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| Bell Tower at the University of the Cumberlands, Williamsburg, Ky. |
Originally founded as the Williamsburg Institute in 1889 and renamed to Cumberland College in 1913, the University of the Cumberlands took its present name in 2005. Early benefactors seeking to “provide affordable Christian education for mountain people” included James P. and Thomas B. Mahan, Ancil Gatliff, Edwin S. Moss, John W. Siler, and John D. Rockefeller.
Architecture on the college’s campus is well-considered and substantially uniform red-brick. Many of the buildings, especially those recently constructed, are modeled as replicas of America’s historical structures, e.g., Independence Hall and Monticello. The public restaurant in the Cumberland Inn, the Athanaeum, is listed as a must-stop in Eating Your Way Across Kentucky: 101 Must Places to Eat
Notable alumni include Rep. Eugene Siler, Governors Bert Combs and Edwin Morrow, military generals, and several university and college presidents. The school’s recent history is complete with some controversy when Kentucky courts ruled that state funding of a pharmacy school at UC would be unconstitutional in light of the forced withdrawal of a gay student at the school.