A LOOK BACK
The Great Outdoors: Room to Grow, Space to Thrive By Mark Macrides, School Archivist In 1936, when our fledgling Community School searched for land
the principles of conservation to our students.” In true Country
upon which it could relocate from downtown New Canaan to a
School fashion, he designed and led an effort to develop the
true campus setting, trustees were delighted to find the Grace
woods, creating trails, boardwalks over vernal ponds and an
Church property at the corner of Frogtown and Ponus Ridge.
outdoor classroom. The plan, carried out by seventh grade
The 150-acre parcel possessed a variety of resources that the
science students and funded by a special parent gift, included
young school needed: open fields fresh from farming and
newly accepted conservation concepts and practices such as
ready to accommodate football and field hockey games; hidden
hardwood management, reinforcement planting and forest
streams, ponds and swamps waiting to be explored, and acres
nursery. Over time, outdoor challenge activities were added.
of woods deforested in colonial times by farmers but now
Recently, QR codes were posted as well to mark the trails and
re-wooded with second-growth hardwood trees.
give details of the native flora and fauna. The outdoor class-
The school quickly developed a robust coed athletic program
Monday afternoon adventures, second graders’ Roxaboxen
for the woods to hike or collect tadpoles in the vernal ponds.
explorations, seventh grade natural science lessons, and ninth
Recess itself became an adventure as students could flex their
graders contemplating a special piece of poetry.
minds developing new games and their muscles engaged in play.
Today the concept of land conservation is embedded in the
One can only imagine the excitement of being presented with
mission and ethos of the school. Recent construction projects
such an expanse of raw nature with endless possibilities. Over
have included very intentional green spaces and created new
time, as the needs of a growing school (athletic fields, recess
areas to experience the outdoors. Classroom doors continue to
space, parking areas) began to take shape, so too did the innova-
open directly to gardens, fields and woods loaded with poten-
tive ideas for how to implement them.
tial for enjoyment and understanding of the value of the land
By 1963, Head of the Science Department, Robert Riedeman, began to explore the new concept of ecology and the need for, as he put it, “the desirability of imparting an understanding of
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room became a regular stopping point for Kindergarteners on
and christened three playing fields. Expeditions regularly set off
NEW CANAAN COUNTRY SCHOOL BULLETIN • Fall 2022
and the need for preservation. Eighty-six years later, how grateful we are that our predecessors gave us all the priceless gifts of the great outdoors!