5 Most Scenic College Campuses Near Baltimore

Maryland is an exceedingly academic state, housing one of the top institutes of learning in the world and several other highly accredited universities and colleges besides. But the quality of learning isn't all that these campuses have to offer. Drop by most Maryland colleges and you are liable to find yourself impressed with the scenery available for the eyeball to view. Here are some of the most impressive campuses in the Baltimore area.

Goucher College
1021 Dulaney Valley Road
Baltimore, MD 21204
(410) 337-6000
www.goucher.edu

Goucher started its humble career as an all-girls college and then bloomed into the modest university of learning that it is today. It houses a stellar educational certification program, a celebrated professional writing program and a respectable arts program. Its arts program is evident all over the campus. Among the rolling greenery and flagstone buildings that make up the campus are various sculptures and objets d'art. These also sit about for easy viewing in the large display windows outside most of the buildings on the campus. At the center of the campus sits an arts center with an open courtyard in the center and a fountain spouting up through a hole from some unseen level below. Toward the edge of the campus is a flagstone chapel with an impressive spire decorated with a window cut into the flagstone itself and art sculpture represented in the lawn in front. Tucked away as it is in the greenery at the edge of Towson, Goucher College does not enjoy the fame of some Baltimore campuses, but the sheer comfort and pleasantry of a stroll along its campus is not to be matched anywhere else in Maryland.

Johns Hopkins
3101 Wyman Park Drive
Baltimore, MD 21211
(410) 516-8000
www.jhu.edu

Johns Hopkins is among the best-known universities in the world, housing unrivaled medical and science programs which have in the course of its history produced thirty-six Nobel laureates. The founder of the esteemed institute, after whom it was named, originally considered placing the college literally in his back yard. However, being a keen businessman, he purchased the estate of an old insane asylum for the project, instead. While the land itself may have a dubious history, the university couldn't look finer: the criss-crossing brick paths on the manicured green lawns amidst piling Victorian structures puts one in the mind of the classic ivy-league schools. The cherry trees which have been liberally and aesthetically situated around the campus keep the college in the perfect hue for every season, sprouting gentle greenery in summer, brilliant colors in the fall and bright pink blossoms in spring, making this college look good no matter when you visit.

Towson University
8000 York Road
Towson, MD 21252
(410) 704-2000
www.towson.edu

Towson University is a bustling campus just north of Baltimore with a broad variety of programs at both the undergraduate and graduate level.
One might miss the more aesthetically pleasing aspects of the college from the vantage point of the road. In order to get the best view of the college, a person has to get out of the car and start walking among the buildings. Only then will a person find such treasures as the vast lawn which sits in front of the beautiful Stephen's Hall, the oldest building on campus with the look of a regal estate. They'll also find the pleasant circular alcove of hedges and benches tucked among the residential Newell Hall buildings. A good roaming about the campus will reveal landscaping and sculptures, gardens and footbridges. When it comes down to it, Towson is a truly beautiful college hidden among its roads and buildings.

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Maryland Institute College Of Art
1300 W. Mt. Royal Ave.
Baltimore, MD 21217
(410) 669-9200
www.mica.edu

The Maryland Institute College of Art campus is obscured at the edge of Baltimore City amidst off-ramps, warehouses and factories. If it were not a college of artists, staffed by artists and founded by artists, it would be as bleak as the surrounding landscape. But the creative geniuses housed within refused to let their circumstances get them down, and this college campus is bursting with art and sculpture so large and impressive that it is impossible to miss it, even from the interstate. A walk around MICA is a definite must, because the entire campus is a living art gallery, always changing and improving with architecture and structure to match the creativity of the sculpture and painting around it.

Loyola
4501 N. Charles St.
Baltimore, MD 21210
(410) 617-2000
www.loyola.edu

Loyola's beauty comes from its age and rich archaic history. As one of the oldest Jesuit schools in the United States, the buildings and campus bear a distinct Gothic style in the true architectural sense. Sitting at the shore of the expansive Guilford Reservoir, the college has an almost seashore feeling about it, offset by the stacks of stone structures with ancient religious imagery and symbolism. One of the main claims to fame of Loyola is the long campus footbridge high above Charles Street. Come tour the campus and drink in the history displayed in every hand-laid stone from centuries ago.

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Joel Furches is a freelance writer and researcher for The Examiner and Logos Software, and also manages his own catalog of writing on Hub Pages. Joel is on the board of directors for Ratio Christi. He has a bachelors in Psychology and a Masters in Education.