Bill Harrah
Wolf Run Studio
P.O. Box 444
Clifton VA 20124

Phone:
(703) 250-6711
Fax:
(703) 764-9204

 

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Memorial Chapel
Amherst, Virginia
#NC-01205-ED - Notecards
#PR-01205-ED - Open Edition Print

Although the Memorial Chapel was built after the death of original architect Ralph Adams Cram (1863-1942), it was constructed on the exact spot that he had specified. Cram, a leading American architect, was selected by the first Board of Directors to lay out the campus and design the buildings.

Sweet Briar College was founded in 1901 according to terms specified in the will of Indiana Fletcher Williams. She wanted to establish an institution of higher learning for young women in memory of her daughter Daisy, who died in 1884 at the young age of sixteen. Daisy was the only child of James Henry Williams and Indiana Fletcher Williams. The land that Sweet Briar College was built on was inherited by Indiana and her sister Elizabeth from their father Elijah Fletcher upon his death in 1858.

The college grounds, nestled in the shadow of the Blue Ridge Mountains, have changed little over the past century. The Chapel is one of many additions to the campus, which had only four buildings when the college opened in 1906. Built in 1966, the Chapel completes the major axis of Cram's master plan, dominating the college's main quadrangle. Interdenominational services are held each day in the Chapel, which also hosts performances by visiting musicians, the College Choir and the Sweet Briar Chamber Music group.

Sweet Briar is ranked as one of the top liberal arts institutions in the nation. About 600 women from more than forty states and twenty countries are enrolled at Sweet Briar each year. The college boasts an exceptional science program and outstanding study abroad opportunities.

Text © 1999 Dianne Harrah, Drawing © 1999 Bill Harrah.