Stone Ridge School of The Sacred Heart

Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart (previously known as Stone Ridge Country Day School) is a pre-K through 12 independent, Catholic school for girls located in Bethesda, Maryland, in the Washington, DC suburbs. It is located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington. Stone Ridge offers a competitive college preparatory curriculum within a dynamic and diverse community. Stone Ridge is located across the street from the National Institutes of Health and next door to National Naval Medical Center; this location offers easy transportation via metro.

The school known today as Stone Ridge was established in downtown Washington, DC at 1719 Massachusetts Avenue, NW in 1923. By the end of the Second World War, the school had outgrown the building known affectionately as "1719." In 1947, the Society of the Sacred Heart bought 35 acres (140,000 m2) of land and their estate, known as "Stone Ridge," in Bethesda, Maryland from Mr. and Mrs. George Hamilton. To this day, the original mansion of the Hamilton estate, a grand neo-Georgian edifice built in 1904, is known as "Hamilton House". Over the years, multiple additions have supported the growth of the school. The most recent additions include an indoor swimming pool and major landscaping work.

Ranked as one of the most academically challenging schools in the DC Metropolitan area, one hundred percent of Stone Ridge graduates go to college with countless alumnae attending schools such as Georgetown University, Princeton University, University of Pennsylvania, and Bucknell University. Notable alumni include Cokie Roberts, Maria Shriver, Joanna Sturm, and Kathleen Kennedy Townsend.

For many years, Sister Anne Dyer led as the head of school, but she retired in 2005. From 2006 to 2007, Dr. Richard Barberi served as interim head, and was replaced by Catherine Ronan Karrels (the first lay head of school and graduate of the school) in fall of 2008. Their mascot is the Gator.