I drove up to North Georgia last weekend to visit my undergraduate alma mater, Berry College and the city of Rome.
And look at this pretty Roman lady I ran into:
I hadn’t visited Rome in years, but I knew my first stop (since lunch time loomed) had to be the Partridge Restaurant on Broad Street downtown.
I loved this restautant as a student. (Would it still be as good???)
They serve up the southern cooking family style. Well actually Kyra Sedgwick from TNT’s The Closer does! Look!
Not only did she have the physical resemblance, but my incredible waitress sounded just like the Deputy Chief Brenda Johnson character, if not a tad more Southern. Her real name is Wilma Temples, and I LOVED her. When she asked me if I liked the fried chicken,
(now that’s a piece of fried chicken)
and I told her that yes, it was delicious, she clapped her hands in delight.
What an incredibly tasty meal!
(Wait, look, there she is again, right behind me.)
But on to Berry College I stufflingly (for this post, let’s pretend that’s a word) went. Next stop: Oak Hill, the antebellum family home of Berry Founder Martha Berry.
And the backyard:
My childhood home doesn’t quite look like Martha’s:
What a wonderful feeling to drive through Berry’s main gate again, The Gate of Opportunity. And at nearly 30,000 acres, Berry College boasts the world’s largest campus.
Ridiculously silly video introducing Dana Hall (toward the end I got distracted by students who yelled at me from their car):
I somehow managed to convince an RA to let me into my former dorm, Dana Hall and found my old room, #235.
I also tried to tell the kids about the cool Sock Hops we used to have, but they looked at me like I was from another century. (Just hush.)
Outside Dana Hall:
The Berry Chapel:
Pausing at Martha Berry’s gravesite. Yes, it’s right there next to Dana Hall beside the chapel.
And on to arguably the most beautiful section of campus, the Ford complex (Henry Ford funded this part of Berry).
I used to eat in the Ford Dining Hall below. (Also the site for yesteryear’s Sock Hops that those baby Berry students knew nothing about.)
Ah, the memories.
Finally, I drove about five miles (yes, still on Berry property) to the old Berry Academy part of campus to see my favorite spot of all, the Old Mill.
Believe it or not, we used to try to (illegally) climb that thing!
But not anymore. Nowadays these boots are just made for walking. And sitting.
What a great Rome-ing day.
I have been so blessed to be a part of three beautiful and top-notch schools: Berry, Georgia Southern University and now SCAD (the Savannah College of Art and Design).
Other related posts and links:
“My Berry”:
NealEnJoy 
Neal, I lived in Rome, and my oldest daughter attended Berry College ELEMENTARY! I am so glad that someone else knows the beauty of that campus! People would give May a funny look when they asked where she went to school, and she responded, “Berry College” (she was eight). We spent hours on the weekends fishing in the ponds at Berry, and we loved going to that old mill. We had to shoo (not shooT) the deer away from the playground at the little school, which was amazing because the education majors rotated through the school, giving it a wonderful student-teacher ratio. Did you visit the Martha Berry homestead on top of the mountain? You know, the old dairy is now a retreat where you can spent a night away from phones and computers! My hubby and I stayed there once (although he balked at the lack of TV because it was during the Masters!). We loved Rome, but we loved Berry even more! I always regretted having to move my child from that school, but my husband took a job in the Pacific Northwest, so we moved on to other gorgeous views. I still think Georgia is just as lovely, though, and Berry is a fine example of its beauty.
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Hey Leigh Ann. I completely understand. Even after all these years, Berry and Rome are so dear to me. I hope your semester is going well.
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What a beautiful and incredible campus! I’ll need to spend a weekend in Rome sometime.
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Hey Mark. Yes Berry is pretty unique. I loved my time there.
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