Pave The Quad & other WFU mysteries

[myDeaconmyhand]

Throughout my time at Wake, I heard of or encountered many mysterious things:

Pave The Quad: When I was researching colleges, I came across a website called "Pave The Quad", which was blank. As a student I saw "Pave The Quad" written and etched into most bathroom stalls on campus, and many benches. The website remains blank. What is it?

The Order of the 23s: I realize this is on Wiki already, but when I worked for Jay's Technical Crew on campus, I helped set up lighting for President Hearn's memorial service in Wait Chapel. When I was up in the cloud (catwalk), I saw all these little leaflets that said "welcome to the 23's" In my first 2 years at Wake I saw a white flag with "XXIII" in roman numerals, in place of the Duke flag at the first home football game. Outside of this stuff, I don't know anything about them.

Wait Chapel Clock Tower/ ZSR Bell Tower: These aren't mysteries, but I included them because you have to break in, or be invited in. I have been in both. I snuck/broke into the ZSR bell tower as a freshman, and I got a lame guided tour into the Wait Chapel tower, after unsuccessfully trying to break in many times.

The Tunnels: I have never been in them (lame), but I drunkenly tried many times with friends. My problem is that I never met any student who knew how to get in, or had the balls to try. One of my biggest regrets as a Wake student.

Storage Room under the Pit: I have heard of a famous storage room under the pit which holds many glorious things: Crappy party decorations, old lounge furniture, etc.

 

[IAppreciateIt]

Simon(e)

 

[OrigScreaminDemon]

Pit Crawling

 

[DeacAlum2001]

Throughout my time at Wake, I heard of or encountered many mysterious things:

Pave The Quad: When I was researching colleges, I came across a website called "Pave The Quad", which was blank. As a student I saw "Pave The Quad" written and etched into most bathroom stalls on campus, and many benches. The website remains blank. What is it?

I could be wrong on this but I believe it was a movement that started because of the lack of parking on campus and the high amount of money parking enforcement made off of tickets. I was at wake from 97-01 and one of those years parking enforcement made $400K off parking fines. Basically, the premise of the group was to pave the quad and make it a parking lot. Again, this is my recollection 10+ years later so I could be mistaken.

Wait Chapel Clock Tower/ ZSR Bell Tower: These aren't mysteries, but I included them because you have to break in, or be invited in. I have been in both. I snuck/broke into the ZSR bell tower as a freshman, and I got a lame guided tour into the Wait Chapel tower, after unsuccessfully trying to break in many times.

I had the opportunity to go in the Wait Chapel clock tower to interview a retired chaplain that still had an office up there. The guy was amazing. He told me stories about being a student at WFU when it was still in Wake Forest and all the things he had seen/experienced while working for Wake for 50+ years. Also, he had the best view on campus. His window overlooked the quad and most of the campus.

Simon(e)

This is a true mystery. Has anyone ever solved it?

 

[bernbp5]

The Order of the 23s: I realize this is on Wiki already, but when I worked for Jay's Technical Crew on campus, I helped set up lighting for President Hearn's memorial service in Wait Chapel. When I was up in the cloud (catwalk), I saw all these little leaflets that said "welcome to the 23's" In my first 2 years at Wake I saw a white flag with "XXIII" in roman numerals, in place of the Duke flag at the first home football game. Outside of this stuff, I don't know anything about them.

The Tunnels: I have never been in them (lame), but I drunkenly tried many times with friends. My problem is that I never met any student who knew how to get in, or had the balls to try. One of my biggest regrets as a Wake student.

You worked for Jay? Awesome guy. Did you play football with him on Davis field? Also, I may have gone in the tunnels one time. It wasn't that exciting, but was interesting. Lots of weird stuff be painted down there as well.

 

[myDeaconmyhand]

You worked for Jay? Awesome guy. Did you play football with him on Davis field? Also, I may have gone in the tunnels one time. It wasn't that exciting, but was interesting. Lots of weird stuff be painted down there as well.

Yeah, Jay is awesome. His crew makes more money per hour than a lot of the janitors or people who work in the Pit. He invited me to play Football, but I never did.

 

[awakeandready]

Throughout my time at Wake, I heard of or encountered many mysterious things:

Pave The Quad: When I was researching colleges, I came across a website called "Pave The Quad", which was blank. As a student I saw "Pave The Quad" written and etched into most bathroom stalls on campus, and many benches. The website remains blank. What is it?


My favorite is one of the places it says "pave teh quad" and I always read it as "pavay teh quad". I think I know the person that did that one, and he just "got distracted"?

 

[seventwofour]

RChildress107 and I went from Tribble to Green in the tunnels our freshman year. It was cool, but probably pretty dangerous in a few parts where the steam pipes were pretty hot. There are a couple old bomb shelters from the Cold War era on either side of the steps leading up toward the library from the patio between Benson and Tribble.

There was rumored to be an extensive map collection in the library about the tunnels in the Rare Book Room, but I never saw it. Of course, there is the well-known online map, but that doesn't have much:

 

[richis711]

I took ed hendricks cold war freshman seminar and he attempted to get us down in the tunnels (for bomb shelter research, of course) but his "connection" had recently retired.

Also, if anyone had the good fortune of taking the history of wake forest with Hendricks, now should be your time to shine. Unfortunately, he retired after my Freshman year so I only got tidbits of info.

One thing I learned is that there was a major military communications center in Tribble during the cold war.

Also, there is a bomb shelter on faculty drive in Hendricks back yard.

 

[deacondamo]

I took ed hendricks cold war freshman seminar and he attempted to get us down in the tunnels (for bomb shelter research, of course) but his "connection" had recently retired.

Also, if anyone had the good fortune of taking the history of wake forest with Hendricks, now should be your time to shine. Unfortunately, he retired after my Freshman year so I only got tidbits of info.

One thing I learned is that there was a major military communications center in Tribble during the cold war.

Also, there is a bomb shelter on faculty drive in Hendricks back yard.

History of Wake was the best class ever. I loved Prof Hendricks.

 

[The Stig]

Storage Room under the Pit: I have heard of a famous storage room under the pit which holds many glorious things: Crappy party decorations, old lounge furniture, etc.

It's called The Cage and is incredibly humid. Alumni Activities uses it for storage and has a number of file cabinets and random crap. When I was a student I did work study for one of their departments and helped my boss, a fairly conservative woman, clean out one section of the Cage. While cleaning, I looked up (the ceiling is mostly exposed pipes) and noticed a huge duffel bag and pointed it out to her. She didn't recognize it so asked me to pull it down so we could see what it was. Turned out to be full with dozens upon dozens of porn mags (we assumed it belonged to someone in Maintenance). Very awkward and funny at the same time.

 

[dot com]

Been up in the attic and roof of Kitchin, that was fun. Also had a favorite hangout in the eaves of Reynolda. There was like a secret classroom up back there.

 

[The Stig]

Also, there is a bomb shelter on faculty drive in Hendricks back yard.

I helped him clean out that shelter one summer. Wake lost a treasure when he retired. I still keep up with him and am amazed at how many other students from his entire career do the same

 

[MBDeac08]

Hendricks took us up in the clock, we all got to play the carillon. The view from up there is amazing, you can see Pilot Mountain, downtown W-S skyline, and everything else for 20-30 miles on a clear day.

Tribble was indeed home to some communications stuff in the ceiling. If you go all the way to the top of the steps, there is a false ceiling I believe where the steps continue up. Its been a few years since I've been in there.

The storage room under the pit is actually pretty easy to get into. Me and some drunk friends stumbled upon it by accident, and then made it a habit to bring other people there. We took some sombreros and St Patricks day hats; there was much more down there. I don't remember how we got down there now, but I believe the elevators will take you there. The place kind of feels like the room in the first Saw movie; old and kind of dirty and creepy.

It is definitely worth it to take a trip around campus late at night (drunk) and see what you can find in different buildings. There is so much more to the campus than meets the eye. Pretty much all of them were left unlocked, we never ran into any security, though I would not be surprised we were on some surveillance tape.

 

[richis711]

I helped him clean out that shelter one summer. Wake lost a treasure when he retired. I still keep up with him and am amazed at how many other students from his entire career do the same

I was really hoping he'd do a lecture series or something after he retired for people interested in the history of wake forest. He is writing a book about wake, isn't he? Perhaps after he gets that done he will do some talks.

I must say you did a nice job cleaning out the shelter, when I was down there it was empty except for a 30 year old tin of survival biscuits.

 

[The Stig]

I was really hoping he'd do a lecture series or something after he retired for people interested in the history of wake forest. He is writing a book about wake, isn't he? Perhaps after he gets that done he will do some talks.

I must say you did a nice job cleaning out the shelter, when I was down there it was empty except for a 30 year old tin of survival biscuits.

I don't know if he's writing one or not but I'll ask him the next time I see him. I hope that he is. His classes were the ones that I looked forward to the most.

Thanks. It had been used mostly for storage and had a good amount of stuff in there (I don't think he showed it every year). We did find out (as he may have told y'all) that all the electricity and water goes through the shelter first before reaching his house. The guy who had it built did a helluva job setting that one up to spec.

What year did you have him?

 

[myDeaconmyhand]

Hendricks took us up in the clock, we all got to play the carillon. The view from up there is amazing, you can see Pilot Mountain, downtown W-S skyline, and everything else for 20-30 miles on a clear day.

Tribble was indeed home to some communications stuff in the ceiling. If you go all the way to the top of the steps, there is a false ceiling I believe where the steps continue up. Its been a few years since I've been in there.

The storage room under the pit is actually pretty easy to get into. Me and some drunk friends stumbled upon it by accident, and then made it a habit to bring other people there. We took some sombreros and St Patricks day hats; there was much more down there. I don't remember how we got down there now, but I believe the elevators will take you there. The place kind of feels like the room in the first Saw movie; old and kind of dirty and creepy.

It is definitely worth it to take a trip around campus late at night (drunk) and see what you can find in different buildings. There is so much more to the campus than meets the eye. Pretty much all of them were left unlocked, we never ran into any security, though I would not be surprised we were on some surveillance tape.

In order to get into the bell tower in ZSR, you had to take the elevator to the top, and then wiggle the door handle to a maintence room in just the right way. The maintenence room had a metal ladder which led to a catwalk, which led to another tiny ladder that went straight up about 15 feet into a hatch. That was a fun date! Shared a bottle of coke and a pint of rum up there, yelling at people below.

 

[richis711]

I don't know if he's writing one or not but I'll ask him the next time I see him. I hope that he is. His classes were the ones that I looked forward to the most.

Thanks. It had been used mostly for storage and had a good amount of stuff in there (I don't think he showed it every year). We did find out (as he may have told y'all) that all the electricity and water goes through the shelter first before reaching his house. The guy who had it built did a helluva job setting that one up to spec.

What year did you have him?

I had him in the fall of 07. I didn't really appreciate him at the time (being a shithead freshman), but looking back he really taught us a lot and was an all around good guy to be around. It is neat having a professor that actually cares about the school and the area.


http://www.wfu.edu/history/HST_WFU/preface.html

^^^ doing a search to see if Hendricks is writing a book I produced that which has a syllabus on it from '97, lots of good pictures and stuff... no real mysteries though

 

[inspectah]

is jay still there? had forgotten about that dude. great guy.

 

[The Stig]

I had him in the fall of 07. I didn't really appreciate him at the time (being a shithead freshman), but looking back he really taught us a lot and was an all around good guy to be around. It is neat having a professor that actually cares about the school and the area.

We cleaned it out in '05. I've heard that POV from a lot of people that took him. I think that I appreciated him at the time because I knew him before I got to Wake and he helped get me in. I'd say that the only professor who loves Wake more would be Ed Wilson. Hendricks is one man who has definitely forgotten more about American and Wake Forest history than most of us will ever know.