MLive says: “Western Michigan University's first building, Heritage Hall, opened in 1905 on top of Prospect Hill. The building itself is beautiful, and was renovated in 2015. The most spectacular sight here, though, is the incredible view you'll get of Kalamazoo from high up on the hill. The building is open to visitors during normal business hours.”
June 9, 2019
My soundtrack was ironic driving into Kalamazoo, because it was totally still raining a little bit and the sun was no where to be seen. Kalamazoo County was my last stop of 6 on this particular weekend, and I was itching to get home. I’ve been in the city of Kalamazoo dozens of times, but this was the first time I went to visit Western Michigan University’s Heritage Hall. I’m usually not one to feel awe because of beautiful buildings. While Heritage Hall is a very handsome piece of architecture that boasts a lovely view of the city, I still was a bit underwhelmed at coming to admire something manmade.
The view from Heritage Hall shows the entire city, and on a cloudless night, I guarantee that the sunsets are priceless. On this particular day, the view was overcast and the city looked a bit ominous - those are some vibes I can dig though, so I enjoyed it.
The building itself wasn’t open, as I was visiting on a Sunday evening. However, the grounds around the building were pretty, and WMU had some reforestation efforts going on!
The highlight of visiting Kalamazoo, as it always is for me, was walking a mile from Heritage Hall over to Crow’s Nest for some delicious vegan food. I treated myself to a fresh fruit smoothie and The Mast: a sandwich with marinated organic tofu, spinach, sauteed onion, kalamata olive tapenade, vegan basil-walnut pesto, garlic veganaise, on a grilled ciabatta roll (but olives are gross, so I sub in artichokes for the tapenade). With a side of fries, that’s all this girl needs to be happy. Crow’s Nest never disappoints.
I walked back to my car with a full belly, and made my way back home to Grand Rapids. As I approached the city, the sky began to clear for the first time all day.