Colossal it was. For most students journeying to Princeton to take up their studies, Nassau Hall would have dwarfed anything they would have seen during their travels. Its massive stone walls and sturdy Georgian proportions must have exuded an air of permanence even then. To the colonial eye, accustomed to the rough and transitory life of North America, this alone would have made a powerful visual statement.

Enhancing the solidity and stature of the building would have been the stark appearance of the cleared two-acre field in which it was set. The building must have seemed anomalous and out of place, set well back from the muddy road, proudly separate from the straggling handful of houses along the King's Highway, and seemingly in the middle of nowhere.

One can thus forgive those early matriculants to the College for wondering: Why? Why build Nassau Hall here?

Curator's note: According to Maynard , "America's first 'campus' was scruffy and unfenced."