Seniors begin a survey of the terrace wall

Four civil engineering seniors will spend the year measuring the granite wall that holds up the terrace.

The retaining wall below the terrace was built in 1874, the year the lawn was graded. It has been repaired many times but never fully surveyed. This fall four seniors set instruments on Captain Brannock’s original stations and began a record of how far the wall has moved in a century and a half.

They will compare their readings against the 1871 field book in the college archive. Their adviser says the wall is sound. The question for the project is how much it moves with the seasons and how much it has settled for good. The students will present their findings at the senior reviews in April.