# Columbia University Family Weekend, October 23 and 24, 2026: a sunrise wall and the Low Library steps to photograph on campus and in Morningside Heights > Columbia University Family Weekend, October 23 and 24, 2026: sunrise and sunset beside the weekend's events, the Low Library steps lit square on for the family picture, one Morningside Heights wall that lines up with the low morning sun, and the days the campus grid lines up with the sun. This is the Markdown form of https://hengedays.com/articles/buildings-to-photograph-columbia-family-weekend-2026, with the same words as the page. Part of [Family Weekends 2026](https://hengedays.com/articles/family-weekends-2026), school 14 of 26. Previous school: [Fairfield University](https://hengedays.com/articles/buildings-to-photograph-fairfield-family-weekend-2026). Next school: [NYU](https://hengedays.com/articles/buildings-to-photograph-nyu-family-weekend-2026). *Shelburne Hall, at Morningside Drive and West 121st Street, in Henge Days. Pink marks the corner wall that the low morning sun lines up with on Saturday, October 24, the one wall in this guide that passed every check for the weekend.* For October 23 to 24, 2026. Columbia University's Family Days, its family weekend, are Friday, October 23, and Saturday, October 24, 2026. Henge Days checked every named building on the Morningside campus, at Barnard and Teachers College, on the Manhattanville campus, in Morningside Heights and along 125th Street for a wall that the rising or setting sun lines up with on those days. One wall passed every check. This guide gives that wall, the weekend's light beside its events, a spot on the Low Library steps for the family picture, and the days the campus walls line up with sunrise and sunset. Post your pictures with #HengeDays. In this article - [The weekend's schedule and the light](#the-weekend-s-schedule-and-the-light) - [Part 1: the Columbia campus](#part-1-the-columbia-campus) - [Part 2: Morningside Heights and 125th Street](#part-2-morningside-heights-and-125th-street) - [How the list was made](#how-the-list-was-made) - [How to read each entry](#how-to-read-each-entry) Sunrise is at 7:16 AM and sunset at 6:03 PM on Friday, and 7:17 AM and 6:02 PM on Saturday, Eastern Daylight Time. The sun rises at about 105 degrees and sets at about 255. ### The weekend's schedule and the light The events below are the ones Columbia's Family Days 2026 page and its Homecoming Weekend 2026 page showed in search results on October 17. Columbia's own pages did not load from where this guide was written, so the list comes from those search summaries, and a time appears only where a listing gave one. The Family Days page gave no times. Check [the Family Days page](https://www.cc-seas.columbia.edu/family/events/family-days) before you plan around them. All times are Eastern Daylight Time. - Friday, October 23, morning: sunrise is at 7:16 AM. No wall on the campus or in the neighborhood lines up with it on Friday with a clear view. - Friday, October 23, daytime: faculty lectures, open houses, panel discussions, campus tours and a welcome from the Dean. At 2:18 PM the sun stands square to the front of Low Memorial Library, the family photo spot in Part 1. - Friday, October 23, 6:00 to 8:00 PM: alumni milestone happy hours, on the Homecoming Weekend page. Sunset is at 6:03 PM, at 255 degrees. From Riverside Park, west of the campus, the sun goes down across the Hudson River. - Saturday, October 24, morning: Shelburne Hall on Morningside Drive lines up with the low sun at 7:53 AM, the one wall in Part 2. It is about 250 m east of Teachers College. - Saturday, October 24, daytime: more Family Days programs, or Columbia Homecoming at Baker Athletics Complex for an added fee. The Homecoming page lists Lunch Under the Tent from 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM and the football game against Dartmouth. The search results gave no confirmed kickoff time. The sun is square to the front of Low Library again at 2:18 PM. - Saturday, October 24, evening: sunset is at 6:02 PM. - Sunday, October 25: the Family Days page leaves the day open for exploring New York City. ### Part 1: the Columbia campus No campus wall lines up with this weekend's sunrise or sunset. The Morningside campus follows the Manhattan street grid, which runs about 29 degrees east of north, so its walls face 29, 119, 209 and 299 degrees. Barnard, Teachers College and most of the Manhattanville campus follow the same grid. The sun rises at 105 degrees this weekend and is 6 degrees up by the time it reaches 111. It meets the walls facing 119 degrees at about 8:40 AM, 13 to 14 degrees up, and it never meets the walls facing 299 in the evening. Family photo spot. The steps of Low Memorial Library, with the portico behind the family. The front faces 209 degrees, toward College Walk, and the sun stands square to it at 2:18 PM on Friday and Saturday, about 33 degrees up. The columns and the steps are lit straight on then. Stand the family on the steps, and stand south-southwest of them, on the lower steps or College Walk, with the sun behind you. The light is high, so faces get short shadows under the brows. If you go to the Homecoming game on Saturday, take the picture on Friday. Post it with #HengeDays. Computed from the building outline and the sun's position, and not checked on the ground. The campus grid lines up with the sunrise at the end of November and in January, and with the sunset in late May and July. The sunset days are when the sun goes down along Manhattan's cross streets, known as Manhattanhenge ([MTA](https://away.mta.info/articles/2024-manhattanhenge-dates-nyc)). The days and times below are from the Henge Days engine for each wall, in Eastern time, computed from the building outline and the sun's position, and not checked on the ground. The check for buildings in the way ran only for Family Weekend, not for these days. Each name opens the wall in Henge Days. - [Low Memorial Library](https://hengedays.com/at/40.80822,-73.96184?q=Low+Memorial+Library%2C+535+West+116th+Street%2C+New+York%2C+NY&b=osm%2Fway%2F274995757&facade=9&d=2026-11-27), at the head of the steps: the east wall lines up with the sunrise from November 27 to December 5, best on Saturday, December 5, at 7:05 AM, and again from January 7 to 15, 2027. The west wall lines up with the sunset from May 25 to June 1, 2027, and from July 10 to 18, 2027. - [Butler Library](https://hengedays.com/at/40.80645,-73.96313?q=Butler+Library%2C+535+West+114th+Street%2C+New+York%2C+NY&b=osm%2Fway%2F274995721&facade=5&d=2027-05-24), across South Field from Low: the west wall, 50 m, lines up with the sunset from May 24 to June 1, 2027, best on May 24 at 8:13 PM, and from July 11 to 18, 2027. The east wall lines up with the sunrise from November 24 to 30, 2026, best on November 30 at 7:01 AM. - [Alfred Lerner Hall](https://hengedays.com/at/40.80674,-73.96418?q=Alfred+Lerner+Hall%2C+2920+Broadway%2C+New+York%2C+NY&b=osm%2Fway%2F274995718&facade=5&d=2027-05-25), the student center on Broadway: the west wall, 65 m, lines up with the sunset from May 25 to June 2, 2027, and from July 9 to 17, 2027. The east wall lines up with the sunrise from November 25 to December 1, 2026. *[Low Memorial Library](https://hengedays.com/at/40.80822,-73.96184?q=Low+Memorial+Library%2C+535+West+116th+Street%2C+New+York%2C+NY&b=osm%2Fway%2F274995757&facade=9&d=2026-11-27) in Henge Days. Pink marks the east wall, which the rising sun lines up with from November 27 to December 5. The front on the steps is the SSW 209° wall.* *A year of head-on days for every wall of Low Memorial Library. The ESE 119° row carries the sunrise days in late November and January, and the WNW 299° row the sunset days in late May and July.* ### Part 2: Morningside Heights and 125th Street The Cathedral of St. John the Divine, on Amsterdam Avenue at 112th Street, is listed as open from 9:30 AM to 5:00 PM Monday to Saturday and from noon to 5:00 PM on Sunday, with timed tickets for sightseeing ([Cathedral of St. John the Divine](https://www.stjohndivine.org/visit/hours-information/)). Grant's Tomb, the General Grant National Memorial on Riverside Drive at 122nd Street, is listed as open Wednesday to Sunday from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM, with free admission ([National Park Service](https://www.nps.gov/gegr/planyourvisit/hours.htm)). Riverside Church stands a block south of it. Tom's Restaurant is on Broadway at 112th Street, and the Apollo Theater is at 253 West 125th Street, about 1.1 km east of the campus. Check the hours before you go. #### 1 Shelburne Hall Morningside Heights, New York, New York Wall east-southeast, facing 111° Sun The low morning sun lines up with this wall on Oct 24. Best: Saturday, October 24 at 7:53 AM, 5.8° above the horizon. Leaves 6sqft describes Central Park as reaching peak color in late October or early November in a typical year ([6sqft](https://www.6sqft.com/track-new-yorks-fall-foliage-with-this-weekly-report/)). FOX 5 New York reported on October 7 that NYC Parks follows the turn of the city's maples, ginkgos and other trees on its Fall for NYC tracker ([FOX 5 New York](https://www.fox5ny.com/news/when-will-leaves-change-nyc-where-find-peak-fall-color)). Where to stand The wall is the southern section of the curved front on Morningside Drive, 13 m, at the corner of West 121st Street. Stand on the walk on the park side of Morningside Drive, east-southeast of the wall, with the sun behind you. Stay out of the roadway. It is a residential building, so stay on the public walk across the drive. The sun lines up with the wall on Saturday at 7:53 AM, 5.8 degrees up. This is a golden day: at the head-on moment the sun is 2 to 6 degrees up. No building in the outlines rises toward the sun from in front of the wall then. On Friday at 7:55 AM the sun is 6.3 degrees up when it lines up, above golden light. Computed from the building outline and the sun's position for a level horizon, and not checked on the ground. The trees of Morningside Park, below the drive, are not part of the check and can hold back the light at this time. Clear view Clear. No building in the map data rises above the sun (5.8° up) in its direction. An apartment building of seven stories at 110 Morningside Drive, on the corner of West 121st Street. Columbia Residential lists the address as housing for Columbia students, postdocs, faculty and staff ([Columbia Residential](https://residential.columbia.edu/content/110-morningside-drive)). Morningside Drive runs along the top of the cliff at the west edge of Morningside Park, and the building's front curves with the drive. Teachers College is about 250 m west, and the Low Library steps about 400 m southwest. *The building page in Henge Days. The highlighted walls face 111°, toward the sunrise on the days in the row below; every wall carries its bearing.* - **Sat, Oct 24 to Fri, Nov 6, 2026**14 mornings · best Fri, Nov 6 **6:34 AM** Golden sunrise, sun 0° up ESE 111° wall Its row in the Henge days list, with the time of the head-on moment on the best day. Save keeps that day in your planner, which can send it to your calendar app. Saving asks you to sign in with an email link; there is no password. *The year for every wall of the building. Each row is a wall; the colored runs are its henge, golden and low-sun days.* [Open this wall in Henge Days](https://hengedays.com/at/40.80974,-73.95753?q=Shelburne+Hall%2C+110+Morningside+Drive%2C+New+York%2C+NY&b=osm%2Frelation%2F3629540&facade=12&d=2026-10-24) The east wall of [Grant's Tomb](https://hengedays.com/at/40.81345,-73.96305?q=General+Grant+National+Memorial%2C+New+York%2C+NY&b=osm%2Fway%2F271922197&facade=1&d=2026-10-24) faces 111 degrees and lines up with the sun on Saturday at 7:53 AM, 5.8 degrees up. A building of 67 m at Claremont Avenue and West 122nd Street, unnamed in OpenStreetMap, stands toward the sun from it and rises 26 degrees, so the tomb is left out. Along 125th Street the buildings follow the grid. The east wall of the [Apollo Theater](https://hengedays.com/at/40.81010,-73.94989?q=Apollo+Theater%2C+253+West+125th+Street%2C+New+York%2C+NY&b=osm%2Fway%2F271798914&facade=1&d=2026-11-24) lines up with the sunrise from November 24 to 30, 2026, best on November 30 at 7:01 AM, and its west wall with the sunset from May 26 to June 3, 2027, and from July 8 to 17, 2027. The east wall of [Riverside Church](https://hengedays.com/at/40.81186,-73.96293?q=Riverside+Church%2C+490+Riverside+Drive%2C+New+York%2C+NY&b=osm%2Fway%2F274986253&facade=9&d=2026-11-26) lines up with the sunrise from November 26 to December 3, 2026, best on December 3 at 7:04 AM, and its west wall with the sunset from May 26 to June 4, 2027. These days come from the engine and were not checked for buildings in the way. ### How the list was made Henge Days computed every named building within 300 to 350 meters of 11 points: Low Library and the Morningside campus, Butler Library with South Field and Lerner Hall, the Northwest Corner Building with Pupin Hall and Teachers College, Barnard College, Riverside Church and Grant's Tomb, Riverside Drive at 116th Street, the Manhattanville campus, the Cathedral of St. John the Divine and Amsterdam Avenue, Broadway at 112th Street, Morningside Park, and 125th Street in Harlem. One search returns at most 200 buildings, and six of those searches reached that limit, so a second pass ran 12 searches of 200 meters over the same blocks. It used OpenStreetMap outlines, 1,415 buildings from 23 searches, 228 of them named. It kept the walls where the sun lines up with the wall within 6 degrees of the horizon on Friday, October 23, or Saturday, October 24. It then traced the sun's path from each wall against every outline fetched and dropped the walls where a neighboring building stands higher than the sun. Two walls met the sun within 6 degrees of the horizon, and none at the horizon itself, so the one pick is a golden day, with the sun 2 to 6 degrees up, and its entry says so. Grant's Tomb lost its view to the building on Claremont Avenue. Shelburne Hall kept its view. The building page draws Shelburne Hall's front on Morningside Drive as three sections, and the day and time in its entry are for the section the link opens, facing 111 degrees. The map pictures were checked by eye for a wing of the same building, or a neighbor attached to it, standing in front of the wall. Shelburne Hall's neighbor on Morningside Drive is attached on the north side and stands beside the wall, out of the sun's path. Most walls in Morningside Heights face the grid's four bearings: 832 of the 909 walls of 8 m or longer in the named outlines face within about 5 degrees of 29, 119, 209 or 299. The streets are close to the angle that lines up with the sunrise at the end of November, and this weekend's sun is 14 degrees short of it. Hills, trees and bridges are not part of that check, and the times assume a level horizon. Morningside Heights stands on a ridge above Harlem and the Hudson, so the real horizon can differ from a level one. Where a blocking building's outline carries no height, the check assumed one. Every date and time comes from the Henge Days engine for the wall's own bearing, in Eastern time. ### How to read each entry The entry shows the building as Henge Days shows it. The map marks the building's outline from OpenStreetMap, gives every wall its compass bearing, and highlights the wall that lines up with the sun. Below it are the wall's row from the building's Henge days list, with a Save button that keeps the best day in your planner, and a year of head-on days for every wall. The Clear view line is the result of the check for other buildings on the best day. Each building name in the lists opens the building in Henge Days with the wall named in the text. Any building has a page like the one above, your student's hall included. Whatever you shoot on campus or in Morningside Heights, post it with #HengeDays: [Look up a building](https://hengedays.com/) [Open your planner](https://hengedays.com/planner) ### Sources - [Columbia College and Columbia Engineering: Family Days 2026](https://www.cc-seas.columbia.edu/family/events/family-days) - [Columbia Engineering: Columbia Homecoming Weekend 2026](https://www.engineering.columbia.edu/about/events/columbia-homecoming-weekend-2026) - [Columbia Residential: 110 Morningside Drive](https://residential.columbia.edu/content/110-morningside-drive) - [Cathedral of St. John the Divine: hours and information](https://www.stjohndivine.org/visit/hours-information/) - [National Park Service: General Grant National Memorial, operating hours and seasons](https://www.nps.gov/gegr/planyourvisit/hours.htm) - [MTA: Manhattanhenge dates](https://away.mta.info/articles/2024-manhattanhenge-dates-nyc) - [6sqft: Track New York's fall foliage with this weekly report](https://www.6sqft.com/track-new-yorks-fall-foliage-with-this-weekly-report/) - [FOX 5 New York: When will leaves change in NYC? Where to find peak fall color, October 7, 2026](https://www.fox5ny.com/news/when-will-leaves-change-nyc-where-find-peak-fall-color) - [Building outlines: OpenStreetMap contributors](https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright) ### The newsletter Henge Days also has a newsletter. It covers what each release of the site adds and how to use it, and the buildings the #HengeDays community photographs in head-on light. [Read it on Substack](https://hengedays.substack.com/). The address goes to Substack, which sends the email and asks you to confirm. Henge Days does not keep it. --- Every date and time on Henge Days is computed from a building outline in OpenStreetMap and the position of the sun. Nobody has checked it on the ground. Hills, trees and other buildings can block a low sun. Treat each date as a plan to confirm before you travel. See https://hengedays.com/terms.md. Henge Days is free to use; sign in only to save days to a planner. Contact: hello@hengedays.com.