Tucked into a wooded slope on Swarthmore College’s campus, the Scott Outdoor Amphitheater is a hand-built landscape theater rather than a conventional sports venue. Philadelphia landscape architect Thomas W. Sears designed it in 1942, shaping stone-edged turf tiers into a natural hillside so that the forest itself became the architecture.
The amphitheater was funded by alumnus Thomas McCabe and dedicated to Arthur Hoyt Scott, a member of Swarthmore’s class of 1895 and the horticulture-loving benefactor whose memorial foundation created the college’s Scott Arboretum. More than eight decades later, the site remains in active use, framed by holly, oriental spruce, and red cedar plantings that screen it from the surrounding grounds.
Stats at a Glance
- Location: Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania
- Opened: 1942
- Designer: Thomas W. Sears
- Dedicated to: Arthur Hoyt Scott (Class of 1895)
- Length: about 220 feet
- Seating: eight grass-and-stone tiers
- Primary use: Swarthmore College commencement ceremonies
- Notable fact: hosts graduation for roughly 350 seniors each year
A Theater Grown From the Hillside
Unlike a built stadium, the Scott Outdoor Amphitheater works with the land it sits on. At the base of a wooded slope, a flat turf proscenium floor leads up to a raised, turf-covered stage bordered by low stone walls, while the audience tiers rise naturally into the hill behind it.
Mature tulip poplar trees tower over the seating area like living columns, their canopy forming what visitors often describe as a leafy ceiling over the whole space. Low stone walls edged with rhododendrons trace the tiers, blending hardscape and plantings so completely that the amphitheater reads as part of the arboretum rather than a structure within it.
A Living Memorial Inside an Arboretum
The amphitheater sits within Swarthmore’s roughly 300-acre Scott Arboretum, itself established in 1929 as a memorial to Arthur Hoyt Scott, a longtime Scott Paper Company executive and devoted amateur gardener. That connection shapes how the space is maintained, with horticultural staff tending its plantings as carefully as any garden collection.
Its best-known role is as the site of Swarthmore’s commencement each spring, when graduating seniors and their families fill the stone tiers beneath the tree canopy. The venue has also been recognized for its landscape design, appearing in surveys of notable historic outdoor theaters around the country.
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For upper-deck seats. Watch line play at the stadium, or the far side of the park from the top of a lift hill.
Sherpa-lined and windproof, with a waterproof back for wet bleachers. Folds into its own pouch.
For late-season football, outdoor hockey and October park nights. Shake, pocket, and stay warm for hours.
Scott Outdoor Amphitheater FAQs
Who was the Scott Outdoor Amphitheater named after?
It was dedicated to Arthur Hoyt Scott, a Swarthmore College Class of 1895 graduate, Scott Paper Company executive, and amateur gardener whose memorial foundation established the college’s Scott Arboretum.
When was the amphitheater built?
It was completed in 1942, designed by Philadelphia landscape architect Thomas W. Sears and funded by Swarthmore alumnus Thomas McCabe.
What is the Scott Outdoor Amphitheater used for today?
It remains an active venue on Swarthmore’s campus, best known as the site of the college’s annual commencement ceremony for its graduating seniors.
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Photo: Smallbones / CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.