumner was auguring against the Act, and during his diatribe, Sumner called US Senator Andrew Butler from South Carolina a slave pimp and went on a tirade against the senator and his state of South Carolina.

During the tirade, he mocked Butler's manner of speech and physical mannerisms as Butler previously suffered a stroke which left him physically impaired.

Two days later, US Congressman Preston Brooks, the cousin of Senator Butler walked on the Senate floor and approached Sumner.

As Sumner rose to meet the Representative, Preston beat Sumner nearly to death with a cane until the cane finally broke.

The beating rendered Sumner unconscious on the Senate floor. It took almost two years before Senator Sumner recovered from the beating.

The event showed how divided the United States was at that time over the issue of slavery.

Continue across Massachusetts Ave. , take a right and follow Massachusetts Ave. and you will be outside the Cambridge Burial Ground (1635).

11. Old Burial Ground

This burial ground was the only burial ground in Cambridge for nearly 200 years and includes a cross-section of Cambridge residents from paupers to Harvard presidents.

Like all the old burial grounds, there are many more bodies beneath than the 1218 headstones above, as many of the headstones did not survive the centuries and some of the earliest burials were unmarked.

The oldest headstone in the burial ground is that of Anne Eriton which dates to 1653.

The tomb of John Vassel is the most elaborate in the burial ground and contains 25 caskets and including the body of Andrew Craigie who was the first Apothecary General of the Continental Army. He was also a former owner of the Longfellow House on Tory Row.

Craigie also developed much of what is known as East Cambridge and also organized the construction of the Canal Bridge which connected East Cambridge to Boston.

The bridge was later rebuilt as the Charles River Dam but is also known as Carigie's Bridge.

The Old Burial Ground also contains the remains of 8 Harvard presidents including Harvard's first president Henry Dunster.

It's also home to the remains of 19 Revolutionary War Soldiers including John Hicks, William Macy, and Moses Richardson who were buried there after the first Battles of the American Revolution on April 19th, 1775 in Lexington and Concord.

The burial ground also houses the tomb of the Dana Family. Richard Henry Dana, Jr. was an abolitionist who worked with Charles Sumner.

Continue up Massachusetts Ave. and once you cross Garden St. look down on the sidewalk and you will see a series of horseshoes embedded along the sidewalk of Massachusetts Ave.

These show the route that William Dawes, the second rider with Paul Revere on his midnight ride took on his way up to Lexington, MA on the night of April 18, 1775.

The ride to "Midnight Ride" by Paul Revere, William Dawes, and others which warned the towns along the way that the British Troops were on the move resulted in the start of the American Revolution in Lexington/Concord on the morning of April 19, 1775.

Cross at the crosswalk ahead and you are at the gates of Cambridge Common. Rather than walk through the gates, take the sidewalk to the left along Garden Street.

12. Cambridge Common

This 16-acre park was where George Washington and the Continental Army camped in 1775 while British Troops occupied Boston until March 1776.

The first site you will see when entering the Common is a memorial for the Irish Famine which was dedicated on July 23, 1997, by then-Irish President Mary Robinson.

The sculpture was created by Maurice Harron a resident of Derry, Northern Ireland who has sculptures in Ireland, The UK, and The United States.

Continue walking through the Common keeping Garden Street on your left and you will come to a series of cannons.

These cannons were abandoned at Fort Independence (also known as Castle William) on March 17, 1776, when the British Troops evacuated from Boston.

There is also a plaque to Henry Knox, a Boston and bookseller before the American Revolution, he would become the first Secretary of War under President George Washington.

Henry Knox in January of 1776, dragged cannons and other military supplies from the captured British Forts Ticonderoga and Crown Point in Upstate New York and led the mission to carry the 60 tons of cannons and other arms on ox-drawn sleds 300 miles across snowy and frozen ground to Boston.

What was expected to take two weeks, took six weeks as the caravan of men where faced storms and delays as the cannons broke through the ice and got stuck in the mud and snow, but in the end, they were able to deliver the munitions to Boston.

The cannons were placed on Dorchester Heights, (the hills surrounding Boston) on the night of March 16, 1776.

When the Occupying British Troops woke the next morning on March 17th, they realized they were surrounded by artillery and withdrew their ships to Halifax and retreated out of Boston.

The siege of Boston was ended as a result. March 17th is a holiday in Boston called Evacuation Day as a result of the efforts of Henry Knox and his men.

Henry Knox went on to be in charge of improving the defenses in Rhode Island and New York during the American Revolution where in New York he met Alexander Hamilton who was the commander of the local artillery.

They would remain close friends until Hamilton died in 1804.

Knox would later become the first Secretary of War under George Washington.

Henry Knox died in 1806 at the age of 56 after swallowing a chicken bone which caused an infection that killed him three days later on Oct. 25th.

Also located in the area of the cannons and marked with a plaque is the Washington Elm.

Legend has it (although is disputed) that under this tree on July 3, 1775, General George Washington took control of the Continental Army.

The army struck camp there and stayed until March 1776 when British Troops evacuated Boston.

The original tree lived about 210 years and finally fell in 1923. The tree was cut up into 100 pieces and sent to all the US States and their legislatures.

Other pieces were sent to fraternal organizations throughout the US and root shoots were also sent throughout the nation, and some still live today.

The cross-section of the tree was sent to Mt. Vernon, George Washington's plantation in the state of Virginia.

Turn around and head back down the sidewalk, you'll see a white church to your right across the street.

13. Christ Church

This 1759 church was formed by the members of King's Chapel in Boston who lived in Cambridge.

This church provided church of England Services to students attending Harvard and was designed by Peter Harrison who also was the architect of Boston's King's Chapel.

During the American Revolution, the church which sits across the street from the Cambridge Common where the Continental Army was camped out at the start of the war, soldiers camp there fired shots at the then Loyalist Church.

If you walk into the front doors of the church and look above the inside door frame a musket hole is visible from that time.

Later George and Martha Washington would attend a prayer service there and as the war wore on the church was closed and the organ of the church was melted down for bullets for the Continental Army.

In April 1967, the church hosted speeches from Dr. Benjamin Spock and Martin Luther King, Jr. who were denied access to a building on Harvard's Campus.

They planned to hold a press conference against the Vietnam War. They were welcomed by the Reverend Murray Kenney. Jesse Jackson also spoke at the church in 2004 celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

Continue walking towards Massachusetts Ave. and back to the Cambridge Burial Ground. At the burial ground, take a right down Massachusetts Ave. and cross Church Street. Follow Massachusetts Ave. and you will come to the Harvard Coop.

14. The Harvard Coop

The Harvard Coop was opened in 1882 to supply books and school supplies for the students at Harvard.

In 1916 after MIT moved from Boston to Cambridge, MIT opened a branch of the Coop to serve its students and is still present on MIT's campus today.

This Coop is one of the largest college bookstores in the United States. The store is run by Barnes and Noble today and the public is welcome to come in the shop and browse Harvard Swag and books.

However, membership to the Coop is limited only to students, faculty, alumni, and employees as well as personnel of hospitals affiliated with Harvard Medical School.

In 1882 membership cost $1.00 and that cost is the same today.

Cross Massachusetts Ave. to the Harvard MBTA Station and you will be where the tour started outside the Harvard Sq. MBTA Station and Out-of-Town Newsstand.

We hope you enjoyed your Self-Guided Tour of Harvard!

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Podcast 055: lavender landmarks of charleston, south carolina.

Schlesinger Library, Harvard University

Schlesinger Library

Jason Church: Before we get onto our subject, tell us a little bit about the Schlesinger Library.

Mary O’Connell Murphy: Okay, thanks Jason. I’m glad to be joining you on this podcast today. So the Schlesinger Library is one of many Harvard University research libraries within the university system but our library focuses specifically on the history of women in America.

Mary O’Connell Murphy: We collect both published and unpublished materials of women across America, both common women, everyday women, as well as more well-known women including suffragettes, famous second wave feminists like Betty Friedan and now third wave feminists. We’re really reaching out to try to collect those women’s papers as well. So the library originally began as part of Radcliffe College and now we are part of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.

Lavendar Landmarks

Jason Church: Very nice and today we’re here talking about the National Park Service has initiated June as LGBTQ month. I wanted to talk to you a little bit about a project that I knew that you did in the past called Lavender Landmarks of Charleston, South Carolina. I have not heard the term Lavender Landmarks before, so what is that?

Mary O’Connell Murphy: So that is a term, I can’t remember if I made that up or if that was already floating around so, I started doing my research in this area in 2003 going into 2004 and it took me, I researched it for about a year. So the concept of studying historic landmarks associated with the LGBT community was sort of young in and of itself.

Mary O’Connell Murphy: The earliest that I could date the study of it was really in the late 90’s, around 1997 there was a lot of research that emerged, although I’m sure there was more before then. So the term Lavender Landmarks was just easy to remember, right.

Mary O’Connell Murphy: Lavender is a color that is associated with the gay rights movement, lavender, pink triangles, so on and so forth and so I just used that and then tied it to the built environment, Lavender Landmarks. I thought it was sort of handy and wrapped into the context of Charleston, South Carolina.

Historic Walking Tour

Jason Church: For this project, Lavender Landmarks in Charleston, you actually made a historic walking tour of sites in Charleston that are directly tied to the gay rights movement. Can you tell us a little bit about the sites that you picked, why you picked them and what made them important?

Mary O’Connell Murphy: Right. So first of all, I will stipulate that the sites that I chose were not necessarily related to the gay rights movement. They are sites associated with gay, lesbian, bisexual, and trans-gender history. So there’s one of the sites that I researched, 14 Queen Street, which was actually the home of a hate crime that occurred in 1958 between a navy serviceman and another local man who was robbed, murdered in that home there.

Mary O’Connell Murphy: The man who perpetrated the crime was not held accountable by any means and the writing of what happened that night was really scathing and today we would look back and understand that that was a hate crime that occurred there and one that was significant in documenting the way, the poor way, that gay men were treated under the law in the 1950’s. So that was one of the sites and just an example that it was a sad history but one that was also significant.

Mary O’Connell Murphy: So the other sites that I did, I sort of organized them in chronological order. We have 7 Gibbes Street, which is one of the most famous streets in downtown Charleston and that was home to Laura Bragg and she was the first female director of the Charleston Museum. So I thought that the site was significant in terms of women’s history in and of itself.

Mary O’Connell Murphy: But she shared the home with Belle Heyward who was a socialite in Charleston at the time. They were considered Boston wives. The assumption has to be made that they were a couple. Their history of course dates to the 1920’s and they started a salon in their home for significant poets in the area. This group that began inside the home on 7 Gibb Street would later see poets like Gertrude Stein and Edna St. Vincent Millay participating in that organization. So that’s the first site that I chose and some of the oldest GLBT history that I know.

Mary O’Connell Murphy: I’m going to just skip ahead and say that two most interesting sites personally to me was 56 Society Street, which was the home of Gordon Langley Hall and he was a transsexual person who was very involved in the restoration of 56 Society Street and who in his personal life transitioned to a female and was involved in the first interracial marriage that took place in Charleston and that was in 1969 and it was the first interracial marriage at all in the city of Charleston and little is it known that that marriage involved a transsexual person and that ceremony took place in the basement of 56 Society Street.

Mary O’Connell Murphy: What I found so alarming is there was no note of this in the general history of this building. Many of the historic sites in Charleston are well documented and this house is also very well documented in the history of the original architects and so on and so forth but there is nothing noted about this key piece of history that took place there.

Mary O’Connell Murphy: It wasn’t until the historian James t. Sears, who is a southern traditional American historian who was interested in GLBT history, discovered this place and this story and then I, using his research went to the site, went to the place and documented the bricks and mortar history of it as well as of this tale.

Mary O’Connell Murphy: So I thought that one was really important to me and I think one that is worth checking out and then of course, 5 Liberty Street, which was the home of the Arcade Theatre and the Liberty Mix Nightclub and that is now, where today the College of Charleston School of Business stands in this place that once was home to very well-known drag queens of the era.

Mary O’Connell Murphy: It was a place that really documented the mid-twentieth century gay life history, right, it was the cultural headquarters for avant-garde artists and other gay Charlestonians and it was one that really marked the first time that the Historic Charleston Foundation put it’s toe in the water to defend an LGBT historic site when they were notified that it was going to be demolished.

Mary O’Connell Murphy: I happened to be doing an internship with the Historic Charleston Foundation at the time and we worked together to try to fight that demolition but unfortunately we were unsuccessful. So those are really interesting sites.

Arcade Theatre & Nightclub

Jason Church: …the time period of the Arcade Theatre and nightclub?

Mary O’Connell Murphy: Okay, so the Arcade Theatre was built by Augustus E. Constantine. He was a Greek born architect. He built a number of different buildings in the Charleston area but he did build the Arcade Theatre in 1947 and in sort of the art modern style. I actually had an opportunity to go inside the arcade with my boss at the time, Katherine Saunders of the Historic Charleston Foundation, and that was really neat.

Mary O’Connell Murphy: It was everything that you would think; a lot of wrought iron and rounded corners and I think carpet at the time. But its GLBT history started basically in the late seventies and ended in the early eighties. Once it was a movie theatre I believe. In 1984 it opened as the Liberty Mix.

Mary O’Connell Murphy: This was really an interesting time of course in the GLBT and GBLT America in the early 1980’s of course as the Aids crisis was sweeping through and so you have to make an assumption that that was also a really prevalent component of the history there too in the city of Charleston.

Mary O’Connell Murphy: It was this tiny little building that was sitting on a very lucrative piece of real estate but I don’t know. Today if the city of Charleston was looking at it again and if Charleston College was looking to build their business school today, I don’t know, maybe they would think twice because of where we are in the country about preserving Lavender Landmarks and the gay rights movement as a whole.

Jason Church: I noticed in the brochure that the nightclub operated until 1997 when its license was revoked because if it’s controversial nature.

Mary O’Connell Murphy: Yes, so again you have to remember that there was so much pushback at the time. It’s hard to almost put yourself in that place now. GLBT citizens have really enjoyed this remarkable revolution that’s been going on over the course of the last five years I would say.

Mary O’Connell Murphy: But in the south and in the eighties and nineties, it was a different story and I think that I can make the assumption that the over-the-top nature, like a maybe what some people would say, “in your face” community or culture of that nightclub was maybe not palatable for a lot of citizens and as a result they shut the nightclub.

Charleston’s Club 49

Mary O’Connell Murphy: So there are very few images that exist of the nightclub. I took them on my own. Both that nightclub and also Charleston’s Club 49, which was another gay nightclub that of course was flattened into a parking lot on King Street.

Mary O’Connell Murphy: There’s very little documentary evidence of these places. I think if there was piece of the history of Lavender Landmarks, it’s about sort of a secret history, a place where people could slip out of their normal lives and into their personal lives in these personal places even though they were in public if that makes any sense.

Mary O’Connell Murphy: So I actually found it quite difficult to find images of the buildings. There is one of the Charleston’s Club 49 at the South Carolina Historical Society in Charleston that I know of.

Church : Other than yours, have you seen many other tours that dealt with the social history of the LGBT movement.

Mary O’Connell Murphy: Right, so the most famous is of course, there’s a couple of tours in San Francisco in the Castro District that I know of. There are also a number of public art projects that have happened in New York City but I know that the history based tours really do center in San Francisco.

Mary O’Connell Murphy: I know there’s one that focuses on Don Harvey Milk and I know that there’s one that just focuses on the Castro District as a neighborhood. But I think that may all be changing now right? I mean just the fact that the National Park Service is making this effort to roll in GLBT history under their larger umbrella of areas that they want to document in terms of bricks and mortar places and sites.

Mary O’Connell Murphy: More and more will pop up. There’s a couple of books out there too, like Historic Gay and Lesbian Walks of New York. There’s a couple of books like that that you can just Google search them online and they’ll pop up and you can do them on your own.

NPS: June is LGBTQ Month

Jason Church: Well hopefully you’re right. As organizations like the National Park Service publicizes this ( Note: LGBTQ Heritage Theme Study ), maybe we will get more landmarks noted and more history will come out. Maybe people who have these photographs that you looked so hard for will come forward with them and then more progress will be made on documenting some of these sites.

Mary O’Connell Murphy: Right and I think that the same can be said generally for archives as well. Gay and lesbian archives, there’s a few really well known ones across the country but just a handful. So the power to be honest of Web 2.0 technology like flickr are really beneficial in this area because people have their personal collections at home that they’re now scanning and putting online, so I know researchers are doing a lot of their studies that way as well.

Mary O’Connell Murphy: But again for me, I started my research about historic sites in 2003 and to really see how far this world has come is really quite fascinating to me and you know there is a financial benefit to these things which was part of my research, that cities really if they want to embrace these histories and the National Park Service wants to embrace this under their umbrella, they will reap the benefits of communities of people who want to go see them and we’re seeing that as well or states and cities that are opening their doors in their communities to gay marriage.

Church : As we reflect on the gains and public recognition over the ten years since you began your research I think we can be very optimistic for what the future might hold.

Mary O’Connell Murphy: I know right, and I hope that people do check out the brochure online and try to do the walk. It’s all in a very dense area within Charleston. I sort of would like to do it again. It’s good to do over coffee like on a Saturday morning.

Church : Thank you Mary for talking with us today. We hope to hear more form you in the future, maybe any future research that you’re doing.

Mary O’Connell Murphy: Sure thing, yes, if you ever want to do a podcast on historic sites related to women’s history, give me a ring.

Church : That sounds good, thank you Mary.

Mary O’Connell Murphy: Thanks Jason. Bye, bye.

Read other Preservation Technology Podcast articles or learn more about the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training .

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