On Saturday, May 18, an event called Farewell to the Cunninghams Tour will take place where students, faculty, staff and alumni will have one last chance to walk through North, Main and/or South Cunningham Residence Halls before their demolition this spring.
The Farewell to the Cunninghams Tour will begin with a check-in at 10:30 a.m. in the lobby of Main Cunningham Residence Hall. From 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m., there will be a box lunch picnic on Lancaster Mall. To attend the picnic, preregistration is required.
Attendees will be given a packet of note cards featuring the painting of the Cunninghams, commissioned by the Class of 2012 and Chris Register, professor of Graphic Design.
Nancy Shelton, director for Alumni Relations, said, “We think we are going to get nearly 250 Alumni. We have people even coming in from California.
This has become very popular with the Alums.”
Shelton added, “We’re trying to set up a photo booth. The goal is to take the lobby of North Cunningham and put the Longwood banners in there and have a photo/video type of thing of people’s memories. We think we will get some good memories and funny stories. That’s why we are trying to have a video booth where Alumni can tell us their experiences in the Cunninghams.”
Larry Robertson, dean of Students & Residential and Commuter Life said, “The Cunninghams are a part of Longwood history that should not be forgotten. Longwood students have a connection to their residence halls that is hard to explain, and the connection to the Cunninghams is apparent when you talk to alumni, and you hear the genuine love of their ‘home’ when they tell stories about the fun they shared with friends. So, yes, it is sad to see them go.”
Robertson noted that Residential & Commuter Life will be housing students in the Cunninghams Residence Halls through the 2013 to 2014 school year. He stated that there are plans to start construction after students move out during the spring 2014 semester.
On the demolition of the Cunninghams Residence Halls, junior Dani Roberts said, “I have an emotional attachment to this building. It was the first building that I lived in as a freshman, and now I’m an RA for the same hall that I was a freshman on. This building pretty much houses the majority of my college career.”
Roberts added, “It’s upsetting to know that we have to say farewell to the Cunninghams, but again, I understand why they can’t remodel them. But overall I will be sad that I am losing one of the most important and integral parts of my college career.”
Freshman Kelly Russo shared, “I’m going to miss the Cunninghams, but I understand why they have to tear it down.”
The Cunninghams is a residential building that is made up of three wings: North, South and Main. According to the Cunninghams page on the Longwood University website, North Cunningham has three floors, containing nearly 40 first year students in each. SouthCunningham is a mixture of first year students and upper classmen. Main Cunningham has three floors, and each floor is made up of primarily upperclassmen. The Cunninghams also hold two fraternity houses, an International Studies Hall and the GLOBE Theatre
Hall.
The Cunninghams have been around for over 80 years and were built between the 1920s and the 1950s, according to the “Longwood University Save the Cunninghams,” a Facebook page created early 2011 by a Longwood alum.
On the “Longwood University Save the Cunninghams” page, Celeste Smith, a Longwood alumna who graduated in 2000, posted on the Facebook wall, saying, “Just heard that The Cunninghams are at risk. Keep them! Historical, beautiful, meaningful, necessary.”
There are a number of ghost stories that have accumulated since the construction of the Cunninghams Residence Halls.
According to the Longwood University Ghosts website, the North Cunningham Residence Hall was built on top of a cemetery, which later created the myth of the “Wall Walker,” an unhappy soul who terrifies students by walking on the walls and ceilings while making screeching noises.
Construction on the Norman H. and Elsie Stossel Upchurch University
Center is set to begin late 2014 and will be located where the Cunninghams are currently located and will include offices for the Office of Student Union and Involvement, the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life, the Student Government Association and more.
The North Campus Commons is scheduled to open for the fall 2013 semester with two residential apartment buildings, totaling 420 residential bed spaces.
For more Information about the Farewell to the Cunninghams tour, contact Nancy Shelton at sheltonnb@longwood.edu or find her in her office in
Lancaster 120B.
For more information about the
Cunningham Residence Halls in general, go to the Cunninghams page on the Longwood University website or contact Scott Stover, residence education coordinator of the Cunninghams.
To attend the event, alumni can register online at www.longwoodlink.com, the
alumni online community website.
