Stone Ridge School of The Sacred Heart - History

History

A student who attends Stone Ridge receives a Sacred Heart education, and shares this experience with students in more than 23 schools and affiliates in the United States and 200 schools and colleges around the world.

Madeleine Sophie Barat founded the Society of the Sacred Heart, an international educational order, in 1800 in France. Her desire was to provide young women with as strong a religious and academic training as that available for young men of that era. Her vision was realized, and her courage and her sanctity were rewarded in the Convents of the Sacred Heart which ringed the globe at the time of her death in 1865.

In 1818, Rose Philippine Duchesne brought Sacred Heart education to North America. The first Convent of the Sacred Heart in the United States, and the first free school west of the Mississippi, opened its doors in St. Charles, Missouri, at that time the western frontier. The first Sacred Heart School in Maryland was established in 1871 at Rosecroft in St. Mary's County. That school was forced to close two years later in the face of overwhelming hardships. Fifty years later, the Religious of the Sacred Heart returned to the Washington, D.C. area, and opened a new school at 1719 Massachusetts Avenue, in northwest Washington, D.C. For more than a generation they carried on the work of education there, but by the end of the Second World War, the school had outgrown its quarters in the city.

In 1947, the Society of the Sacred Heart purchased 35 acres (140,000 m2) of the estate known as “Stone Ridge” owned by Mr. and Mrs. George Hamilton in Bethesda, Maryland. The Hamilton estate thus became a Country Day School of the Sacred Heart, directed by the Society of the Sacred Heart. That same year, on September 25, the school opened with 150 students, 25 instructors, and 7 lay assistants. As the school grew, a new wing was added to the main Hamilton House to accommodate classrooms, study halls, a playroom, and dining rooms. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, further additions for the Lower and Upper Schools and the Religious Community were built. Tennis courts replaced blacktop used for roller skating. A gymnasium opened in 1963 and an addition in 1974 provided expanded athletic facilities.

With increased enrollment over the years, a new academic building opened in 1996 with classrooms for the Upper School, as well as science, computer and foreign language labs, administrative offices, a media center, library, an assembly room, and lecture hall. At this same time, a new, 7,000-square-foot (650 m2) gymnasium opened complementing two existing gymnasiums. As a result, pre-existing athletic facilities with basketball and volleyball courts, music and drama rooms, expanded to include more office space, a weight room, and gymnastics room where a climbing wall was added in 2000. Additional outdoor tennis courts, playing fields, and a swimming pool added in 2001 complete the partially wooded campus. In 2002, the Sophie Center space for Middle School assemblies and performance arts was enhanced with an improved stage and the installation of new seating risers. At the north end of the center, the original windows were replaced with two sets of double doors leading to a spacious wood deck with outside access. In 2003, improvements to the existing Book Barn and maintenance buildings were completed. The spring of 2003 also found the outdoor grotto and prayer garden devoted to Mater Admirabilis completed with landscaping and granite benches located on the hill adjacent to the gymnasiums.

After living in convent quarters on the fifth floor of the school since 1959, the Religious of the Sacred Heart moved into a single family home in May 2004. There are sisters now living in two houses located in the Parkview neighborhood, adjacent to the Stone Ridge campus. The vacated space on the fifth floor houses new classrooms, counseling offices and tutoring rooms, the health facility, and a common area for faculty. In 2005, significant renovations took place on campus: the Early Childhood Program opened; a new light-filled Visual Arts Center atelier has enhanced the drawing and painting curriculum; and the swimming pool was enclosed with a retractable roof, creating a state-of-the-art aquatic center complete with locker rooms, a classroom, observation decks, and spectator seating.