Cameron Avenue
Built on an old carriage path that led west from the campus, the street now known as Cameron Avenue was originally called College Avenue. In the early 1880s it was named for Paul Cameron, in appreciation his many contributions to the university as a trustee and donor, and for the sugar maple trees he donated to plant along the road. Cameron, born into a wealthy family in Orange County, attended UNC briefly in the 1820s before being expelled for fighting. He eventually graduated from nearby Trinity College. He was a supporter of higher education throughout his life. He provided funds to help reopen Carolina in the 1870s and to build the original Memorial Hall in the 1880s. Cameron was also a member of the UNC Board of Trustees. The Camerons were one of the wealthiest families in the South. They owned property throughout North Carolina, including what is now the historic Stagville plantation in Durham, as well as plantations in Alabama and Mississippi. By the late 1850s Paul Cameron and his siblings enslaved more than 1,000 people.
Date Established: 1885
Date Range: 1885 – Present