As of August 20, Natural Lands, a Media-based nonprofit and owner of Stoneleigh: a natural garden, announced its agreement with Lower Merion School District (LMSD) to purchase the 13-acre Oakwell site.
Initially subdivided during the 1930s, the Stoneleigh and Oakwell plots will be rejoined for the first time in nearly a century, bringing decades of turmoil to an end. Designed by the talented Olmsted brothers, otherwise known as the visionaries behind New York City’s Central Park, Oakwell has had a litany of owners during its recent history, most notably John Bennett and LMSD.
Bennett’s stewardship of the property was unremarkable, if unnoticeable. Lower Merion Township commissioner Andy Gavrin noted how little it was seen or used publicly during his tenure as its owner. The only interactions with the property were from neighbors who used a dead-end street adjacent to the property for morning walks and training their kids to ride bikes.
When LMSD swooped in to purchase Oakwell in 2018, these neighbors were the first to make their voices heard.
“The school district was planning on using [that street] as the entrance to the property. And that was a big part of my objection to it and a big part of the early public objection to it,” Gavrin shares.
According to Gavrin, Bennett had been preparing to sell Oakwell to Villanova University when LMSD got wind of the impending purchase. Somehow in the chaos, the property was condemned and LMSD jumped Villanova, purchasing Oakwell for about $13 million with the intent to use it as athletic fields for Black Rock Middle School.
With little knowledge of what existed on the property, neighbors were at first focused on how it would affect the surrounding area, rather than the loss of a potential heritage site.
Gavrin, though, knew what was at stake.
“[I was] blown away with the property,” he recalls. “The idea that this really is an important property and one that should be protected came out very early.”
When it became public knowledge that LMSD planned to bulldoze the historic grounds, including centuries-old trees and historic landscaping, the community went into an uproar. Locals held protests, hosted petitions, placed signs in their yards and began a grassroots campaign to halt LMSD’s plans.
Thus Oakwell fell into a state of limbo. LMSD didn’t want to offend its neighbors in Villanova, but it also needed fields for the students, and new athletic facilities wouldn’t come cheap either.
The solution? A January 2023 agreement between Haverford Township, Lower Merion Township and LMSD gave the district priority use of Polo Field at 109 County Line Road in Bryn Mawr.
Thus, Oakwell’s potential use opened up for Natural Lands and, on Tuesday, the organization reached an agreement with LMSD. Per the agreement, Oakwell will be divided into two plots. One 10-acre plot off County Line Road will be sold for $9.9 million to Natural Lands and an anonymous nonprofit, while a three-acre parcel known as Acorn Cottage will be sold to Natural Lands for $2.9 million.
The 10-acre plot will be reconnected to Stoneleigh, as the original designers intended, expanding the property by nearly 20%.
“We are thrilled to have the opportunity to expand Stoneleigh and immensely grateful to the leadership of the Lower Merion School District,” says Natural Lands president Oliver Bass. “They have worked diligently with us to explore options for the property. Together, we’ve identified a plan that, if successful, will preserve the important natural and historic resources—including the much-loved trees and mansion—and grow Stoneleigh from its current 42 acres to more than 52.”
The historic buildings on the Oakwell property will be restored and adapted, with the portion of Oakwell that Natural Lands seeks to acquire placed under conservation easement with Lower Merion Conservancy.
”Protecting this historically and environmentally important property while finding alternative solutions to the school district’s need for playing fields has been a major focus of mine for quite some time,” Gavrin adds. “This agreement, in conjunction with the recent partnership for the use of Polo Field for the Black Rock Middle School baseball and softball teams, truly results in a win-win-win solution. I am grateful to Natural Lands and Lower Merion School District for coming together, as well as to the members of the Lower Merion community who put so much time and energy into this vital conservation effort.”
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