The Tour
Chartered in 1836, Wesleyan was the first college in the world established to grant degrees to women, and its entire 200-acre Georgian Revival campus is a National Register historic district. This walk crosses the Cambridge-inspired quadrangle past the fine-arts hall, the Shutze-designed alumnae center, and the library that together tell the story of a pioneering women's college.
Wesleyan College Campus Tour is a self-guided walking tour of Macon, built around its campus side. It's one of 9 Georgia Roam tours in Macon — each a different route through the city, on your own schedule.
The walk covers 6 stops over about 0.6 miles and roughly 55 minutes, entirely at your own pace. Each stop's story unlocks on your phone the moment you arrive — GPS-triggered, hands-free, no guide and no tour group to keep up with.
What you'll see
Wesleyan's campus is one of the best-preserved early-20th-century college plans in Georgia, and this walk shows why the whole 200 acres is a National Register historic district. You enter from Forsyth Road, where a historical marker tells how the Georgia Female College became the first college in the world chartered to grant degrees to women. Then the grounds open onto a broad quadrangle inspired by the English university colleges. It is ringed by red-brick, white-columned Georgian Revival buildings, most designed by Macon architect W. Elliott Dunwody.
The standout is the former Candler Library, now the Candler Alumnae Center. It was designed by Philip Trammell Shutze, the Atlanta classicist best known for the Swan House. Nearby are the Willet Memorial Library, which holds nearly two centuries of the college's records, and the Porter Fine Arts Building, whose 1,200-seat auditorium serves both campus and city. Along the way you'll hear about the sororities founded here in the 1850s and the three Soong sisters from China.
The walk is about half a mile and takes under an hour. Beyond the quad, half the campus is a forested arboretum around Foster Lake, worth extra time if trails are open to visitors. Spring azaleas and fall color are highlights, and weekday afternoons are a good time to catch the art galleries open. The Georgia Roam app tells each stop's story as you arrive.
Georgia
