# UNC Chapel Hill Family Weekend, October 23 to 25, 2026: buildings to photograph on campus and on Franklin Street > UNC Chapel Hill Family Weekend, October 23 to 25, 2026: the one campus wall that lines up with the low morning sun, the old campus and Franklin Street in the evening light, when to be there between the weekend's events, and where to stand for the family picture. This is the Markdown form of https://hengedays.com/articles/buildings-to-photograph-unc-chapel-hill-family-weekend-2026, with the same words as the page. Part of [Family Weekends 2026](https://hengedays.com/articles/family-weekends-2026), school 4 of 26. Previous school: [Christopher Newport University](https://hengedays.com/articles/buildings-to-photograph-cnu-family-weekend-2026). Next school: [Appalachian State University](https://hengedays.com/articles/buildings-to-photograph-appalachian-state-family-weekend-2026). *Hinton James Residence Hall on South Campus in Henge Days. Pink marks the wall the sun lines up with on Family Weekend mornings.* For October 23 to 25, 2026. Carolina Family Weekend at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill runs from Friday, October 23, to Sunday, October 25, 2026. This guide lists the walls on campus and on Franklin Street that the sun lands on square this weekend, fitted around the weekend's schedule, with a spot for the family picture. Post yours with #HengeDays. In this article - [The weekend's schedule and the light](#the-weekend-s-schedule-and-the-light) - [Part 1: the UNC Chapel Hill campus](#part-1-the-unc-chapel-hill-campus) - [Part 2: Franklin Street and Carrboro](#part-2-franklin-street-and-carrboro) - [How the list was made](#how-the-list-was-made) - [How to read each entry](#how-to-read-each-entry) Sunrise is at 7:30 AM on Friday and 7:31 AM on Saturday and Sunday. Sunset is at 6:30 PM on Friday, 6:29 PM on Saturday and 6:27 PM on Sunday. Every time in this guide is Eastern Daylight Time. ### The weekend's schedule and the light The events below are the ones the New Student and Family Programs pages listed in search results on October 17, 2026. The University's own pages did not open from where this guide was made, so the search summaries are the source. They give no Sunday events and no times for some Saturday ones. The football time is from [UNC Athletics](https://goheels.com/news/2026/10/12/syracuse-football-game-set-for-7-30-pm-on-acc-network), October 12. Check times and places at [nsfp.unc.edu](https://nsfp.unc.edu/families/carolina-family-weekend) before you plan around them. - Friday, October 23, 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM: check-in at the help desk of the Frank Porter Graham Student Union. Check-in also runs Thursday, October 22, from 3:00 to 6:00 PM, and Saturday from 8:00 AM to noon. Before it, the east wall of Hinton James Residence Hall (entry 1) gets golden light at 8:04 AM. - Friday, October 23: the Carolina On My Mind Information Fair and the Off-Campus Housing Fair in the Great Hall of the Carolina Union. The search results give no 2026 time for them. - Friday, October 23, 7:00 PM: Carolina Skies, a show at Morehead Planetarium on Franklin Street. Before it, the low sun is square to the planetarium's long west wall at 5:17 PM, 13.1 degrees up. Part 2 lists it. - Saturday, October 24, 9:00 to 9:45 AM: A Chat with the Chancellor, in the Great Hall of the Carolina Union. Before it, Hinton James Residence Hall at 8:02 AM, golden light, about a kilometer south of the Union. That is the family photo spot below. - Saturday, October 24, late morning: the sun is square to the shopfronts on the north side of East Franklin Street between 11:36 and 11:47 AM, about 38 degrees up. Late morning, after the Chancellor's chat, is the time for Franklin Street. - Saturday, October 24, 7:30 PM: Family Football Day, North Carolina against Syracuse at Kenan Stadium, on ACC Network. The Family Football Experience page describes a pregame tailgate on Polk Place for two of its game-day packages, with no time in the search results. Before kickoff, the low sun is square to the west walls of the Student Union at 5:14 PM, the Bell Tower at 5:15 PM, Old East at 5:21 PM and Old West at 5:23 PM, all in Part 1. - Saturday, October 24: a second planetarium show and a football watch party are also listed, with no times in the search results. - Sunday, October 25: the search results list no events. Hinton James lines up at 8:00 AM, 4.8 degrees up, the lowest sun of the three mornings. Nothing in this guide is a Family Weekend event. Every stand point is a lawn, a walk, a plaza or a sidewalk. ### Part 1: the UNC Chapel Hill campus Only the east side of Hinton James Residence Hall, on South Campus, lines up with the sun within 6 degrees of the horizon this weekend with a clear view. The old campus around McCorkle Place and Polk Place faces 65, 155, 245 and 335 degrees. On Saturday the sun rises at 104 degrees and sets at 256. The west walls of the old campus get the evening sun square at 11 to 14 degrees up, which is higher than golden light. They are listed after the entry. #### 1 Hinton James Residence Hall University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina Wall east-southeast, facing 109° Sun The low morning sun lines up with this wall on Oct 23 to 25. Best: Sunday, October 25 at 8:00 AM, 4.8° above the horizon. Leaves A forecast issued September 25 puts peak color around November 4 in most of North Carolina, spread over about 22 days across the state ([More Than Just Parks](https://morethanjustparks.com/foliage-tracker/north-carolina)). It gives no date for Chapel Hill itself. Where to stand The hall is a cross of four wings, and six of its wall segments face 109 degrees, 86 m in all. The longest is the east side of the north wing, toward Manning Drive. Stand on the lawn in the angle between the north wing and the east wing, east-southeast of that wall, with the sun behind you. Footpaths cross the lawn there. Stay off Manning Drive and the circle of Hinton James Drive. The sun lines up with the wall at 8:04 AM on Friday, 8:02 AM on Saturday and 8:00 AM on Sunday, 5.9, 5.4 and 4.8 degrees up. These are golden days: at the head-on moment the sun is 2 to 6 degrees up. Nothing in the outlines stands in the way. Trees east of the hall are not part of the check and may hold back the light for the first minutes. Computed from the building outline and the sun's position, and not checked on the ground. Clear view Clear. No building in the map data rises above the sun (4.8° up) in its direction. A residence hall on Manning Drive at the south end of South Campus, home to 964 students ([UNC Housing](https://housing.unc.edu/live/explore-the-halls/residence-halls/hinton-james)). It was completed in 1967 and named for Hinton James, the first student to arrive when the University opened in 1795 ([UNC Libraries](https://museum.unc.edu/exhibits/show/names/hinton-james-residence)). He reached Chapel Hill on February 12, 1795, almost a month after the University opened its doors ([UNC](https://www.unc.edu/posts/2025/02/18/230-years-ago-he-became-the-first-tar-heel/)). *The building page in Henge Days. The highlighted walls face 109°, toward the sunrise on the days in the row below; every wall carries its bearing.* - **Fri, Oct 23 to Wed, Nov 4, 2026**13 mornings · best Wed, Nov 4 **6:42 AM** Golden sunrise, sun 0° up ESE 109° 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/35.90236,-79.04323?q=Hinton+James+Residence+Hall%2C+Chapel+Hill%2C+NC&b=osm%2Fway%2F44344714&facade=18&d=2026-10-23) Family photo spot. Stand the family on the lawn a few steps out from the east side of the north wing of Hinton James, turned partway toward the camera. The photographer stands east-southeast of them, with the sun low behind and to one side, which lights faces and the wall behind them in the same warm light. Go on Saturday at 8:02 AM, an hour before A Chat with the Chancellor at the Union, about a kilometer north. Sunday at 8:00 AM has the lowest sun. Post it with #HengeDays. Computed from the building outline and the sun's position, and not checked on the ground. On Saturday evening, before the walk to Kenan Stadium, the west walls of the old campus face the low sun. Each name opens the building in Henge Days. The times are the moment the sun is square to the wall, on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The same walls line up with the setting sun at the horizon in late November. - [Frank Porter Graham Student Union](https://hengedays.com/at/35.91040,-79.04750?q=Frank+Porter+Graham+Student+Union%2C+Chapel+Hill%2C+NC&b=osm%2Frelation%2F324644), beside the Pit: the west wall, 41 m facing 244 degrees, at 5:13, 5:14 and 5:16 PM, 13.9, 13.4 and 12.9 degrees up. The House Undergraduate Library rises 6.1 degrees toward the sun in the outlines, under the sun. At the horizon from November 21 to 26, 2026. - [Morehead-Patterson Bell Tower](https://hengedays.com/at/35.90861,-79.04922?q=Morehead-Patterson+Bell+Tower%2C+Chapel+Hill%2C+NC&b=osm%2Fway%2F44341889), north of Kenan Stadium: the west face, 11 m facing 244 degrees, at 5:13, 5:15 and 5:16 PM, 13.8, 13.3 and 12.8 degrees up. Wilson Hall rises 3.2 degrees toward the sun in the outlines, under the sun. At the horizon from November 20 to 25, 2026. - [Old East](https://hengedays.com/at/35.91236,-79.05081?q=Old+East%2C+Chapel+Hill%2C+NC&b=osm%2Fway%2F44342593), on McCorkle Place: the west wall, 43 m facing 245 degrees, at 5:20, 5:21 and 5:23 PM, 12.6, 12.1 and 11.6 degrees up. Old West rises 5.3 degrees toward the sun in the outlines, under the sun. Its height is an estimate. At the horizon from November 17 to 21, 2026. - [Old West](https://hengedays.com/at/35.91199,-79.05178?q=Old+West%2C+Chapel+Hill%2C+NC&b=osm%2Fway%2F44342744), on McCorkle Place: the west wall, 44 m facing 246 degrees, at 5:22, 5:23 and 5:25 PM, 12.3, 11.7 and 11.2 degrees up. Swain Hall rises 2.8 degrees toward the sun in the outlines, under the sun. Its height is an estimate. At the horizon from November 16 to 20, 2026. - [The Carolina Inn](https://hengedays.com/at/35.90977,-79.05438?q=The+Carolina+Inn%2C+Chapel+Hill%2C+NC&b=osm%2Fway%2F44343900), on Cameron Avenue: the west wall, 169 m facing 245 degrees, at 5:17, 5:19 and 5:20 PM, 13.1, 12.5 and 12.0 degrees up. The Newman Center church rises 4.3 degrees toward the sun in the outlines, under the sun. Its height is an estimate. At the horizon from November 18 to 22, 2026. - [South Building](https://hengedays.com/at/35.91176,-79.05106?q=South+Building%2C+Chapel+Hill%2C+NC&b=osm%2Fway%2F44342886) and [Wilson Library](https://hengedays.com/at/35.90945,-79.04972?q=Wilson+Library%2C+Chapel+Hill%2C+NC&b=osm%2Fway%2F30677827) face the same way, but a neighbor stands higher than the sun at that moment: Gerrard Hall for South Building and the Caudill Labs for Wilson Library, both with estimated heights. The west wall of South Building lines up with the setting sun at the horizon from November 16 to 20, 2026, and that of Wilson Library from November 15 to 20. - [Carmichael Arena](https://hengedays.com/at/35.90962,-79.04524?q=Carmichael+Auditorium%2C+Chapel+Hill%2C+NC&b=osm%2Fway%2F29299251), named Carmichael Auditorium in OpenStreetMap: the long west wall, 85 m facing 257 degrees, points just past this weekend's sunset. It lines up with the setting sun at the horizon from February 20 to 22, 2027, and from October 18 to 21, 2027. - [The Dean Smith Center](https://hengedays.com/at/35.89948,-79.04383?q=Dean+Smith+Center%2C+Chapel+Hill%2C+NC&b=osm%2Fway%2F44345694) faces the four compass points, so its walls line up near the equinoxes. The east wall meets the rising sun at the horizon from March 19 to 21 and from September 22 to 24, 2027. The west wall meets the setting sun on March 19 and 20 and from September 22 to 24, 2027. - The Old Well is round, with no straight wall long enough to line up. Kenan Stadium is a sports ground in OpenStreetMap, without a building outline, so Henge Days has no wall for it. ### Part 2: Franklin Street and Carrboro Franklin Street runs along the north edge of the campus at about 83 and 263 degrees, so the buildings along it face 155 and 335 degrees. No named building in town has a wall that lines up with the sun within 6 degrees of the horizon this weekend. The light in town is the midday sun on the shopfronts and the low evening sun on the west walls of the churches and the planetarium. Between Saturday's chat with the Chancellor and the game, East Franklin from the Morehead Planetarium to Columbia Street is where to walk and eat. - The north side of East Franklin Street, from the Morehead Planetarium to Columbia Street: the shopfronts face 154 to 157 degrees, across the street from the campus. On Saturday the sun is square to them between 11:36 and 11:47 AM, about 38 degrees up, and most have nothing in the outlines in front of them. - [Morehead Planetarium](https://hengedays.com/at/35.91391,-79.05051?q=Morehead+Planetarium%2C+Chapel+Hill%2C+NC&b=osm%2Fway%2F44341651), at the east end of the shops: dedicated in 1949, it trained NASA astronauts in star navigation from 1960 to 1975 ([UNC](https://www.unc.edu/discover/early-space-journeys/)). Its long west wall, 78 m facing 245 degrees, has the low sun square to it at 5:17 PM on Friday, 5:19 PM on Saturday and 5:20 PM on Sunday, 13.1, 12.6 and 12.1 degrees up. Nothing in the outlines rises higher than 2.4 degrees toward the sun. Friday's 5:17 PM is before the 7:00 PM show. At the horizon from November 18 to 23, 2026. - [Chapel of the Cross](https://hengedays.com/at/35.91459,-79.04998?q=Chapel+of+the+Cross%2C+Chapel+Hill%2C+NC&b=osm%2Frelation%2F324639), next to the planetarium: the west wall, 58 m facing 245 degrees, at 5:18, 5:20 and 5:21 PM, 12.9, 12.4 and 11.8 degrees up. Graham Memorial Hall rises 4.3 degrees toward the sun in the outlines, under the sun. At the horizon from November 17 to 22, 2026. - [University Methodist Church](https://hengedays.com/at/35.91335,-79.05355?q=University+Methodist+Church%2C+Chapel+Hill%2C+NC&b=osm%2Fway%2F44341942): the west wall, 80 m facing 245 degrees, at 5:12, 5:14 and 5:15 PM, 14.0, 13.5 and 13.0 degrees up. The Porthole Building rises 10.7 degrees toward the sun in the outlines, under the sun. Its height is an estimate. At the horizon from November 21 to 26, 2026. - [Carolina Coffee Shop](https://hengedays.com/at/35.91343,-79.05424?q=Carolina+Coffee+Shop%2C+Chapel+Hill%2C+NC&b=osm%2Fway%2F44341972): the front on Franklin Street, 28 m facing 154 degrees, has the sun square to it at 11:39 AM on Friday, 11:38 AM on Saturday and 11:37 AM on Sunday, about 38 degrees up. Its side walls touch the buildings next door, so they do not get the low sun. - Downtown Carrboro, at Main and Weaver streets, is about a mile west of Columbia Street along Franklin and Main. [Carr Mill Mall](https://hengedays.com/at/35.91148,-79.07108?q=Carr+Mill+Mall%2C+Carrboro%2C+NC&b=osm%2Fway%2F44264306) and Weaver Street Market face the four compass points, so their east and west walls get no sun this weekend. Their south fronts have the sun square to them at 1:00 or 1:01 PM, about 42 degrees up. The west wall of Carr Mill Mall, 68 m, lines up with the setting sun at the horizon from March 20 to 22 and from September 20 to 22, 2027. ### How the list was made Henge Days computed every named building within 300 to 500 meters of 14 points: McCorkle Place, Polk Place, Kenan Stadium, the Pit, the North Campus residence halls, the South Campus residence halls and the Dean Smith Center, the Carolina Inn, Kenan-Flagler and the hospitals, the Morehead Planetarium, East Franklin Street, Franklin and Columbia streets, West Franklin Street and two points in downtown Carrboro. It used OpenStreetMap outlines. It kept 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 the outlines from all 14 points and dropped the walls where a neighboring building stands higher than the sun. Three days is a short window, and the grid of the old campus and the town misses it. Most buildings face 65, 155, 245 or 335 degrees, and this weekend the sun rises at 104 degrees and sets at 256. Eleven walls of named buildings on and around the campus line up within 6 degrees of the horizon. Ten of them, among them Morrison Residence Hall, ITS Manning and the N. C. Cancer Hospital, have a taller neighbor in the way at that moment. That leaves one entry, and the list stops there. No named building on Franklin Street or in downtown Carrboro has a wall that lines up within 6 degrees this weekend. The walls in the lists above come from the same engine, with the sun higher. Hills and trees are not part of that check, and the times assume a level horizon. Trees on McCorkle Place, Polk Place and Franklin Street can shade the walls in the lists. Where a neighboring outline carries no height, the check assumed one and the text says so. Every date and time comes from the Henge Days engine for the wall's own bearing, in Eastern Daylight Time, or Eastern Standard Time from November 1. ### How to read each entry Each 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. Any building has a page like the one above, your student's hall included. Whatever you shoot, post it with #HengeDays: [Look up a building](https://hengedays.com/) [Open your planner](https://hengedays.com/planner) ### Sources - [New Student and Family Programs: Carolina Family Weekend](https://nsfp.unc.edu/families/carolina-family-weekend) - [New Student and Family Programs: The Family Football Experience](https://nsfp.unc.edu/families/the-family-football-experience/) - [UNC Athletics: Syracuse football game set for 7:30 PM on ACC Network, October 12, 2026](https://goheels.com/news/2026/10/12/syracuse-football-game-set-for-7-30-pm-on-acc-network) - [UNC Housing: Hinton James](https://housing.unc.edu/live/explore-the-halls/residence-halls/hinton-james) - [UNC Libraries: Hinton James and Hinton James Residence Hall](https://museum.unc.edu/exhibits/show/names/hinton-james-residence) - [UNC: 230 years ago he became the first Tar Heel, February 18, 2025](https://www.unc.edu/posts/2025/02/18/230-years-ago-he-became-the-first-tar-heel/) - [UNC: Early space journeys began at Morehead Planetarium](https://www.unc.edu/discover/early-space-journeys/) - [More Than Just Parks foliage forecast: North Carolina, issued September 25, 2026](https://morethanjustparks.com/foliage-tracker/north-carolina) - [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.