Wait Chapel

The most prominent building on campus is named after Samuel Wait (married to Sarah “Sally”), the first President of Wake Forest College. For almost three years, he traveled the state of North Carolina gathering support and favor for a Baptist school. Having achieved the necessary vote from the North Carolina legislature, he became Principal of the new Institute when it opened in 1834.

Wait Chapel is one of the first buildings to have been constructed when Wake Forest College moved to Winston-Salem in the 1950s. The foremost purpose of the building was religious, but now is used for non-denominational and secular events. Wait Chapel has been the location of two Presidential debates and has seen numerous speakers. The steeple contains the Janet Jeffrey Carlile Harris Carillon which can be heard most every weekday at 5:00pm during the academic year. The carillon was donated by the Very Rev. Charles Upchurch Harris (’35, L.H.D. ’80), in honor of his wife, Janet, for whom the carillon is named.

At the rear of Wait Chapel is Divinity Hall. This is the home of the Wake Forest School of Divinity, Davis Chapel, and the Department for the Study of Religions. It was originally named after Wake Forest’s fourth President Washington Manly Wingate (Presidential term 1854-1879), the name later being removed in 2021. Washington Manly Wingate graduated in 1849 from Wake Forest College. He was ordained as a Baptist minister in 1852 and began serving as an agent for Wake Forest to raise an endowment. He was named professor of moral and intellectual philosophy and rhetoric and acting president in 1854, and president in 1856, the first alumnus to serve in that position. During his time as President, the institution utilized the labor of the enslaved. Wingate’s administration saw the creation of the Alumni Association and the James Denmark Loan Fund. His tenure experienced the closing of the College due to the Civil War and the post-war reopening. An original part of Wait Chapel, it was renovated from 1997-1998 to accommodate the new Divinity School which opened in 1999.

Davis Chapel is the small chapel located in this building and is named after Paul Price Davis, an alumnus. It is used for religious services by various campus ministries including the Wake Forest Catholic Community. Davis Chapel held Wake Forest’s first Lovefeast in 1965 with fewer than 200 students. Today, Lovefeast is held in Wait Chapel and draws in over 2000 participants to make it the largest Lovefeast in North America.