{"id":2458,"date":"2021-11-23T13:26:18","date_gmt":"2021-11-23T17:26:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/125\/?p=2458"},"modified":"2022-01-19T10:27:51","modified_gmt":"2022-01-19T14:27:51","slug":"the-academic-oval","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/125\/the-academic-oval\/","title":{"rendered":"The Academic Oval"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"The<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The original footprint of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore’s campus is on the National Register of Historic Places.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The “Academic Oval” is the ancestral heart of the institution that, when founded on Sept. 13, 1886, housed students, faculty and classrooms in a converted late-18th<\/sup> century farmhouse known as Olney.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Neither Olney nor other early wood-frame buildings that sprung up on the campus’ original 16 acres survive today. Some outlived their usefulness and were demolished, while fire destroyed others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nevertheless, their brick replacements are structures with a distinctive architectural theme that National Register researchers described when the \u201cOval\u201d qualified for historic designation in 2005:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe quadrangle is surrounded by major buildings (a majority of which were) erected between 1938 and 1954 (and) reflect variations of neoclassical and Colonial Revival style \u2026 favored by many educational institutions during the early-to-mid 20th<\/sup> century.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"At
Postcard image (l-to-r) of Somerset, Harford & Wilson halls<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSeveral \u2026 buildings are distinguished by colossal columned entrance porticos reflecting the resurgence of neoclassicism during the first half of the 20th<\/sup> century.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At one point, a paved driveway accessible to automobiles passed in front of the buildings, but was replaced in the late 20th<\/sup> century by a pedestrian-only brick promenade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buildings on the Oval are named in honor of historically prominent figures who had roles in the university\u2019s or America\u2019s history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And in what may be one of the area\u2019s  smallest cemeteries<\/a><\/strong>; the graves of three former leaders of the institution and the spouse of one of them are part of the National Register designation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eight buildings on the Oval earned it National Register1<\/strong><\/sup> status:<\/p>\n\n\n\n