University of the South

Sewanee was founded in 1857 by clergy and lay delegates from Episcopal dioceses throughout the south. They selected a site in Sewanee, atop the Cumberland Plateau about 50 miles west of Chattanooga, and local landowners and the Sewanee Mining Company donated nearly 10,000 acres for the enterprise. On October 10, 1860, the founders laid the cornerstone for a campus that would eventually grow to house 1,500 students on 13,000 forested acres. Sewanee is the only university in the nation that is owned and governed by dioceses of the Episcopal Church, specifically the 28 dioceses of the southeastern United States.