Avon Old Farms School, Boarding school in Avon, Connecticut, United States
Avon Old Farms School is a boarding school on an 860-acre campus in Connecticut featuring forests, hiking trails, and a pond. The buildings display English Cotswold architectural style with stone walls and pitched roofs throughout the grounds.
Theodate Pope Riddle founded the school in 1927 as part of an ambitious construction effort that created buildings between 1923 and 1926. During World War II, the campus served as a convalescent hospital for blind veterans before returning to its educational mission.
The school emphasizes learning through hands-on work like carpentry and forestry, with students participating in the daily operations of the campus. This working approach shapes how students experience education and reflects the founder's belief in practical skill-building alongside academics.
The campus is large and requires comfortable walking shoes and time to explore properly. The trails and open grounds make it best experienced on foot at a leisurely pace.
The campus was originally planned as three times larger than what currently exists, reflecting the ambitious scale of its founder's vision. Many visitors overlook how extensive the original plans were or the craftsmanship embedded in architectural details throughout the grounds.
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