# Fordham University Family Weekend, October 23 to 25, 2026: the weekend's light, a family photo spot and the December walls to photograph at Rose Hill and in the Bronx

> Fordham University Family Weekend, October 23 to 25, 2026: sunrise and sunset beside the weekend's events, Keating Hall lit for the family picture after Saturday's game, Arthur Avenue and the Botanical Garden between events, and the walls that line up in December.

This is the Markdown form of https://hengedays.com/articles/buildings-to-photograph-fordham-family-weekend-2026, with the same words as the page.

Part of [Family Weekends 2026](https://hengedays.com/articles/family-weekends-2026), school 16 of 26. Previous school: [NYU](https://hengedays.com/articles/buildings-to-photograph-nyu-family-weekend-2026). Next school: [University of Pennsylvania](https://hengedays.com/articles/buildings-to-photograph-penn-family-weekend-2026).

*The [LuEsther T. Mertz Library](https://hengedays.com/at/40.86658,-73.87871?q=The+LuEsther+T.+Mertz+Library%2C+Bronx%2C+NY&b=osm%2Fway%2F284835768&facade=6&d=2026-11-29) at the New York Botanical Garden, across Southern Boulevard from the Rose Hill campus, in Henge Days. Pink marks the west-southwest front, which the setting sun lines up with from November 29 to December 9, 2026, five weeks after Family Weekend. North is up.*

For October 23 to 25, 2026.

Fordham University's Family Weekend at the Rose Hill campus in the Bronx runs from Friday, October 23, to Sunday, October 25, 2026. Henge Days checked every named building on the campus, in Belmont around Arthur Avenue, at the New York Botanical Garden, at the Bronx Zoo, at Fordham Plaza and on the Grand Concourse for a wall that the rising or setting sun lines up with on those days. No wall passed every check. This guide gives the weekend's light beside its events, a spot on Edwards Parade for the family picture, and the December days when walls at Rose Hill and the Botanical Garden line up with the 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 Rose Hill campus](#part-1-the-rose-hill-campus)
- [Part 2: Arthur Avenue, the Botanical Garden and the Bronx Zoo](#part-2-arthur-avenue-the-botanical-garden-and-the-bronx-zoo)
- [When the walls line up](#when-the-walls-line-up)
- [How the list was made](#how-the-list-was-made)
- [How to read each entry](#how-to-read-each-entry)

Sunrise at Rose Hill is at 7:15 AM and sunset at 6:03 PM on Friday, 7:16 AM and 6:01 PM on Saturday, and 7:18 AM and 6:00 PM on Sunday, Eastern Daylight Time. The sun rises at about 105 degrees and sets at about 255.

### The weekend's schedule and the light

Fordham's own pages could not be opened from where this guide was written, so the events below come from search summaries on October 17. Those summaries showed the dates and the kinds of events on the [Rose Hill Family Weekend page](https://www.fordham.edu/student-life/events-and-activities/family-weekend/rose-hill-campus/), with no times, and said that tickets were not yet on sale. The concert is from the [Campus Ministry calendar](https://www.fordham.edu/about/living-the-mission/campus-ministry/calendar-and-events/). The football game is from [Fordham Athletics](https://fordhamsports.com/news/2026/1/2/patriot-league-announces-2026-football-schedule.aspx), and its kickoff time is from ticket listings, since another listing still showed it as to be announced. Check every time before you plan around it. All times are Eastern Daylight Time.

- Friday, October 23: the Rose Hill page lists no Friday event with a time. Sunrise is at 7:15 AM and sunset at 6:03 PM. No wall on the campus lines up with either with a clear view.
- Saturday, October 24, before the game: football pregame gatherings, listed with no time or place. The Botanical Garden opens at 10:00 AM, across Southern Boulevard (Part 2).
- Saturday, October 24, 1:00 PM: Fordham plays Lafayette in football at Moglia Stadium at Jack Coffey Field. After the game, Keating Hall's front on Edwards Parade is in the sun until about 5:00 PM, the family photo spot below. Sunset is at 6:01 PM.
- Sunday, October 25, 1:00 to 3:00 PM: the Family Weekend Concert in the University Church, with free admission. After it, the front of Keating Hall is in the sun until about 5:00 PM. Sunset is at 6:00 PM.
- Listed with no day or time: a Family Weekend Mass, an NYC-style brunch, a performance by Fordham's performing groups, and an evening of dining on Arthur Avenue. For the Arthur Avenue evening, sunset is at 6:03 PM on Friday and 6:01 PM on Saturday.

### Part 1: the Rose Hill campus

No campus wall lines up with this weekend's sunrise or sunset with a clear view. The halls around Edwards Parade share one grid, with walls facing about 37, 127, 217 and 307 degrees. Keating Hall, Dealy Hall, Hughes Hall, Cunniffe House, Collins Hall, Duane Hall, Finlay Hall and the Walsh Family Library all follow it. Henge Days lists no day in the next 12 months when the rising or setting sun meets those walls at the horizon. The buildings on the east edge of the campus, the Rose Hill Gym and the McShane Campus Center, turn at another angle, with walls facing 58 and 238 degrees. They line up with the sunset near the winter solstice, behind taller neighbors (the list near the end).

*[Keating Hall](https://hengedays.com/at/40.86053,-73.88391?q=Keating+Hall%2C+Fordham+University%2C+Bronx%2C+NY&b=osm%2Fway%2F284838372&facade=22) in Henge Days. Pink marks the front on Edwards Parade, which faces 307 degrees. North is up.*

Keating Hall, with its clock tower, was finished in 1936 in the Collegiate Gothic style and named for Joseph Keating, S.J., the university's treasurer from 1910 to 1948 ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keating_Hall)). Its front faces Edwards Parade, the lawn that Aloysius J. Hogan, the university's president, made from the old athletic field ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aloysius_J._Hogan)). The front faces 307 degrees, so the sun never meets it head-on. From 2:51 PM, when the sun passes 217 degrees, it lights the front from the west-southwest.

Family photo spot. Edwards Parade, with the front of Keating Hall behind the family. Stand the family on the lawn a few steps out from the front, facing northwest. The photographer stands on the lawn northwest of them, with the sun to the right and a little behind. Go on Saturday after the 1:00 PM game, from 4:00 to 5:00 PM, when the sun is 20 to 10 degrees up and lights faces and the front from the side. On Sunday, the same hour follows the concert. In the outlines, a building toward the sun, Freeman Hall, puts the front and the lawn in shade from about 5:00 PM on all three days. Post it with #HengeDays. Computed from the building outlines and the sun's position, and not checked on the ground. Trees on the parade are not part of the check.

### Part 2: Arthur Avenue, the Botanical Garden and the Bronx Zoo

Belmont, the Bronx's Little Italy, is south of the campus across Fordham Road. The Arthur Avenue Retail Market, about 800 m south-southwest of Keating Hall, opened on October 29, 1940, when Mayor Fiorello La Guardia moved the neighborhood's pushcart vendors indoors ([City Lore](https://citylore.org/?p=21335), [6 to Celebrate](https://6tocelebrate.org/site/arthur-avenue-retail-market/)). Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church is about 200 m northeast of the market, on East 187th Street. The Rose Hill page lists an evening of dining on Arthur Avenue among the weekend's events. Belmont's streets run at 33, 123, 213 and 303 degrees. Henge Days lists no henge day in the next 12 months for the walls of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. The market's short east-southeast wall lines up with the sunrise at the horizon only in late December, behind the buildings across Arthur Avenue.

The New York Botanical Garden is across Southern Boulevard from the east side of the campus. The Enid A. Haupt Conservatory stands about 250 m northeast of the Rose Hill Gym, and the Mertz Library about 400 m beyond it to the northeast. Listings give the garden's hours as 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM, Tuesday to Sunday ([Tripadvisor](https://www.tripadvisor.com/103513)). That leaves Saturday morning before the 1:00 PM game, or Sunday morning before the concert. Admission is charged. Check the hours at nybg.org before you go.

The Bronx Zoo is south of Fordham Road and east of Southern Boulevard. It is listed as open from 10:00 AM to 5:30 PM on weekends through October 31, with last entry 45 minutes before closing ([Bronx Zoo](https://bronxzoo.com/plan-your-visit/hours-and-rates)). The buildings around Astor Court face the low sun at the wrong angle or stand behind their neighbors. The west wall of the World of Birds lines up at 5:26 to 5:28 PM, as the zoo closes, and only 4 m of it is clear of the building's own wings.

Two walls nearby lined up this weekend with no building in the way in the outlines, and neither is a stop in this guide. The [east side of the Fordham Regional Parking Facility](https://hengedays.com/at/40.85903,-73.88170?q=Fordham+Regional+Parking+Facility%2C+685+East+Fordham+Road%2C+Bronx%2C+NY&b=osm%2Fway%2F284838382&facade=1&d=2026-10-23), the garage at 685 East Fordham Road, 126 m long, meets the low morning sun at 7:51 AM on Friday, 7:49 AM on Saturday and 7:48 AM on Sunday, 5.7, 5.3 and 4.8 degrees up. It faces Southern Boulevard and the trees at the northwest corner of the zoo, which are not in the check and can hold back a sun that low. The [east wall of Friendship Community Church](https://hengedays.com/at/40.85011,-73.88297?q=Friendship+Community+Church%2C+2281+Southern+Boulevard%2C+Bronx%2C+NY&b=osm%2Fway%2F276041441&facade=1&d=2026-10-25), 2281 Southern Boulevard, is 10 m long, lines up on Sunday only, at 7:54 AM and 5.9 degrees up, and faces the zoo's trees too. Both computed from the building outline and the sun's position for a level horizon, and not checked on the ground.

### When the walls line up

The walls at Rose Hill and the Botanical Garden that turn toward the low sun line up near the winter solstice. The days and times below are from the Henge Days engine for each wall. Each name opens the wall in Henge Days. Computed from the building outlines and the sun's position for a level horizon, and not checked on the ground.

- [LuEsther T. Mertz Library](https://hengedays.com/at/40.86658,-73.87871?q=The+LuEsther+T.+Mertz+Library%2C+Bronx%2C+NY&b=osm%2Fway%2F284835768&facade=6&d=2026-11-29), at the Botanical Garden: the west-southwest front, 116 m in seven sections facing 240 degrees, lines up with the setting sun at the horizon from November 29 to December 9, 2026, between 4:16 and 4:26 PM, and from January 2 to 12, 2027, between 4:36 and 4:38 PM. In the outlines, no building in front of it rises higher than 0.6 degrees, except in front of one 16 m section. The sun is 1.5 degrees up or lower at those moments. The garden's trees are not in the check. The building is inside the garden, which charges admission, so check its hours against those times. It was designed by Robert W. Gibson and is a New York City landmark ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LuEsther_T._Mertz_Library)).
- [Rose Hill Gymnasium](https://hengedays.com/at/40.86216,-73.88388?q=Rose+Hill+Gymnasium%2C+Fordham+University%2C+Bronx%2C+NY&b=osm%2Fway%2F284838343&facade=2&d=2026-12-09): the west-southwest wall, 41 m facing 238 degrees, lines up with the setting sun at the horizon from December 9, 2026, to January 1, 2027, between 4:14 and 4:26 PM. Thebaud Hall rises 4.4 degrees toward the sun from in front of its longest section, higher than the sun at those times.
- [McShane Campus Center](https://hengedays.com/at/40.86272,-73.88420?q=McGinley+Center%2C+Fordham+University%2C+Bronx%2C+NY&b=osm%2Fway%2F284838378&facade=7&d=2026-12-10), listed in OpenStreetMap under its earlier name, McGinley Center: the west-southwest wall, 95 m facing 238 degrees, lines up from December 10, 2026, to January 1, 2027, between 4:15 and 4:26 PM. Hughes Hall rises 12.5 degrees toward the sun from in front of it.
- [Enid A. Haupt Conservatory](https://hengedays.com/at/40.86390,-73.88213?q=Haupt+Conservatory%2C+2700+Southern+Boulevard%2C+Bronx%2C+NY&b=osm%2Fway%2F284835739&facade=42&d=2026-12-10): the west-southwest walls, 215 m in many sections facing 238 degrees, line up from December 10, 2026, to January 1, 2027, between 4:15 and 4:25 PM. The conservatory's own wings and the Lombardi Memorial Center, Fordham's athletic center across Southern Boulevard, stand higher than the sun in front of every section.
- [Keating Hall](https://hengedays.com/at/40.86053,-73.88391?q=Keating+Hall%2C+Fordham+University%2C+Bronx%2C+NY&b=osm%2Fway%2F284838372&facade=9&d=2026-12-09): the southeast wall, 52 m facing 127 degrees, gets golden morning light, with the sun 5 to 6 degrees up, from December 9, 2026, to January 3, 2027, between 7:50 and 8:02 AM. O'Hare Hall rises 7.1 degrees toward the sun from in front of it.
- [Arthur Avenue Market](https://hengedays.com/at/40.85416,-73.88817?q=Arthur+Avenue+Market%2C+Bronx%2C+NY&b=osm%2Fway%2F276051964&facade=3&d=2026-12-17): the east-southeast wall, 30 m facing 123 degrees, lines up with the sunrise at the horizon from December 17 to 26, 2026, between 7:26 and 7:31 AM. The buildings across Arthur Avenue rise 41 degrees toward the sun from in front of it.

*A year of head-on days for every wall of the Mertz Library. The pink marks on the WSW 240° row are the December and January sunset days.*

### How the list was made

Henge Days computed every named building within 250 to 400 meters of 12 points: Edwards Parade, the University Church and the north campus, the Walsh Family Library and the west campus, the Rose Hill Gym and Jack Coffey Field, the Fordham Road gate, Crescent Avenue, the Arthur Avenue Retail Market, East 187th Street, Fordham Plaza, the Botanical Garden, Astor Court at the Bronx Zoo, and the Grand Concourse at the Loew's Paradise Theatre. It used OpenStreetMap outlines, 1,486 buildings in all. It kept the 13 walls where the sun lines up with the wall within 6 degrees of the horizon on at least one day from Friday, October 23, to Sunday, October 25. It then traced the sun's path from each wall against every outline it had fetched, and dropped the walls where a neighboring building stands higher than the sun.

That check left four walls. Two are in Part 2 with the reasons they are not stops. The other two stand inside the Bronx Zoo: the World of Birds, whose own wings shade all but 4 m of its west wall, and the World of Darkness, with an east wall 8 m long that lines up at 7:37 to 7:41 AM, before the zoo opens. On the Grand Concourse, the Wagner Building and the Poe Building face the sunrise, and buildings in front of them rise higher than the sun. So do Creston Avenue Baptist Church, Creston Hall, Creston Arms and Solomon Temple Baptist Church on the streets nearby. The Loew's Paradise Theatre has no named outline in the map data.

One search returns at most 200 buildings. Around Arthur Avenue, Crescent Avenue, East 187th Street, the Fordham Road gate and the Grand Concourse the searches reached that limit even at 250 m, so some outlines there are missing. A wall there could be left out, or a building in front of a wall could be missing from the check. Jack Coffey Field, the campus gates, the Rodrigue's coffee house and Queen's Court carry no named outline, so Henge Days has no wall for them.

Trees, hills and elevated tracks are not part of that check, and the times assume a level horizon. The Botanical Garden and the Bronx Zoo are wooded, so a low sun from the east or west can be hidden there. Where a blocking building's outline carries no height, the check assumed about three stories. Every date and time comes from the Henge Days engine for the wall's own bearing, in Eastern time.

### How to read each entry

Each building name above opens the building in Henge Days. The map marks the building's outline from OpenStreetMap, gives every wall its compass bearing, and highlights the wall named in the text. Below it, the Henge days list shows that wall's next days, with a Save button that keeps a day in your planner, and the year chart shows the head-on days for every wall.

Any building has a page like the ones above, your student's hall included. Whatever you shoot at Rose Hill or on Arthur Avenue, post it with #HengeDays:

[Look up a building](https://hengedays.com/) [Open your planner](https://hengedays.com/planner)

### Sources

- [Fordham University: Rose Hill Campus Family Weekend](https://www.fordham.edu/student-life/events-and-activities/family-weekend/rose-hill-campus/)
- [Fordham University Campus Ministry: calendar and events](https://www.fordham.edu/about/living-the-mission/campus-ministry/calendar-and-events/)
- [Fordham Athletics: Patriot League announces 2026 football schedule](https://fordhamsports.com/news/2026/1/2/patriot-league-announces-2026-football-schedule.aspx)
- [Fordham Athletics: Moglia Stadium at Jack Coffey Field](https://fordhamsports.com/sports/2013/7/17/GEN_0717130349.aspx)
- [SeatGeek: Fordham Rams football schedule](https://seatgeek.com/fordham-rams-football-tickets/schedule)
- [FBSchedules: Fordham announces revised 2026 football schedule](https://fbschedules.com/fordham-announces-revised-2026-football-schedule/)
- [Wikipedia: Keating Hall](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keating_Hall)
- [Wikipedia: Aloysius J. Hogan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aloysius_J._Hogan)
- [City Lore: Arthur Avenue Retail Market](https://citylore.org/?p=21335)
- [6 to Celebrate: Arthur Avenue Retail Market](https://6tocelebrate.org/site/arthur-avenue-retail-market/)
- [Tripadvisor: New York Botanical Garden](https://www.tripadvisor.com/103513)
- [Bronx Zoo: hours and rates](https://bronxzoo.com/plan-your-visit/hours-and-rates)
- [Wikipedia: LuEsther T. Mertz Library](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LuEsther_T._Mertz_Library)
- [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.