For the last three years, campus community members have not seen a landmark known for helping attract visitors to UNC’s Coker Arboretum. It is one of the few stretches in the university’s history where the arbor bordering Cameron Avenue is not there – as the nature-bordered walkway undergoes an extensive redesign and construction.
But project leaders say before long, people will start to see the new design take shape and the shady vegetation offered once again to those passing by.
The arbor was last replaced in 1998 after it suffered damage from Hurricane Fran and, at the time, Dan Stern helped rebuild it. Working as a horticultural technician, he remembers digging the post holes and driving spikes into the structure to help it hold shape.
“[It’s] one that I’ve worked really up close and personal with,” Stern said to Chapelboro about the arbor, “and it’s really an honor to sit in a different role and shepherd this project through the process. I like to say, ‘I’m happy to be involved the second time, and I fully expect that I won’t be around anymore the next time it needs to happen.’ It needs to outlive me.”
A photo of the arbor in July 2022, just months before its renovation. (Photo by Aaron Keck/Chapel Hill Media Group.)
Stern – who is now the director of horticulture at the North Carolina Botanical Garden – is helping oversee the project that broke ground in 2022 in partnership with UNC Facilities and Design. While not as old as the original 1911 pieces, the 1998 structure was already beginning to fail from how the wood rafters’ positioning caused them to retain more moisture. Additionally, the dirt walkway was not accessible for pedestrians of all mobilities because of its staircase entry near Davie Hall – which was also a safety hazard since it abutted a vehicle lane alongside the academic building.
The combination of needs led to the university embarking on a reimagining for the feature to bring it up UNC’s accessibility standards. Stern called the change “a big win” for the campus, especially since his team aims to be thoughtful about preserving the arbor’s character and users’ experience.
That attention to detail, Stern added, is partially why the reconstruction has taken a few years.
“One of the bigger challenges to this project is tempering the desire to get it done [alongside] getting it done right,” he said. “I’ve been saying over and over again that I don’t want to rush to mediocrity…I want us to take our time with this project and make sure it’s something that stands the test of time. The last arbor renovation lasted for over 25 years, and I’d like to say I’d expect this to last over 50.”
One way UNC hopes to achieve that goal is by adding a galvanized steel roof to the structure. While a break from tradition, it will create better protection from the elements while withstanding more weather – and also allows for the walkway to be significantly widened. Stern said doing so will help with accessibility and improve visibility into Coker Arboretum. He said the design will still emulate the experience the old arbor created with dappled lighting and repeating patterns.
A rendering of the potential new arbor design for the Coker Arboretum, as shared by UNC and the North Carolina Botanical Garden in 2021. (Photo via UNC/McAdams/Reed Hilderbrand.)
The new arbor will be a hybrid of steel and plants, but ought to still look familiar to its fans. Its wooden posts will once again be black locust logs, which was the same material as the 1911 original. The tree is known for its durability and decay-resistant properties, which Stern said makes it a favorite for projects like this and fence posts on farms. He added that the new black locust arrived just last week, and his team is sourcing the foliage to line the wood – meaning people should start to see the updated structure be constructed soon.
“Things are really moving forward much more quickly over the last few months,” said Stern. “We had some delays early on in the project, had to sharpen our pencils and do some value engineering, but it feels like the work has been moving in bigger strides recently…and [I’m] excited to see the grade start to take shape and the structural underlayment go into place, and really excited to see this next phase: which will be the columns going up, that above-ground expression of the arbor.”
The view looking west down Cameron Avenue and the site of the Coker Arboretum arbor on Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025. Like before, the entrance to the arbor is expected to be level with the intersection’s sidewalk. (Photo via Brighton McConnell/Chapel Hill Media Group.)
Once the project is complete, pedestrians using the arbor walkway traveling east will notice a slope and expanded entrance instead of the old staircase down from Davie Hall. (Photo via Brighton McConnell/Chapel Hill Media Group.)
As someone who worked around Coker Arboretum for years, Stern acknowledged it has been unusual to have the landmark arbor missing for so long and only see construction along the garden’s Cameron Avenue border.
“I interact with undergraduate students pretty regularly, and those that are relatively new to UNC don’t know [what it used to look like],” he said. “They never saw the arbor.
“I think the timing of this [rebuild] is such,” Stern added, “that we’ll be able to make sure that every class at UNC has seen it – maybe not at the beginning of their undergraduate career, but definitely before they graduate.”
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