# University of Virginia Family Weekend, October 23 to 25, 2026: five buildings to photograph on Grounds and in downtown Charlottesville > Five walls on the University of Virginia's Grounds and in downtown Charlottesville that line up with the morning sun during Family Weekend, October 23 to 25, 2026, with the weekend's listed events and a spot for the family photo. This is the Markdown form of https://hengedays.com/articles/buildings-to-photograph-uva-family-weekend-2026, with the same words as the page. Part of [Family Weekends 2026](https://hengedays.com/articles/family-weekends-2026), school 2 of 26. Previous school: [George Mason University](https://hengedays.com/articles/buildings-to-photograph-gmu-family-weekend-2026). Next school: [Christopher Newport University](https://hengedays.com/articles/buildings-to-photograph-cnu-family-weekend-2026). *Ramazani House, the first building in the list, in Henge Days. Pink marks the wall the sun lines up with on Family Weekend mornings.* For October 23 to 25, 2026. Family Weekend at the University of Virginia runs from Friday, October 23, to Sunday, October 25, 2026. The five buildings below have a wall that faces the rising sun on those mornings, on Grounds or a short ride away in downtown Charlottesville. Post your pictures with #HengeDays. In this article - [The weekend's schedule](#the-weekend-s-schedule) - [Part 1: Grounds](#part-1-grounds) - [Part 2: Downtown Charlottesville](#part-2-downtown-charlottesville) - [How the list was made](#how-the-list-was-made) - [How to read each entry](#how-to-read-each-entry) - [Plan a trip of your own](#plan-a-trip-of-your-own) ### The weekend's schedule The events below are the ones the University's schedule pages listed in search results on October 17, with the football time from [Duke's athletics schedule](https://goduke.com/game-center/24828). Check times and places at [orientation.virginia.edu/family-weekend](https://orientation.virginia.edu/family-weekend) before you plan around them. All five walls are morning walls, because the sun sets this weekend behind Observatory Hill. - Friday, October 23, daytime: the Bicentennial of Edgar Allan Poe exhibit and an engineering undergraduate research expo. Before them, every wall in this list has its head-on moment between 7:40 and 8:03 AM, on Grounds and downtown. - Friday, October 23, 7:00 PM: Virginia plays Duke in football at Scott Stadium. No wall on Grounds lines up with the sunset with a clear view this weekend. Observatory Hill and its woods stand west of the stadium and the Alderman Road dorms. - Saturday, October 24, 10:00 AM: historical tour of the University. - Saturday, October 24, 10:00 AM to noon: Family Weekend Brunch at Observatory Hill Dining Room. Before it, Ramazani House at 7:52 AM or Yen House at 7:47 AM, both golden light. - Saturday, October 24, 1:00 PM: Fraternity and Sorority Life 101. - Saturday, October 24, 8:00 PM: the Family Weekend choral concert in Old Cabell Hall. No sunset wall lines up beforehand. The afternoon is free for downtown. - Sunday, October 25, 10:30 AM: tour of the history of African Americans at the University. - Sunday, October 25, 11:00 AM: Third-Year Ceremony at the Ting Pavilion, at the east end of the Downtown Mall. Before it, the Jefferson School at 7:44 AM, the family photo spot below. - Sunday, October 25, 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM: Raven Society open house in Poe's Room on the West Range. ### Part 1: Grounds #### 1 Ramazani House University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia Wall east-southeast, facing 108° Sun The low morning sun lines up with this wall on Oct 23 to 25. Best: Sunday, October 25 at 7:50 AM, 2.8° above the horizon. Leaves Charlottesville is in the Piedmont. A forecast updated October 15 puts most of Virginia at peak between October 22 and November 3, with the Blue Ridge ahead of the lowlands ([More Than Just Parks](https://morethanjustparks.com/foliage-tracker/virginia)). Where to stand The wall is the building's front on Brandon Avenue. Stand on the sidewalk across Brandon Avenue, east-southeast of the wall, with the sun behind you. The sun lines up with the wall at 7:53 AM on Friday, 7:52 AM on Saturday and 7:50 AM on Sunday, 3.8, 3.3 and 2.8 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. Computed from the building outline and the sun's position, and not checked on the ground. An upperclass residence hall on Brandon Avenue, south of the Lawn near the hospital. It opened in fall 2024 with Gaston House as one complex of apartments for about 340 students. Ramazani House has six stories. It is named for Rouhollah K. Ramazani, who left Iran in 1952 and taught at the University until 1998 ([The Cavalier Daily](https://www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2024/04/gaston-and-ramazani-houses-the-universitys-newest-upperclassmen-residences)). *The building page in Henge Days. The highlighted walls face 108°, toward the sunrise on the days in the row below; every wall carries its bearing.* - **Mon, Oct 19 to Sat, Oct 31, 2026**13 mornings · best Sat, Oct 31 **7:39 AM** Golden sunrise, sun 0° up ESE 108° 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/38.03104,-78.50440?q=Ramazani+House%2C+Charlottesville%2C+VA&b=osm%2Fway%2F1316238492&facade=1&d=2026-10-19) #### 2 Yen House University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia Wall east-southeast, facing 107° Sun The low morning sun lines up with this wall on Oct 23 to 25. Best: Sunday, October 25 at 7:45 AM, 2.0° above the horizon. Leaves Early to mid color in the Piedmont. A forecast updated October 15 puts most of Virginia at peak between October 22 and November 3 ([More Than Just Parks](https://morethanjustparks.com/foliage-tracker/virginia)). Where to stand The wall is the east side of the house, facing the drive that runs up from Sprigg Lane. Stand on the footpath between the house and the drive, east-southeast of the wall, with the sun behind you. Stay out of the drive. The sun lines up with the wall at 7:49 AM on Friday, 7:47 AM on Saturday and 7:45 AM on Sunday, 3.0, 2.5 and 2.0 degrees up. These are golden days: at the head-on moment the sun is 2 to 6 degrees up. The President's House on Carr's Hill rises toward the sun, but its estimated roofline stays at 1.2 degrees, below the sun on all three days. Computed from the building outline and the sun's position, and not checked on the ground. A house of the International Residential College on Sprigg Lane, next to Alumni Hall and a short walk from Newcomb Hall. It was named Lewis House in 1984 and renamed in 2017 for W. W. Yen, Class of 1900, the first student from China to earn a degree at the University ([The Cavalier Daily](https://cavalierdaily.com/article/2017/09/bov-buildings-and-grounds-committee-approves-lewis-house-renaming-discusses-ivy-corridor-redevelopment)). OpenStreetMap still lists it as Lewis House, so the building page shows that name. *The building page in Henge Days. The highlighted walls face 107°, toward the sunrise on the days in the row below; every wall carries its bearing.* - **Sun, Oct 18 to Thu, Oct 29, 2026**12 mornings · best Thu, Oct 29 **7:38 AM** Golden sunrise, sun 0° up ESE 107° 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/38.03901,-78.50808?q=Lewis+House%2C+Charlottesville%2C+VA&b=osm%2Fway%2F676197655&facade=1&d=2026-10-18) #### 3 Courtyard Charlottesville University Medical Center Charlottesville, Virginia Wall east-southeast, facing 106° Sun The rising sun lines up with this wall on Oct 23 to 25. Best: Sunday, October 25 at 7:36 AM, 0.4° above the horizon. Leaves Early to mid color in the Piedmont. A forecast updated October 15 puts most of Virginia at peak between October 22 and November 3 ([More Than Just Parks](https://morethanjustparks.com/foliage-tracker/virginia)). Where to stand Stand on the sidewalk on the far side of 12th Street Northwest, east-southeast of the wall, with the sun behind you. The sun lines up with the wall at the horizon all three mornings: 7:40 AM on Friday, 7:38 AM on Saturday and 7:36 AM on Sunday, 1.4, 0.9 and 0.4 degrees up. Friday has the most light on the wall. Nothing in the outlines stands in the way, but buildings across the street may take the first minutes. Computed from the building outline and the sun's position, and not checked on the ground. A hotel on West Main Street at 12th Street Northwest, between the Corner and downtown. If you are staying there, this wall is outside your door at sunrise. Its long east side faces 12th Street Northwest. *The building page in Henge Days. The highlighted walls face 106°, toward the sunrise on the days in the row below; every wall carries its bearing.* - **Fri, Oct 23 to Mon, Oct 26, 2026**4 mornings · best Mon, Oct 26 **7:34 AM** Henge sunrise, sun on the horizon ESE 106° 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/38.03351,-78.49692?q=Courtyard+Charlottesville+University+Medical+Center%2C+Charlottesville%2C+VA&b=osm%2Fway%2F253736693&facade=23&d=2026-10-23) ### Part 2: Downtown Charlottesville Downtown is about 2 kilometers east of the Rotunda along West Main Street, a short ride by the free trolley that runs between Grounds and downtown, by bus or by car. The Downtown Mall is a brick pedestrian street of shops and restaurants. Court Square, the Paramount Theater and the Ting Pavilion are at its east end. Between Saturday's brunch and the evening concert in Old Cabell Hall, or after Sunday's ceremony at the Ting Pavilion, the Mall is where to walk and eat. The two walls below are within 500 meters of its west end. #### 4 Jefferson School City Center Charlottesville, Virginia Wall east-southeast, facing 107° Sun The low morning sun lines up with this wall on Oct 23 to 25. Best: Sunday, October 25 at 7:44 AM, 1.7° above the horizon. Leaves Downtown's street trees turn gold and orange from mid-October ([Visit Charlottesville](https://www.visitcharlottesville.org/blog/fall-foliage-charlottesville/)). A forecast updated October 15 puts most of Virginia at peak between October 22 and November 3 ([More Than Just Parks](https://morethanjustparks.com/foliage-tracker/virginia)). Where to stand The wall is the long brick east side, facing 4th Street Northwest. Stand on the walks on the building's east side, between it and 4th Street Northwest, with the sun behind you. Stay out of the drive and parking. The sun lines up with the wall at 7:47 AM on Friday, 7:45 AM on Saturday and 7:44 AM on Sunday, 2.7, 2.2 and 1.7 degrees up. These are golden days: at the head-on moment the sun is 2 to 6 degrees up. At 141 meters, the longest lit wall in this list. Nothing in the outlines stands in the way. Computed from the building outline and the sun's position, and not checked on the ground. Jefferson High School opened here in 1926, one of the few high schools for Black students in Virginia at the time. The school traces its roots to a school for freed people founded in 1865. It closed in 1965, was saved by alumni and neighbors in 2002 and reopened in 2013 as the Jefferson School City Center, home of the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center ([Jefferson School African American Heritage Center](https://jeffschoolheritagecenter.org/)). 2026 is the high school's centennial ([WVIR](https://www.29news.com/2026/02/17/jefferson-high-school-centennial-honored-with-west-main-street-banners/)). *The building page in Henge Days. The highlighted walls face 107°, toward the sunrise on the days in the row below; every wall carries its bearing.* - **Sat, Oct 17 to Wed, Oct 28, 2026**12 mornings · best Wed, Oct 28 **7:38 AM** Golden sunrise, sun 0° up ESE 107° 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/38.03219,-78.48689?q=Jefferson+School+City+Center%2C+Charlottesville%2C+VA&b=osm%2Frelation%2F5828267&facade=5&d=2026-10-17) Family photo spot. Stand the family on the walks a few steps out from the Jefferson School's east wall, 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 brick behind them in the same warm light. Go on Saturday at 7:45 AM or Sunday at 7:44 AM, when the sun is lowest. Sunday is 3 hours before the Third-Year Ceremony at the Ting Pavilion, about a kilometer away. Post it with #HengeDays. Computed from the building outline and the sun's position, and not checked on the ground. #### 5 Afghan Kabob House Charlottesville, Virginia 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 7:59 AM, 4.5° above the horizon. Leaves The oaks along the Downtown Mall turn gold and orange from mid-October ([Visit Charlottesville](https://www.visitcharlottesville.org/blog/fall-foliage-charlottesville/)). Where to stand The wall is the restaurant's east side, on 2nd Street Northwest at West Market Street. Stand on the sidewalk on the far side of 2nd Street Northwest, east-southeast of the wall, with the sun behind you. The sun lines up with the wall at 8:03 AM on Friday, 8:01 AM on Saturday and 7:59 AM on Sunday, 5.5, 5.0 and 4.5 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. Computed from the building outline and the sun's position, and not checked on the ground. A restaurant at 200 West Market Street, a block north of the Downtown Mall. A listing on Toast gives its hours as 11:00 AM to 10:30 PM on Friday and Saturday and 11:30 AM to 9:00 PM on Sunday ([Toast](https://www.toasttab.com/local/order/new-afghan-kabob-200-west-market-st)). Check them before you go. Photograph the building in the morning and come back for lunch or dinner. *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.* - **Thu, Oct 22 to Tue, Nov 3, 2026**13 mornings · best Tue, Nov 3 **6:44 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/38.03167,-78.48208?q=Afghan+Kabob+House%2C+200+West+Market+Street%2C+Charlottesville%2C+VA&b=osm%2Fway%2F386115143&facade=3&d=2026-10-22) ### How the list was made Henge Days computed every named building within 350 to 500 meters of 13 points: the Rotunda and the Lawn, the Corner, Newcomb Hall, the McCormick Road dorms, the Alderman Road dorms, Scott Stadium and the Aquatic and Fitness Center, John Paul Jones Arena, the Darden and Law grounds on North Grounds, both ends of the Downtown Mall, Court Square and Park Street, the Jefferson School and the Belmont Bridge. 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 and dropped the walls where a neighboring building stands higher than the sun. A second pass covered West Main Street, Starr Hill, IX Art Park, Belmont, Rugby Road and Emmet Street. Three days is a short window. The Lawn's pavilions, the Rotunda, Old Cabell Hall, Brooks Hall, the Chapel, Newcomb Hall, the arena, the courthouse on Court Square, the Paramount Theater and the churches on Park Street and East Jefferson Street have no wall the sun lines up with on these days. Near the Corner, the long east side of Corner Village, student apartments at 1215 Wertland Street, lines up on these mornings. It is left out because the only place to stand is on the property's own grounds. Downtown, the Swan Tavern on Court Square and First United Methodist Church line up, but taller buildings stand in front of them at that moment. The east side of Midway Manor, apartments at 100 Ridge Street, lines up on these mornings. It is left out because the only place to stand is on the property's own grounds. Most picks above are golden days, with the sun 2 to 6 degrees up, and each entry says which. Hills and trees are not part of that check, and the times assume a level horizon. East of town the land is lower, so the morning walls below face open sky, though the Southwest Mountains on the eastern skyline can hold back the sun for the first minutes on the lowest mornings. To the west, Observatory Hill rises about 250 meters above sea level, with woods on its slopes. The evening walls the check found near the Alderman Road dorms, among them Saint Thomas Aquinas Church and Zehmer Hall, face those woods and are left out. ### 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. ### Plan a trip of your own - Search for a building, or tap one on the map, and pick the wall you want lit. - The Henge days list shows the next days the sun lines up with that wall, at the horizon or in golden light, with the time. - The Today tab shows the sun's path for one day and when it is square to each wall. Check the cloud forecast there before you go. - Save a day to your [planner](https://hengedays.com/planner) to get a reminder and a calendar entry, or use [Along a street](https://hengedays.com/route) to find every wall that lines up along one road. Post your picture from one of these walls with #HengeDays. [Find a wall in Henge Days](https://hengedays.com/) [Open your planner](https://hengedays.com/planner) ### Sources - [University of Virginia: Family Weekend](https://orientation.virginia.edu/family-weekend) - [University of Virginia Student Affairs: Important fall 2026 dates](https://studentaffairs.virginia.edu/communications/2026/important-fall-2026-dates) - [Duke athletics: football at Virginia, October 23, 2026](https://goduke.com/game-center/24828) - [The Cavalier Daily: Gaston and Ramazani Houses, April 2024](https://www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2024/04/gaston-and-ramazani-houses-the-universitys-newest-upperclassmen-residences) - [The Cavalier Daily: Lewis House renamed Yen House, September 2017](https://cavalierdaily.com/article/2017/09/bov-buildings-and-grounds-committee-approves-lewis-house-renaming-discusses-ivy-corridor-redevelopment) - [Jefferson School African American Heritage Center](https://jeffschoolheritagecenter.org/) - [WVIR: Jefferson High School centennial banners, February 17, 2026](https://www.29news.com/2026/02/17/jefferson-high-school-centennial-honored-with-west-main-street-banners/) - [Toast: Afghan Kabob House, 200 West Market Street](https://www.toasttab.com/local/order/new-afghan-kabob-200-west-market-st) - [More Than Just Parks foliage forecast: Virginia, updated October 15, 2026](https://morethanjustparks.com/foliage-tracker/virginia) - [Visit Charlottesville: fall foliage in Charlottesville](https://www.visitcharlottesville.org/blog/fall-foliage-charlottesville/) - [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.