I graduated from Swansboro High School in 1972 and started at UNC-Chapel Hill in the fall.

I attended Carolina for two years, but did not graduate because of low grades. I transferred to Campbell College, because no one else would take me with my scores, but pulled them up and transferred to UNC-Wilmington and graduated from there in the summer of 1976, with a degree in Business Administration.

But here are some memories of my time at Carolina.

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Another bar, of which I cannot recall the name. Seems to be a recurring theme, don’t you think?

I lived in Chapel Hill for a couple of years going to college in the early 1970s. Only two years, because I flunked out and had to finish my college education elsewhere. My mom was paying for my education, and there was no doubt that I would graduate from somewhere.

“Silent Sam” was still on campus and I would pass him in the early morning hours on my way back to my dorm room, in Aycock Dorm. That name was changed a few years ago because Governor Aycock, for whom it was named was determined to be a racist. Governor Russell, who immediately preceded Governor Aycock, and who was a very distant relative of mine, was ridiculed for his pro “black” leanings, but that’s because he had a black nanny, when he was growing up at Palo Alto Plantation in Onslow County. And Silent Sam was silent because she carried a rifle and he only shot it off when a “virgin” walked by. *I didn’t make this up. It’s what I was told.

Oh, and there was also Hector’s “Famous Since 1969.” I stopped in there many a time to get a couple of their egg rolls, to assuage my muchie hunger. Soooo… good.

But there was a little bar behind and below the Rathskellar Restaurant and you could either walk down stairs from the Rat, or come in the back way to the small bar. Small? I seem to recall that it had two rooms, all painted black, floor to ceiling. One room had the small bar area, and the other room had at least one “PONG” video game. And, John Sharp and I played this game well, as a team against others. I was good at defense and John was good on the front paddle.

And this bar had a beer special, a pitcher for a good price. It had to be good because I know I had several of them while visiting each time. Maybe one, but I drank it fast to get drunk.

So, I can’t recall the name of this little bar. There is a web cam that shows the intersection of Franklin Street & Columbia (the back entrance was down a concrete driveway) and I see this view quite often on WRAL TV5 in the mornings.

And after all of the above, ChatGPT managed to find the obscure name of this little bar — The Bacchae! And described as “…one of Chapel Hill’s first true nightclubs,” which I find amusing. About as far from a nightclub as a VW Bug is from a Lamborghini, and the Bacchae was no Lamborghini. And now ChatGPT adds that my version of The Bacchae, predated the nightclub version.