College Hill Tree to Leave a Legacy

Soon after students on College Hill headed home for spring break in early March, construction crews began work on renovating the Galley and the neighboring courtyard between Legacy and Jones Residence Halls. One of the first stages of the project included the removal of a large tree which for many years had stood adjacent to four-story Legacy Hall. This one time smaller scale part of the landscape eventually grew to tower over Legacy Hall.

As part of its ongoing commitment to sustainability, Campus Living has developed an innovative means of keeping much of the wood from the Legacy tree from going to waste. A key feature of the renovated Galley project will be the Brewhouse coffee shop. Upon the opening of the Brewhouse in August, 2018 patrons will find a large community table as well as several smaller café tables – all created from sections of wood reclaimed from the Legacy tree. These unique furniture features will be created by ECU alumnus Daniel Peoples.

“This project came at a perfect time in the life of this tree because it was going to have to come down anyway as a part of this project,” said ECU Associate Vice Chancellor for Campus Living Bill McCartney. “It was an ornamental tree when it went into the ground, but it grew so large and for so long that its roots and branches got too close to the structure.”

The Brewhouse table project is the latest of several efforts in which Campus Living and 1998 ECU alumnus Peoples have collaborated in recent years. This past November, Peoples installed a 206-piece custom wooden voice imprint – using his own voice – of the chant, “Let’s Go Pirates!” in the lobby of White Residence Hall in the West End neighborhood.

“We are continuing our relationship with Daniel, who has built a number of things for us,” McCartney continued. “We are hopeful that this is the first of many projects in which the wood from the Legacy tree will be used.”

Peoples, who holds a bachelor’s degree of fine arts in wood design from ECU, has created custom furniture, cabinetry, and art works out of his Tyson Creek Studio since he opened it in 2002. In 2015, he built a set of wooden benches inside the entrance space to The Sounds conference and meeting rooms within Gateway West Residence Hall. Serving as both seating areas and artistic works, the benches provide both form and function. He also produced a set of wooden barn-style doors outside The Croatan dining facility on main campus.

Having stored much of the wood from the Legacy tree in addition to that to be used for the Brewhouse coffee tables, McCartney looks forward to working with Peoples on more projects in the future.

“We hope to use the wood from the [Legacy] tree to memorialize it’s history and keep it here on College Hill,” said McCartney.

Set to re-open in August, the renovated Galley will include a 9′ x 12′ video wall, expanded indoor seating, a new burger concept, and a new entrance to Fitness Pointe, along with the existing P.O.D. Market and Subway locations.