Our Land

THE land is the HEART OF HCS

Hampshire Country School’s 1,700-acre rural property is the heart of the school and a source of recreation, renewal, and pride. In the late 1700's several independent farms covered the property. In the late 1,800's the property was a privately owned agricultural and industrial community.

In the middle 1900's it became a school. The property includes open fields, wetlands, and hundreds of acres of deep forest. Pratt Mountain and Stony Top are part of our land. In addition to the two ponds with historic granite dams - Mill Pond, which covers 4 acres; and Island Pond which covers 39 acres; there is Stump Pond on the property.

The central portion of the school property has many stone foundations from the late 1800s, and the fields are surrounded by more than two miles of historic stone fences. The western half of the property holds the headwaters of the Miller’s River, a major tributary of the Connecticut River.

The land supports a large variety of wildlife including beaver, deer, wild turkey, moose, mink, otter, coyotes, bobcats, and many other mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and birds. The lakes contain an abundance of pickerel and bass.

This remarkable setting provides students an opportunity to live and learn in the quiet of a rural environment and to hike, camp, canoe, snowshoe, study nature, and explore forests and wetlands, all without having to pack into a car or leave campus.