Oldfields School has secured a landmark conservation easement with Gunpowder Valley Conservancy, which means the land surrounding the historic campus is now permanently protected from future development.
The conservation easement ensures that Oldfields’ hills, pastures, and wooded landscapes will be preserved for future generations of students and the broader community.
Oldfields retains full ownership of the property and full use and stewardship of the main campus, where students learn, live, and gather. The easement does not impact the school’s daily operations, maintenance, or ability to modernize, expand, or enhance its grounds or facilities.
“This is a defining moment for Oldfields,” said Ansley Smithwick, head of school, in a statement. “We are deeply grateful to Gunpowder Valley Conservancy for their partnership in helping us preserve a campus that has educated young women for 159 years and remains a place we call home. This landscape is not simply a backdrop. It is central to how our students learn, reflect, and grow.”
Smithwick said the agreement allows the school to honor its history while ensuring future generations of students can benefit from the sense of beauty and belonging students have enjoyed for more than 150 years. The school was founded in 1867 and is now a boarding and day school for girls in grades 8–12.
Gunpowder Valley Conservancy oversees the stewardship of over 2,300 acres of preserved land, including other properties in Glencoe, where the 127.48-acre Oldfields property lies. The Oldfields parcel was preserved with funds from the state’s Rural Legacy Program, administered by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.
“It is always a cause for celebration when we can permanently preserve the farmland and woodland that makes the area so special,” said Ann Jones, a consultant with Gunpowder Valley Conservancy, in a statement. “Our ability to work with Oldfields and customize an easement that recognizes their unique needs highlights the importance of the Rural Legacy Program to land preservation in Maryland.”
Bly Hartley is acting chair of the Oldfields Board of Trustees. Both she and her mother attended the school. She says the easement allows the school to preserve the beauty and character of the school while allowing it to adapt to the needs of today’s students.
“As an Oldfields alumna and now a Board member, I am so pleased that we have been able to ensure that the remarkable campus my mother knew in the 1950s and I experienced in the late 1970s will be protected for generations to come,” Hartley said in a statement. “The natural environment is such an integral part of the heart of our school. It has drawn so many girls to Oldfields and provides a sense of continuity when they return to visit.”
The partnership of Oldfields and Gunpowder Valley Conservancy was natural, as their missions aligned. The conservancy’s larger mission is to inspire people to preserve and restore the Gunpowder Watershed. To that end, it has planted more than 42,000 native trees, removed more than 300 tons of trash, and created more than 310 conservation gardens to promote clean water. The school’s mission was to preserve their land, and they know what they do on their land is intricately tied to the health of their waterways.
“Land in the Baltimore metro area is at a premium, and once it’s gone, it’s gone,” said Lindsay Crone, executive director of Gunpowder Valley Conservancy, in a statement. “That’s what makes conservation easements so meaningful. We are not just protecting trees and wildlife; we are protecting the water people drink, the air they breathe, and a place that will still be here long after everything around it has changed.”
