Dartmouth College

Dartmouth College Review

Robert Frost spent part of a brooding freshman semester at this Ivy League school before giving up college altogether. The buildings that cluster around the green include the Baker Memorial Library, which houses such literary treasures as 17th-century editions of William Shakespeare's works. The library is also well known for Mexican artist José Clemente Orozco's 3,000-square-foot murals that depict the story of civilization in the Americas.

Hopkins Center for the Arts. If the towering arcade at the entrance to the Hopkins Center for the Arts appears familiar, it's probably because it resembles the project that architect Wallace K. Harrison completed just after designing it: New York City's Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center. The complex includes a 900-seat theater for film showings and concerts, a 400-seat theater for plays, and a black-box theater for new plays. The Dartmouth Symphony Orchestra performs here, as does the Big Apple Circus. 2 East Wheelock St., 03755. 603/646-2422. hop.dartmouth.edu.

Hood Museum of Art. In addition to African, Peruvian, Oceanic, Asian, European, and American art, the Hood Museum of Art owns the Pablo Picasso painting Guitar on a Table, silver by Paul Revere, and a set of Assyrian reliefs from the 9th century BC. The range of contemporary works, including pieces by John Sloan, William Glackens, Mark Rothko, Fernand Léger, and Joan Miró, is particularly notable. Rivaling the collection is the museum's architecture: a series of austere, copper-roofed, redbrick buildings arranged around a courtyard. Free campus tours are available on request. Wheelock St., 03755. 603/646-2808. www.hoodmuseum.dartmouth.edu. Free. Tues. and Thurs.-Sat. 10-5, Wed. 10-9, Sun. noon-5.