St. George’s School in Middletown, RI
Reflecting upon my 5 years spent in the Independent School League, (I didn’t repeat; I included my year in the lower school) I’ve seen a fair amount of each campus in the distinguished league. After playing in a lacrosse game at St. Sebastian’s yesterday, I realized that while a handful of schools in the ISL have beautiful campuses, some are a bit inglorious in comparison. After discussing this observation with Groton alum and Chief Editor of T&V, Will Holley IV, we decided to put our heads together and rank the campuses of the ISL.
The Groton School on a rainy Fall day
3 Categories: Layout, Buildings, Grounds
Each category rank 1/5
#1: 15 Points – The Groton School
#2: 14 Points: – St. George’s School & Middlesex School
#3: 13 Points: – The Governor’s Academy, Nobles & Greenough School , Roxbury Latin School
#4: 12 Points – Lawrence Academy
#5: 11 Points – Milton Academy & St. Paul’s School
The Rest: Belmont Hill School, Brooks School, The Rivers School, St. Sebastian’s School, Thayer Academy, St. Mark’s School, Buckingham Browne & Nichols School
The famous castle of Nobles & Greenough for boarding students
Groton ultimately takes the cake due to its gorgeous grounds. Its landscape was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted who is famous for his design of Central Park in NYC.
| Layout | Buildings | Grounds | Total Score | |
| Belmont Hill | 2 | 4 | 4 | 10 |
| Brooks | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 |
| BB&N | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
| Governor’s | 4 | 5 | 4 | 13 |
| Groton | 5 | 5 | 5 | 15 |
| Lawrence Academy | 4 | 5 | 3 | 12 |
| Middlesex | 4 | 5 | 5 | 14 |
| Milton | 4 | 3 | 4 | 11 |
| Nobles | 4 | 5 | 4 | 13 |
| Rivers | 2 | 3 | 3 | 8 |
| Roxbury Latin | 3 | 5 | 5 | 13 |
| St. George’s | 5 | 4 | 5 | 14 |
| St. Mark’s | 3 | 2 | 3 | 8 |
| St. Paul’s | 3 | 5 | 3 | 11 |
| St. Seb’s | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Thayer | 1 | 3 | 3 | 7 |
While the endowments of the ISL range from unpublished (cough..Thayer..cough..) to $433 million (St. Paul’s), each school has a uniquely beautiful campus. As F. Scott Fitzgerald put it, “Riches have never fascinated me, unless combined with the greatest charm or distinction.”
The Rivers School
Roxbury Latin
St. Paul’s School
St. Mark’s School
Milton Academy
