Lees-McRae (lmc.edu) is a small private college located in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. The hometown for the college, Banner's Elk, was not even settled until around 1850. Several decades later in 1899, the school began as a boarding school. Then in 1931 the school was upgraded to a junior college and in 1990, Lees-McRae was recognized as a four-year private college. More than 700 students are enrolled at the scenic 460-acre campus near Grandfather Mountain in western North Carolina. The school offers 23 major areas of study and more than two dozen minors.
Roanoke College (roanoke.edu) is a small liberal arts, coeducational institution of higher learning, located in Salem, Virginia near Roanoke. Enrollment at the Lutheran-run college barely exceeds 2,000 undergraduates. Students can pursue a bachelor's degree in arts, science and business administration. Some degrees can be pursued in association with the University of Tennessee or Virginia Tech. The school was chartered by the state of Virginia in 1853 and was one of the few Southern colleges to remain open during the Civil War. The college is known for its success in Division II athletics and as a liberal arts academic institution.
Maryville College (maryvillecollege.edu) is a small co-educational, liberal arts college located in the Smoky Mountains near Knoxville, Tennessee. The school is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church and has an undergraduate enrollment of more than 1,000 students. With a founding date of 1819, the college is one of the 50 oldest institutions of higher learning in the country. Also of note has been the school's progressive attitude towards integration in education. When faced with a state desegregation order in 1901, the college funded a sister school for black students that remained in existence until the Brown v. Board of Education decision outlawed segregated schools in 1954.
Located in Sewanee, Tennesse on the western edge of the Blue Ridge mountains is the University of the South (sewanee.edu), a small liberal arts college that is run by the Episcopal Church. This school is basically a four-year liberal arts college, but it does offer a graduate degree in creative writing and literature. Undergraduate enrollment averages around 1,300 in this school that was founded in 1857. The University of the South or "Sewanee," as it is sometimes called, is known for its 13,000-acre mountain campus, its high academic standards and an alumni that includes 25 Rhodes scholars.