Davidson College Cemetery on North Main Street.

This week, we decided to walk to some places in Davidson that are a bit out of the way, and less well-known. We wrote a three-question Davidson Trivia quiz about the places we ended up, where we saw gnomes, historic graves and sculpture. If you know about all these, great! If not, it’s time to check out some of the less well known parts of Davidson in your free time.

True or false? There’s a museum devoted exclusively to gnomes

True. And it’s in town, above Cats on Main, at 131 N. Main St. The Tom Clark gnome museum may be small, but it’s worth a visit. It’s free, and guaranteed to be uncrowded. In fact, you’ll probably be the only one there, since relatively few people even know it exists. The sign itself is easy to miss, with camouflaged white letters on a white background.

A Tom Clark gnome in the local museum.

Once upstairs, the cases are filled with gnomes of all types. We learned that not only did Tom Clark design more gnomes than we ever thought possible, he also made statues of famous people, including Abe Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill.

The museum also shows the gnome creation process, from original terra cotta model, to a mold, to the final version. It’s very interesting to see how the gnomes change from the original design to the manufactured, standardized final product.

The cases also show some of Dr. Clark’s earlier gnomes, tracking the changes in his style throughout the course of his life. One could spend a long time taking in all the different gnomes, and this museum merits a visit some rainy day.

True or false? Davidson has two cemeteries

The cemetery on Davidson College's campus

False. There are three: Mimosa Cemetery, one on North Main Street, and another at the northern edge of the Davidson College campus. The one on North Main is quite old, with the oldest graves dating to 1838. Originally, free plots in this cemetery were given to Davidson College faculty families as a benefit of working there. One person buried here is Confederate General D.H. Hill, who also was a Davidson math professor. Other Civil War veterans’ graves are marked by the CSA cross.

We also visited the cemetery on the Davidson College campus, between the main soccer field and the soccer practice fields. This traditionally was the burial ground for the town’s African American residents.

Both cemeteries are interesting to look at, and worth a trip.

True or false? Davidson College has its own art museum.

True. The Katherine and Tom Belk Visual Arts Center (VAC) is at Main and Griffith streets, and usually has student art, pieces from the college’s collection, and professors or other artists’ works. Currently, the small gallery on the right houses a small sampling of work by rising Davidson College seniors, a preview of some of the styles and artists who will be holding senior exhibitions next year.

Sculpture by a rising Davidson senior at the VAC.

Continuing into the atrium, be sure to look up, taking in the glass ceiling and the live trees. Looking down, the floor is stone, but with small fossils embedded in it, especially on the steps. It’s always fun to see how many you can find. On the way back out, a large painting will grab your attention. Hung just outside the atrium, this print is one I had never seen before. Called Steamroller, it was created in 1992 by artist Anthony Owen. He made it to commemorate the groundbreaking ceremony for the VAC, on April 23, 1992, and the Roman numerals in the piece indicate this date, 4-23-92. To make the print, he drove a steamroller over metal cutouts of the letters, letting the paint squish out in a practical printmaking process, while also picking up texture from the ground and numbers. The story behind the piece is a fascinating piece of Davidson history, while the work itself is also worth seeing.

Anthony Owen's Steamroller.

We got to all these places easily on foot, so if you get a minute, head out for a walk and enjoy less often visited parts of Davidson.

Paulina Campbell is a rising senior at Woodlawn School. Emma Boraks is a rising freshman at North Mecklenburg High School. They’re spending part of their summers scoping out alternatives to TV-watching and Web-surfing. Have ideas or want to reach them? Leave a comment below, or email editor@davidsonnews.net.