Cornell University

Ivy League campus on the hill above Ithaca, with libraries, museums, and gorges

Cornell occupies a long, high ridge above the city, with the central campus arranged around the Arts Quad and McGraw Tower. The free-to-wander parts are easily worth half a day: the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, the gorges that bracket the campus on three sides, and the Cornell Botanic Gardens just to the north.

Walk up through Cascadilla Gorge from the Commons for the most theatrical approach — the trail climbs alongside a chain of waterfalls and lands you at the foot of College Avenue. From there, the McGraw Tower chimes ring three times a day; if you time it right you can climb to the top during summer tours.

things to do sight cornell
A story
Cornell was founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White as the first major American university to admit students "in any study," regardless of religion, gender, or class. Its first class included the freed African American student Charles Chauncey Moore. The motto on the seal — "I would found an institution where any person can find instruction in any study" — was unusual enough at the time to be considered radical.