Celebrate Clemson University history at Legacy Day

Published: October 28, 2010

CLEMSON — Students, faculty, staff and area residents are invited to learn about and celebrate Clemson University history at Legacy Day from 2 to 4:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 5, at Fort Hill, the historic home of John C. Calhoun and Thomas Green Clemson.

Legacy Day will feature tours of Fort Hill, a scavenger hunt for historical facts and trivia in the house, food, and music by the Clemson University String Quartet. Participants will be able to leave their own mark on Clemson’s legacy by signing the mat of a special Clemson print that will be displayed in the R.M. Cooper Library. The recently published biography of Thomas Green Clemson and the photo book “Clemson: There’s Something in These Hills” will be available for purchase at the event.

“This is the day we celebrate the event that started it all — the signing of Thomas Green Clemson’s will — and recognize those who have followed in his footsteps, leaving a legacy of giving to the university,” said Jimmy Denneny, a senior economics major from Knoxville, Tenn., and chairman of the Legacy Day planning committee. “Thomas Green and Anna Calhoun Clemson believed that higher education was essential to social and economic progress, and they were committed to that belief. Support for and giving to that idea is at the heart of the Clemson DNA.”

At 4 p.m., there will be a special dedication ceremony for a new addition to the Fort Hill Legacy Society, which honors bequests of $1 million or more when the university receives them. Members of the society are memorialized in a set of bronze leaves on the grounds of Fort Hill.

A new leaf in the memorial will be dedicated to the late Earl Charles Ray of Savannah, Ga. Ray, who graduated from Clemson in 1938 with a degree in chemistry, established the Earl C. Ray Student Assistance Endowment for graduates or undergraduates in chemistry or chemical engineering.

“It is important for students to recognize those who have put us in position today to succeed,” said Denneny. “We are able to enjoy the Clemson we know today because those before us have given of themselves.”

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