Land purchased by the Lower Merion School District in 2019 will once again be sold, reports Frank Kimmel and Maddie Hanna for The Philadelphia Inquirer. 

The Board originally planned to use the land for athletic fields for Black Rock Middle School. Instead, they voted unanimously on Monday to sell the land to Natural Lands, a Media-based non-profit that will preserve the property. 

The Oakwell Estate in Villanova sits on a 10-acre plot off of County Line Road. Along with a mansion, a pool house, a tea house, and a garden complex dating back to 1922, the estate also contains around 700 trees—some of which are centuries old. 

Lower Merion originally purchased Oakwell from physician John Bennett through condemnation. In the same year, they purchased the adjacent Acorn Cottage property. The outcry from Bennett, neighbors, and even students to preserve the land led to the School board’s change of plans.

Read more about the Lower Merion School District’s decision to sell the historic Oakwell Estate in Villanova at The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Lower Meriuon School District enters plan to preserve Oakwell property.