Bartlett Tower is off limits to the public because the interior is run down and littered with pigeon droppings.
Access to the inside of the tower is off-limits because of the pigeons and their droppings. In addition, according to Assistant Director of Outdoor Programs Brian Kunz, the stairs in the tower need to be replaced and the lighting is very poor.
Also, he said, there have been problems with the tower in the past.
"About three summers ago, junior-high or high-school students attempted to climb the tower, something failed and at least one of them was seriously injured," Kunz said.
At present, the College only allows the Dartmouth Mountaineering Club to use the tower for climbing activities.
Kunz said gaining access to the tower is a complicated process. The Mountaineering Club must notify Safety and Security of their activities before climbing. Safety and Security then checks their names against a list and grants the appropriate people access.
Samuel Bartlett, the eighth College president, had the tower built in 1895 as a symbol to replace the College symbol, the Lone Pine, according to The College on the Hill -- a history of Dartmouth edited by Ralph Hill.
The pine was destroyed by a combination of lightning in 1887 and a windstorm five years later. The Lone Pine is a symbol of the College because of its significance to the Class Day traditions of the 1850s. Seniors would gather around the tree and smoke a communal clay pipe while sharing their memories of their time at the College.
The area is still occasionally used for Class Day activities. The Class of 1993, for instance, broke clay mugs on the stump of the tree. The Class of 1994 revived an old tradition of breaking off pieces of a cedar garland and placing them on the pine stump.
