Darrow Expands
A Defining Move
The School has entered into an agreement to acquire a second campus in nearby Canaan, New York. It is a decisive move that expands capacity and strengthens the residential experience at a moment when the School has reached the limits of its current footprint.
Located just two miles from the Mountainside, the property gives Darrow something essential. Room to grow enrollment with intention, room to deepen programs, and room to build without losing what has always made this place distinct.
The Darrow Road campus remains the ❤️ of the School.
A Two-Campus Darrow
One school across two nearby campuses, designed to function as a single, integrated experience
With more space, Darrow can support academic programs, residential life, and co-curricular offerings at a higher level. The structure remains the same. Small classes, strong relationships, and a community where students are known remain at the center.
Why Now
Space has become a limiting factor. Darrow has reached a point where continued growth, and the ability to fully deliver on its program, requires additional capacity. As enrollment expands toward 300+ students, the Darrow Road campus alone can no longer support that trajectory.
The acquisition is not a departure from Darrow Road, but an extension of it. It removes the immediate capacity constraint and creates a clear path to scale thoughtfully, while preserving and strengthening the Darrow Road campus as the historic and cultural heart of the School.
Expanding Student Life
Access to Queechy Lake expands what daily life can look like. The campus creates new opportunities for outdoor programming, recreation, and time shaped by place, adding another dimension to the student experience.
- waterfront programming
- additional dorm capacity
- expanded athletics / arts space
Rooted in Place
This landscape has long been shaped by purpose, community, and daily work.
Just down the road, the Mount Lebanon Shaker Village stood as the central community of the Shakers. Their way of life was built on discipline, shared responsibility, and the belief that work and learning were inseparable from daily living. That influence is part of this place. It shaped how land was used, how communities were structured, and how purpose was carried through everyday life.
This expansion carries a direct connection to Darrow’s origins.
The new campus was part of the Lower Canaan Shaker Family, connected to the North Family at Mount Lebanon. Since the 1820s, this land has been part of the same Shaker landscape that shaped Darrow’s Mountainside. Eldress Lucy Wright, one of the central leaders of the Shaker movement, fought for the formation of this Family. Her work helped extend a model of life built on discipline, shared responsibility, and the integration of work and learning.
In more recent generations, the property itself continued that tradition as a residential campus focused on the development and care of young people. Housing, learning, and daily life were brought together in one environment, built with intention. That legacy does not disappear. It carries forward.
This is not incidental. This is Darrow reuniting part of the original Shaker Village landscape with a mission deeply aligned to its own.
Darrow’s presence here is not a departure from that history. It is a continuation of it.
Looking Ahead
As Darrow approaches its centennial in 2032, this is a defining step forward—one that strengthens the School’s foundation while creating the space to grow with purpose, clarity, and confidence.
Additional details, including timelines and next steps, will be shared as planning progresses.
