Ferrum, VA, June 11, 2026 — In Dogwood, a Virginia-based digital news outlet, Aila Boyd published a feature in the Culture section on June 1 called “The 12 Most Beautiful College Campuses in Virginia.” Ferrum College is proud to be included in the Private Colleges list.
Boyd’s piece, with one photo of Franklin Hall and Adams Lake in the snow, mentions “that Ferrum was one of the first colleges in the country to offer an environmental studies program.” Boyd added, “Perhaps the most distinctive feature of the campus is Adams Lake, which sits prominently in the middle. While at the lake, one might spot a river otter, muskrat, four-toed salamander, or eastern musk turtle.”
The College is exceptionally fortunate that Professor Emeritus Bob Pohlad stays involved during his busy retirement years and loves to take excellent photographs that he shares so generously. Besides photographing most theatre productions, Monday Music Jams, annual plant sales and other science events, nature walks, sporting events, and more, he periodically walks around the campus to record its beauty in different seasons.
Ducks and geese are the most prominent lake residents, but Dr. Pohlad is always on the lookout for the great blue herons that the late Professor Emerita Carolyn Thomas loved so well. He commented that bald eagles and osprey are also seen at the lake often. As a horticulturist, he records plants, trees, and fungi through the seasons as well. The College published an article about his photography and teaching in 2023.
All members of the campus community are encouraged twice a year to submit photographs, as well as art and original poetry or prose, to Chrysalis Literary and Arts Magazine. You can read digital copies of the magazine, which always includes varied photographs taken on campus and around the world, on the Ferrum College website.
Thanks to the hard work of the Ferrum College grounds crew, with occasional help from student and staff groups, there is always something lovely to photograph and enjoy on campus. The Holocaust Memorial Garden was created in the center of campus by Professor Emerita Marcia Horn and her students in the interdisciplinary Holocaust course about 25 years ago.
The College’s acres of woods and Chapman Pond, adjoining the new Ferrum Park, add to the possibilities for relaxation and recreation. In the College’s wooded property are a disc golf course and the Nature’s Writers Trail created by faculty with some help from recreation and art students.
The Ferrum Historic District includes eight buildings constructed between 1913 and 1942 for Ferrum Training School, later called Ferrum Junior College and then Ferrum College. Primarily in Colonial Revival and Classical Revival styles, they are listed on the Virginia and National Registers of Historic Places. The centenary of Schoolfield Hall, transformed from the chapel into a theatre by the 1980s, was celebrated in 2025 with a new play created by the Blue Ridge Dinner Theatre.
To see for yourself, visit the Ferrum College campus. Although summer hours for indoor locations are limited, visitors are welcome to use the library and eat in college food venues as well as strolling around the campus. The Blue Ridge Institute and Museum’s 1800 farm museum is open on Saturdays all summer and the music jams are free every Monday year-round at 7 p.m., outside in the Leo Scott Pavilion at the farm in warm weather. The Admissions Office provides tours for prospective students throughout the year.
For more photos of Ferrum’s beautiful campus, go to Ferrum College albums in Flickr.com, or visit other social media pages.
Photographs by Dr. Bob Pohlad and sunset captured by Dr. Tina Hanlon
