This SC university is among the most beautiful the US, 2024 ranking shows. Here’s why

Furman University has once again been listed as one of America’s most beautiful college campuses.

Architectural Digest listed the Greenville school as No. 18 on the list of 64. Listed first was University of Hawaii at Mānoa located right outside downtown Honolulu with a view of Diamond Head.

Jeff Redderson, Furman’s associate vice president facilities and campus services, said students say the overall aesthetic of campus is a major draw, among the top two reasons students select Furman.

He said if they can entice a student to visit, chances are they will enroll.

Furman’s campus covers 940 acres in northern Greenville County, including 450 acres that are maintained.

Among the more unusual sites are The Place of Peace, the first Japanese temple to be dismantled and reconstructed in America. More than 2,400 pieces were transported through the Panama Canal to the campus in 2008, where it was reconstructed by Japanese craftsmen. There is an adjoining Asia Garden.

The Janie Earle Furman Rose Garden, established in 1961, is considered one of the most beautiful in the country. Often used as a venue for small weddings, it has 800 rose bushes, a 19th-century gazebo, and a fountain.

Furman maintains a greenhouse to grow Furman roses that are given to people who have contributed to the betterment of the school. The school also gives items made from the trees cut down over the past several years that lined the mall, which runs through the front part of the campus. The president’s desk was made from that wood as well.

The tree cutting was not popular when the first huge overcup and white oaks were taken down. The trees might have looked fine, but the truth is they had outlived their life span and were dangerous, Redderson said.

Then there is Furman Lake — also known as Swan Lake — that, while beautiful, is not suitable for swimming. The school has been working for years to right the environmental wrongs, including dredging and relocating some 300 geese.

It is the site of the iconic Bell Tower, which Architectural Digest called Furman’s signature structure.

“It’s actually a faithful recreation: The original, built in 1854, was left behind on Furman’s old campus, as it was too fragile to move when the university relocated to Greenville in the mid-20th century,” the magazine said.

The campus buildings are Georgian, surrounded by grassy fields and flower beds. The school also has a golf course.

Originally founded in Edgefield, Furman moved to downtown Greenville in 1851. It merged with Greenville Women’s College between 1933 and 1938. Overcrowding caused university trustees to decide the school needed to move.

Ground was broken for the new campus in 1953. The men’s college downtown became Bell Tower Mall, then County Square and now a multi-million-dollar mixed use development under construction. The women’s college is now Heritage Green, home to the Greenville County Art Museum, Children’s Museum and the main branch of the county library, among other cultural and arts endeavors.

Perry, Dean & Rogers of Boston designed the new school’s master plan, which David Manning, who oversees 26 staffers on the grounds crew, says guides their work to this day.