Looking for a less-crowded spot, or exploring campus for the first time? We’ve mapped out nine less-traveled ideas.
Sylvan Grove Theater and Columns
To the southeast of Drumheller Fountain, cordoned off behind a wall of trees, lies the The Sylvan Grove Theater and Columns, a small grassy field that was initially used for plays. Along the far end, which served as the stage, are four hand-fluted cedar Ionic columns that were salvaged from a portico in the original downtown University of Washington campus that was demolished in 1908. This beautiful, peaceful space is usually empty during weekdays and is perfect for picnics.
Medicinal Herb Garden
Directly across the greenway from the Sylvan Grove Theater, in a woodsy spot between to Benson Hall and the Botany Greenhouse, the medieval-flavored Medicinal Herb Garden is home to about thousand different plants, from wolf’s bane to fairywand. Founded in 1911, the herb garden covers two and a half acres and is a marvelous place to just wander around aimlessly, studying all the little plaques with the herbs’ names and info. (Harvesting the plants is strictly prohibited, FYI.)
Caretaker Keith Possee maintains a charming little blog, with updates on what’s in bloom each season, at uwmedicinalherbgarden.org. Keep an eye out for the monkey statues that guard the Pacific Northwest section, called Cascara Circle, just beyond the main entrance—they represent the Hindu god Hanuman.
Every speck of the Henry is awesome and should be visited often, but it’s not very secret. That said, to the left of the building, on the east side of the footbridge that crosses 15th Avenue NW, is a permanent architectural installation by James Turrell on the upper level, titled “Light Reign.” (You have to leave the gallery in order to access it.) Built to commemorate the museum’s 75th anniversary in 2003, the circular glass-and-steel tower’s interior is lined with wooden paneling and a long curved bench, with an aperture in the ceiling that asks the viewer to concentrate on the oval of pure, unobstructed sky it displays. The light in the space changes throughout the day. On the exterior, facing the public walkway, the building’s frosted glass shell is lit from behind with LED lights that shift among pastel sunset tones, which are a spectacle to behold after dark. The Henry is free to UW students, members, and children, and it free to everyone on Sundays as well as every first Thursday of the month.
By the Department of Global Health and the South Campus Center (SOCC), on San Juan Road, is a darling little mini-beach tucked among the willow trees. It’s even got a few driftwood logs for sitting on while you eat lunch and watch the boats pass back and forth on Portage Bay.
UW’s alumni magazine, Columns, calls this green space “the reverse of what folk singer Joni Mitchell once sang about—they ‘unpaved’ a parking lot and put up paradise”—a wink-and-nod referring to the fact that, until the HUB Yard was renovated in 1990, Grieg Garden was an actual parking lot. In the same vein as Sylvan Grove Theater (a pocket version of it, if you will), this cozy park’s entrance is just an unmarked split in the hedges outside of Allen Library, on the left. Instead of Greek columns, it has a bronze bust of composer Edvard Grieg, and includes soil from Bergen, Norway, Grieg’s hometown. The “door” is easy to miss, but musicians like to practice here when the weather’s nice, so you might be able to just follow your ears.
Historical tours, including a telescope demo, are free, and UW’s Department of Astronomy opens the space to the public on first and third Wednesdays between March and November, if you want to get a better look at Orion’s belt. The department also hosts occasional lectures on, for example, black holes and things like black holes at the observatory. You can also go to Ballard’s Peddler Brewery for the lecture series “Astronomy on Tap,” when UW faculty discuss planetary matters.