Mirror Lake

Mirror Lake. a place of inspiration.

"My memories of Mirror Lake include a calm place to study and people watch. While seeing these students, I imagined the great things these Buckeyes walking around me could accomplish., When my mother was at The James in 2011 fighting leukemia, I took her in a wheelchair outside and pointed to Mirror Lake. I told her that area is my peace and hope that those students will find cures in the future." , -Greg Smith, 1992 , Mirror Lake Visitors, 1880, Folklore tells that in 1870, the old Neil Farm was selected to become the site for the Ohio State campus, in part because of its marvelous spring. When the Board of Trustees was visiting the site, trustee Daniel Keller, a German member from Fairfield County, parched from the summer's heat, drank from the spring's crystal-clear drinking water and remarked, "Shentlemans, it's hard to get a Dutchman away from spring water like that.", Our Old Spring , -Makio, 1895

, You may sing of the splendors of lands far away. Where there is naught but eternal day. Lands overflowing with the sweetest of flowers, But give me, I beg of you, a few short hours By our old spring., Let it be evening, when winter's just gone. And spring with its sunshine and beauty has come. Let me stroll down the green bank. Walk over the lake on the old narrow plank By our old spring., Then sit on the stone beneath those large trees All burdens aside, just sit there at ease. Call up the sorrows of the days gone by. Give them a toss, with scarcely a sigh To drown in our spring., Or perhaps a warm evening early in June 'Neath the gold-beam of the pale harvest moon. When her face is reflected from the calm blue lake With never a sound the silence to break Near our old spring., Let me sit there just a moment and ponder Let my old Muse to distant lands wander Yet 'twill not find either far or near A place so beautiful or half so dear As our old spring., If ever I go from this world of alloys And get to the one of perpetual joys, I'll look for one thing that I held dear in this To make my abode one of perfect bliss That's our old spring.