Memorial Place

Space on Campus

Enslaver

Lost Cause

Polk, Leonidas

Polk's Lookout; a scenic overlook dedicated to Leonidas Polk

A scenic outlook on the South Cumberland Plateau and "Domain" (or property) of the University of the South. University leadership dedicated it in 1859 in the name of the Right Rev. Leonidas Polk, Episcopal Bishop of Louisiana and key founder of the University.

Although not well known, Polk's Lookout was to have been part of a necklace of scenic spots and outlooks along the “Corso,” a broad carriage road that was to circumnavigate the mountaintop site for about 30 miles. The Corso was laid out in the original 1859 plan of the campus envisioned by engineer Charles Barney and John Henry Hopkins, Episcopal Bishop of Vermont, landscape architect, and recognized apologist for slavery. The Corso never materialized, but in the 1970s it served as the outline for the campus Perimeter (hiking) Trail.

A bluff on the edge of the Cumberland Plateau on the southwest corner of the lands constituting the University of the South's "domain" of some 14,000 acres. The lookout can be accessed by hikers via the University's Perimeter Trail.

1859

1820-1865: Slavery, Anti-Slavery, and Civil War

University of the South; Sewanee, Tennessee

Sewanee Trails Website

Additional information about Leonidas Polk can be found at the link below.

Polk, Leonidas