These NC colleges are among the most beautiful in the US. See how they ranked.

U.S. News staffers considered architecture, landscaping, and setting in their decisions.

February 19, 2026 9:08 AM

For U.S. News and World Report, the answer is yes. It released its list of the 30 most beautiful campuses across the country, and North Carolina represents, with not one but two schools. Those two campuses are less than 40 miles away from one another — and each have around 6,000 to 6,500 undergrads.

Duke University is at No. 9 on the U.S. News list. 

Elon University in Alamance County is at No. 26 on the U.S. News list. They cite the campus waterworks as chief among their considerations. Here’s what they said:

“Fountains, manmade lakes and its own forest contribute to the beauty of Elon University‘s 700-acre main campus, which is a designated botanical garden and accredited arboretum,” Claybourn and Jones write.

“A three-level fountain with a waterfall accents the Numen Lumen-themed, paved-brick Wallace L. Chandler Plaza, which was designed to reflect the university’s mission to inspire intellectual and spiritual illumination.

“Trees line walks and trails, providing bursts of color each spring and autumn, and numerous oak trees — Elon means ‘oak’ in Hebrew — lend beauty and shade. They’re among nearly 200 species of trees on campus. Curated plant collections beautify modern academic buildings and Georgian-inspired, red-brick residence halls. Learning is often taken beyond the walls to welcoming outdoor classrooms and study spaces. New students are given an acorn and graduates receive an oak sapling to symbolize their growth.”

Picked up TOASTS FOR EVERY OCCASION at the local library. As usual my “smart-ass” gene kicked in.  Here’s a few:

• “It usually takes more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu toast.”  Mark Twain
• May you two grow old on one pillow.
• May you live a hundred years with one extra year to repent.
• Here’s to a friend who knows you well and likes you just the same.
• When I read about the evils of drinking,  I gave up reading.
• What would you like to drink too?  To about three in the morning.
• In heaven there is no beer so we better drink it here.
• Here’s to the good time I must have had.
• “Candy is dandy, but liquor is quicker”  Ogden Nash.
• To man.  Give him an inch and he thinks he is a ruler.
• Here’s to our  coach –a man who will lay down our lives for his school.
• Here’s to the honest politician.  Who when bought stays bought.
• To the big-bellied bottle.

Riding by the JPTC I spotted twenty plus fraternity students playing whiffle ball on the courts. They’d actually taped off a baseball field on the courts. Brogans to running shoes, beer keg & all. There they were.
Whoa, Whoa, Whoa.
I tried to be nice. One kid ran his argument right at me, as I stood in the door-frame. He ran into the door fence. Really. I couldn’t help but laugh at him.
His buddy took over, quite indignantly telling me how students owned this facility. He wanted to know who I was. I  told him I was directly in charge of the facility and it was limited to tennis only. We fought skateboarders, even hockey players, but this was different.
After about three attempts to explain, he ignored me again. I, then, asked
who, in fact, he was?
He wouldn’t answer or show an I.D. card, required to play on the courts. “That’s okay,” I said, inching closer to his nose, “I already know who you are.”
“You know who I am?” he asked.
“Yeah, you’re a chicken shit coward, and you always will be.” He walked away.
I wasn’t aware he was the sports editor for the “Pendulum,” Elon’s student
newspaper. The next edition featured his article “Tennis Coach has balls.”
Back to Alan’s office!

P.S.  I was concerned that Elon would discipline me for my behavior and waited for  the call from the A.D. or President, etc.  Nope–the only response was by the football coaching staff.  One by one they lined up outside my office and each one brought me their copy of the PENDULUM article and meekly asked me to autograph it,  so they could “…show it to my Dad!”

Jim Drummond is head of the “Leisure Department” at Elon. My son Dan said he wanted that job. My suggestion was the less Drummond did, the more he ought to get paid as “Leisure Chairman.”
Dr. Drummond’ mentor, Dr. Baxter (look under curmudgeon for Bob) was giving up duties as Elon’s “Parliamentarian.” Coach Carden called those across the street, “them old Academic Dicks.” We had one in the gym, downstairs, named Drummond.
It wasn’t long before the school newsletter, citing academic meanderings, re- ported that Dr. James Drummond had attended a big convention on “Parliamentary Manuring.” One problem: They left out the “V in manuvering.
The Chronicle of Higher Education is the Bible for academics. They also feature a column entitled “Marginalia” for when the academic dicks who screw up. Guess who alerted them to Leisure Jim, and his “maneuvering.”