CUGA Handbook: Special & Driving Tours
Things to Remember:
Know your group! If it is senior adults, they do not want to know about classes and majors. Be sure to find out who it is, what they are interested in and work from there. Be aware of any guests that have special needs during your tour. Make sure to ask where the tour would like to end, and if they have any additional plans on campus.
Special tours and driving tours are a little less formal than campus tours. It may be appropriate during these tours to tell some stories or some of the myths about campus.
If it is a driving tour, try to talk as much as possible. Avoid awkward, long moments of silence. Feel free to ask them questions.
For any driving tour, make sure that you know the route. Also make sure that the driver knows the route as well. Find out if you need to be navigating as well as talking or if someone else will be doing that for you. Be sure that the vehicle can get to all of the places it needs to.
For driving tours that may be on charter buses, make sure you know how to use the equipment BEFORE you start the tour. Be sure not to yell into the microphone.
On driving or special tours, it may be necessary to go by or see things that are not normally seen on a regular walking tour. Here are some additional facts about these areas:
Madren Conference Center
- Home to Conference and Guest Services
- Seasons by the Lake is the full-service restaurant
- Many banquet and meeting rooms located here
- Made possible by a gift from Clyde Madren, in memory of his father
Walker Golf Course
- Golf course used by the university and public
- The first golf course in US built to be handicap accessible
- 17th hole has a sand trap in the shape of a Tiger Paw
- Made possible by a gift from John E. Walker, in memory of his father
Martin Inn
- Serves as a hotel to the conferences and the public
- Opened in September 1998
- Named for James F. Martin
South Carolina Botanical Garden
- Includes Hayden Conference Center which is used for classes, a duck pond and several trails
- Over 4,000 different kinds of plants and trees are grown here, features a camellia and hosta garden, named a Hosta Garden by the American Hosta Society. One of only six in the country, it is the only one in the South
- Has over 250 acres and has the largest collection of nature-based art
Cadet Life Garden
- Located to the right of the caboose, it is a brick structure with a trellis
- Made possible by gifts from the Class of ’42 and the Golden Tigers (alumnus that have been out of Clemson 50 years or more)
- Dedicated June, 1999
- Displays bronze reliefs depicting life at Clemson during the military days
Discovery Center
- Formerly the Wren House, Southern Living showcase home
- Now houses the Visitors Center for the South Carolina Botanical Gardens
Bob Campbell Geology Museum
- Houses a collection of gems, stones and rocks
- Open to the public on Thursdays, Fridays and weekends, open throughout the week by appointment only
- Gift from Bob (Class of 1937) and Betsy Campbell
- Majority of the collection has been gifted to Clemson from several different alumni
Cemetery Hill
- Final resting place to many of Clemson’s first faculty and many of Clemson’s Presidents, Trustees, and other notable members of the Clemson Family
- Calhoun family plot is located here, however, John C. Calhoun is buried in Charleston and Thomas Green Clemson was buried in Pendleton, SC.
Riggs Field
- Currently the soccer fields for both men and women.
- Originally the football stadium.
- In 1998 Wojciech Krakowiak won the Herman Trophy which is soccer’s equivalent to the Heisman Trophy.
- The women’s soccer team has been invited to the NCAA tournament every year since it became a varsity sport in 1994.
- The Men’s soccer team won the national championship two years in the 1980's.