looking for love

Three years ago, Scott Bryson and Mandy Sarasien kissed at midnight in the Rose Well House, a nearly 100-year-old stone gazebo on the northeast corner of Dunn's Woods. The two, who are now seniors, were becoming a part of a long-time campus tradition wherein a female student is not officially a "co-ed" until she has done so. \nLate last Saturday night, the two kissed again in the campus romantic hotspot. This time, the stakes were a little higher. Bryson knelt down on one knee and asked Sarasien, his girlfriend of four years, to be his wife. "It's famous for its romantic appeal and its secluded area," Bryson said of the Rose Well House. "And this is something that is only supposed to happen once. So to do it in such a beautiful building is quite nice."\nEver since it was erected in 1908, the Rose Well House has garnered a reputation as the campus destination for romance. Whether it's the midnight kissing tradition, students proposing to each other or couples just hanging out there, its combination of IU's old-style campus beauty and its seclusion by the woods have turned it into a veritable love-nest.\nJust when its romantic occurrences caught on isn't clear, but the gazebo was a gift from IU trustee Theodore F. Rose, a member of Beta Theta Pi. It stands above an old cistern and its stone construction contains portals from the Old College Building at IU's first site.\nRose died in 1919 while still serving as president of IU's board of trustees and soon thereafter the lore surrounding his gift bloomed. An Indiana Daily Student story from 1933 detailed the Rose Well House's merit as a place for Betas to kiss girls they truly loved. It did note, however, that "ordinary 'candying' should be carried on elsewhere than the stone ... of Theodore Rose's memorial." \nIn the 1940s, the gazebo inspired its own short-lived dance, held annually in Alumni Hall with a re-creation of the Rose Well House built inside as its centerpiece. In the 1960s, some students threw a fit when 300-watt lights were installed, seemingly throwing off the privacy it had promised. The tradition, however, persevered and couples continued expressing their love for one another for decades to come.\nBob and Annie Harting are one such couple. Inside their bedroom is a framed photo of the Rose Well House with signatures from guests at their 2002 wedding. Like Bryson and Sarasien, Bob proposed to Annie at the Rose Well House. Though Bob and Annie had never kissed there at midnight, they often visited the gazebo on walks through campus, stopping to chat or just hang out.\nJust before she graduated, Bob surprised Annie and popped the question.\n"I was graduating the next day and we went out for breakfast and he got me up and made some excuse as to why we had to go the Rose Well House," Annie said. "He told me beforehand we had to meet a friend and that got me over there. I was pretty shocked. I didn't anticipate it at all."\nBob said he chose the Rose Well House because he knew he could surprise Annie and because it provided such a pleasant atmosphere. \n"I always liked the area, it's out of the way" he said. "It's very pretty and its such a nice setting on an early Saturday morning. I mean, at 6, 7, 8 a.m., obviously a college campus is pretty dead."\nSenior Jon Riveire had heard about the midnight kissing tradition and found himself at the Rose Wells House one spring night last year after a walk with his girlfriend. It wasn't quite midnight, but Riveire and his girlfriend partook in the tradition anyhow.\n"It was romantic," he said. "It was a nice night, we were just chilling out there right before school got out ... I think it's just really peaceful being out in the woods. And it's the old campus, so it's the prettiest part of campus. It's just a good place to talk."\nDean of Students Richard McKaig has witnessed the tradition of midnight kissing at the gazebo continue over his tenure at IU. He said it has lost some of the meaning it had in the early part of the century when female students had a curfew at 11 p.m.\n"I think that campus folklore and traditions are important," he said. "It's kind of a fun tradition and obviously students are building relationships in college and it's an important time in life. It fits right in with that culture."\nBut McKaig and his wife have never actually done it themselves.\n"Nope, I haven't," he said. "I wasn't an undergraduate here, I was already married and had one kid when I came. But it still might not be a bad idea for my wife and I to try, it just hasn't fit into our schedule. It's maybe something we'll try to do in the future."\nWith the Rose Well House approaching its 100th birthday, the tradition seems to be in no danger of dying out. Riveire, for one, hopes to pass it on to the next generation. \n"Yeah, it's a pretty cool tradition," he said. "If my kids come here one day, I'll tell them about it." \n-- Contact Staff Writer Gavin Lesnick at glesnick@indiana.edu.