The Lower Merion School Board has agreed to sell the 10-acre Oakwell Estate in Villanova to Natural Lands, a conservation nonprofit based in Media, writes Frank Kimmel and Maddie Hanna for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

The estate land was purchased by the Lower Merion School District in 2019 with initial plans to build athletic fields for the Black Rock Middle School.

Instead, Natural Lands will preserve the property.

The estate is located off County Line Road. Along with a mansion, the property has a pool house, a tea house, and a garden complex dating back to 1922. The estate also contains about 700 trees–some of which are centuries old.

Lower Merion School District 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.