3 Questions with Eden Hall Campus: Chatham’s Sustainability Wonderland

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As students prepare to arrive at Chatham this fall, we wanted to take the time to highlight each of our locations: Shadyside Campus, Eden Hall Campus, and Chatham East Side. Each location is designed specifically to facilitate hands-on learning, research opportunities, and maximum enjoyment and each location caters to different fields of study. Join us as we highlight the unique assets of the places we call home. First up, our youngest campus, Eden Hall:—

What can I find at Eden Hall that’s hard to find anywhere else?

Located in the Richland Township of Pennsylvania, Eden Hall Campus (EHC) is a bonafide sustainability wonderland. Formerly the estate of Sebastian Mueller, the land was gifted to Chatham in 2008 by the Eden Hall Foundation, with the intent to expand Chatham’s efforts in sustainability education. Today, Eden Hall’s opportunities to study and explore the field of sustainability are hard to rival in the Pittsburgh area, or the world for that matter. EHC is home to one-of-a-kind facilities like the solar high tunnel, a greenhouse heated year-round by solar energy that produces many of the fruits and vegetables we eat on our campuses or the agroecology demonstration garden, where students learn food cultivation strategies and are encouraged to choose the crops. The aquaculture lab is home to a freshwater aquaculture system and fish breeding facilities that have fed many in the Pittsburgh community.

But beyond its sustainable design, EHC is also home to the Eden Hall Lodge, housing from the original estate that features a bowling alley and a swimming pool. In the summers, EHC hosts the annual Summer Series, a lineup of beloved outdoor concerts, theater performances, and more in the Hilda M. Willis Amphitheater and the Eden Hall Barn. The Center for Regional Agriculture, Food, and Transformation (CRAFT), a network for research, education, and outreach on sustainable food, hosts weekly baking, butchering, and cooking classes at EHC that are open to the Chatham community.

What’s it like to live at Eden Hall?

Eden Hall has ample space to interact with nature, thanks to hiking and biking trails and miles of green space. And because it’s only home to specific programs—Sustainability and Food Studies—there are fewer students on campus. It’s perfect for students who thrive in a close-knit community and nature-rich landscape. Plus, if you ever want to attend an event or lecture at Shadyside, it’s just a shuttle ride away. If you live on Eden Hall’s campus, you’ll stay in Orchard Hall, a newly built residence hall that reflects Eden Hall’s mission of sustainable living. Orchard Hall utilizes state-of-the-art geothermal heating and cooling and every aspect of its design reflects the goal of being an energy-neutral, LEED-Certified building. You’ll enjoy meals, classes, and events inside the Esther Barazzone Center (EBC). The delicious EBC kitchen boasts unique and delicious farm-to-table meals, featuring organic offerings from the farm and other local partners. Vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free options are always available.

But beyond just where you sleep and eat, there are plenty of reasons for why we call EHC a living, learning laboratory. Check out our Life at Eden Hall video series, where you can catch students learning how to extract honey, grow shiitake mushrooms, plant an apple orchard, and more. If you’re looking to study in a place unlike any other, you’re going to love the Green Wall, a stunning wall of plants at the center of the EBC.

What kind of research can I do at Eden Hall?

Eden Hall was built to be a campus-wide classroom, and as a result, you can hop on any number of research projects if you live and study at Eden Hall. Some cool and ongoing projects include: start-up food business viability, long-term changes in biodiversity, species richness in Pennsylvanian forests, pesticide safety in fruit tree orchards, small-scale aquaponics systems, cumulative effects of invasive species like Japanese Barberry, and more. Much of the in-house research analysis takes place in the Field Lab, a research classroom designed specifically for sustainability students and faculty. Students often use the city of Pittsburgh and local businesses as classrooms too; check out how our Food Studies students and La Prima Coffee work together here.

Have you fallen in love with Eden Hall yet? If so, schedule a visit so that you can explore this one-of-a-kind campus more!