While most colleges talk up the prettiness of their campuses, it’s hard to argue when LSU calls itself one of the most beautiful colleges in the country.
Dotted with live oaks and Italian Renaissance-inspired architecture, LSU’s Baton Rouge campus is a great place for a walk. While there’s plenty to see — the campus spreads out over 1,000 acres, after all — many of the most notable buildings can be found around a central area near Dalrymple Drive.
LSU holds campus tours for interested students throughout the week, though there are other options for those who aren’t necessarily interested in student life. In the interests of brevity, we’ve put together a brief tour that should take about an hour. Feel free to amble at your own place — there’s much to see, and you can’t really go wrong.
The Welcome Center
As logical a starting point as ever (just look at the name), LSU’s Welcome Center is located on the corner of Highland Road and Dalrymple Drive.
It’s a compact and, yes, welcoming building that has plenty of information about LSU and its campus. It’s not a bad spot to park either — relatively inexpensive, by college standards, at $1.50 an hour — and even has physical campus maps available.
Memorial Tower
Just down the road and across the street is the Memorial Tower, also known as the Campanile. Erected in 1923 as a memorial for Louisianans who died in World War I, it has a stately presence. On quiet days, it’s a peaceful place … aside from the quarter-hourly clanging of its bells, that is.
LSU’s elegant Memorial Tower
The library/quad
Continue walking past the (perennially busy) library, and cut through the quad. Take a right past Allen Hall, skirt around the attractive Journalism Building, and you’ll find yourself at …
Tiger Stadium/PMAC
Both of the above need little explaining, although Tiger Stadium, in particular, never ceases to amaze with its sheer size. One of the world’s 10 largest stadiums is right here in Baton Rouge? No matter how many times you’ve been in its presence, it’s an astonishing sight and thought.
Fun fact: While the Pete Maravich Assembly Center is arguably best known for being the home of LSU basketball, its early years saw it host plenty of great shows.
LSU’s oldest Campus Mound dates back around 11,000 years.
Mike the Tiger
While you’re in the area, you’d be remiss not to say “Hi” to Mike the Tiger. A presence at LSU since 1936, the latest tiger, Mike VII, has been prowling his enclosure since 2017. On a recent visit, he could be seen stalking backward and forwards along the side of his cage, startling a couple of college kids who backed away from him with nervous laughter.
Sure, he’s behind a couple of (no doubt top-quality) fences, but would you feel comfortable if he took a run at you? Don’t lie, now.
LSU’s Greek Theatre, as many like to point out, is a great place for quiet contemplation.
LSU Campus Mounds
Head up Victory Hill, down which the Golden Band from Tigerland marches on game day, and you’ll find yourself walking past LSU’s campus mounds.
The mounds have been of interest to archaeologists for well over 100 years, and while their origins are mysterious, there’s no doubt that they’re among the oldest human-made structures in the Americas. According to Yale University’s American Journal of Science, building on the first mound began around 11,000 years ago.
Evidently, they were originally built at a bend in the Mississippi River. “The mounds would’ve been a prominent landmark to anyone traveling on the river,” LSU’s website puts it. “The river has since shifted, but (their) landmark status remains strong.”
Greek Theatre
Keep on going and you’ll head past the Greek Theatre, an open air space that was built in 1926. A favorite of theater troupes and the like, it’s invariably described as “reflective.”
It’s not hard to see why. On quiet days, there’s a definite sense of peace and calm, aided by its location off the road, down a hill and surrounded by trees.
In one of its most notorious appearances in LSU history, it was the site of Gov. Huey Long handing out loans to students who wanted to take a trip to Nashville, Tennessee, for an LSU football game. Long, predictably, was swamped.
Goes to show that, as ever, there wasn’t much peace and calm when the Kingfish was around.