The $44-Million Rescue

The weathered, century-old stone statue of an angel stands atop a hill at the back of campus, reached only by a narrow, loose-gravel road. Beneath lie the graves of members of a 19th-century family that owned the surrounding land and ran it as a plantation. A plaque on the statue honors Indiana Fletcher Williams, the last of the family’s line. Another plaque is affixed to the statue, its metal untarnished by age or weather. "We Kept the Faith," it reads. "College Saved. Vision Endured."