Mark National Walking Day By Joining a Duke Scavenger Hunt
Grab your phone, head outside and snap selfies at iconic campus landmarks by April 8 for a chance to win a prize
Share your photos by Wednesday, April 8, for a chance to win a pair of JLab wireless earbuds in a random drawing.
And if you want to really step up your walking game, join the Duke Run/Walk Club for its regular in-person gatherings Mondays and Wednesdays at 5:30 p.m. on both East and West Campus.
“Walking, especially if you are able to engage in your surroundings, soak up the sun, or do it with a friend, can be such a joyful experience,” said Julia Phu, Fitness Specialist for LIVE FOR LIFE, Duke’s employee wellness program.
Let the hunt begin!
James B. Duke statue
On West Campus, this bronze statue honoring James B. Duke was commissioned by the Duke Endowment and presented as a gift to Duke University in 1934. The sculptor, Charles Keck, chose for Duke to be frozen in a pensive pose, holding a walking stick in his right hand his “ever-present cigar” in his left.
Fuqua Forest Gnomes
Working@Duke solved a mystery in 2019: How did a collection of garden gnomes come to live in the forest beside a walking path connecting Duke’s Fuqua School of Business and the Science Drive Garage? A former employee took the credit for placing the first one there nearly a decade earlier, and the Fuqua Forest Gnome Family has only grown in the years since. More than 20 now reside nestled among the leaves, along with a sign that declares, “The Gnomes Demand Blue Cup Victory.”
Sand Volleyball Court
Why is there a sand volleyball court far from any body of water over by the Blue Zone 9 parking lot near Brooks Field at Wallace Wade Stadium? It was originally built for Duke’s varsity volleyball team, but is primarily used as a recreational volleyball court, now. We challenge you to spot someone playing on it when you stroll by.
'Tournament of Roses' Rose Bushes
On the north end of Brooks Field at Wallace Wade Stadium, 56 pink rose bushes surround a bronze bust of former Duke football coach Wallace Wade. They’re not just any rose. They’re “Tournament of Roses” rose bushes, named in honor of the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Association, which produces the annual Rose Parade and Rose Bowl Game. Quick trivia: Durham is the only place other than Pasadena, California, where the Rose Bowl has been played. After Pearl Harbor was bombed on Dec. 7, 1941, and many feared a West Coast attack, Duke, which was playing in the game against Oregon State, offered to host it at what was then Duke Stadium.
Dawn Redwood Tree in Sarah P. Duke Gardens
There are a handful of younger Dawn Redwoods in Sarah P. Duke Gardens, but The Dawn Redwood has been growing since 1948, when a seed of what once had been thought to be a fossil tree was planted on Duke’s campus. Just after World War II, a group of Chinese scientists published a paper confirming that this “living fossil” still existed and Harvard University’s Arnold Arboretum funded an expedition to distribute seeds of the Dawn Redwood to botanical gardens around the world – including to Duke Gardens. The original tree still stands, marked by an informative plaque and roped off with a metal chain to prevent well-intentioned visitors from “loving the tree to death.”
65th General Hospital Statues
Nestled in grassy expanse of the Nanaline H. Duke Quad in the middle of Duke Medicine Circle outside Duke University Hospital, a group of life-size bronze statues commemorates Duke doctors and nurses who were stationed in England during World War II in the 65th General Hospital. The group includes statues of a wounded soldier, a doctor and a nurse with a corpsman running to their aid. The image of the nurse is the only statue on Duke’s campus to honor women’s contributions to the cultural history of the university.
Murphy-Nimocks Meditation Garden
Finding this peaceful oasis requires ducking through the Duke Student Wellness Center lobby to enter a meditative courtyard complete with a gravel path, tucked-away wooden benches and private, egg-shaped hanging chairs where you can take a brief rest.
The Camel Statue
Yes, that is a camel on Science Drive between the Biological Sciences Building and Gross Hall. Officially called “The Scientist and Nature,” the statue honors late Duke professor of biology, Knut Schmidt-Nielsen, who studied the physiology of the camel’s nose and wrote the authoritative text on animal physiology.
Washington Duke statue
On East Campus, this monument immortalizes the man who persuaded Trinity College to relocate to the bustling New South city of Durham. Famously, Washington Duke offered Trinity an endowment of $100,000 in 1896 on the condition that women be admitted as residential students “placing them in the future on an equal footing” with the male students.
Stagg Pavilion
The granddaughter of Washington Duke, Mary W. Lyon Stagg, gave the funds to Trinity College to build a pavilion that was erected in 1902. It was octagonal in shape and roofed in copper, officially named Stagg Pavilion in 1916. Over the years, the name “Stagg Pavilion” faded – along with the copper roof that morphed to mint green through oxidation – and it became known as East Campus Gazebo. When a plaque was placed next to the structure in the mid-1980s to identify it, “Stagg Pavilion” once again came into common usage. And when the roof was damaged during a storm in 2024, the shiny copper roof returned, too.
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