Located on the mezzanine of the L. Nelson Bell Library, the Hamilton Gallery opened in 1997 for displays of student art and traveling and local exhibitions.

The gallery's name honors longtime Montreat cottager Edith Gilchrist Hamilton. Mrs. Hamilton's parents, Ethel Porter Gilchrist and Peter Spence Gilchrist, were among the early summer residents of Montreat and built what is now the Foreman cottage on Greybeard Trail.