Wynnewood, PA

According to the America’s Best High Schools study in the June 27, 2011 issue of Newsweek Magazine, three of the top four public high schools in Pennsylvania are located on the Main Line. Newsweek ranked the Top 500 public high schools in the U.S. and Harriton High School in Lower Merion Township ranked #1 in PA and #123 in the country. Radnor High School was ranked #3 in PA and #146 in the country. Lower Merion High School in Ardmore was ranked #4 in PA and #224 in the country. There are 689 high schools in Pennsylvania and 26,407 high schools in the U.S.

The methodology Newsweek used to compile the rankings included: four-year, on-time graduation rate, percentage of students who enrolled immediately in college, AP/IB/AICE tests per graduate, Average SAT and/or ACT score, and others. Read more about the methodology used here. Here is the full list of Top 500 schools in the country To view the 18 Pennsylvania high schools which made the list, click next to “State” above the list and select “Pennsylvania”.

Other local high schools which were listed in the Top 500 by Newsweek included: Great Valley High School in Malvern (#12 in PA and #346 in the U.S.), and Haverford High School in Havertown (#15 in PA and #466 in the U.S.).

I was fortunate enough to take part in a Lower Merion Conservancy sponsored tour of English Village, hidden away in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania. This 1920's enclave of 29 Tudor style homes was designed to recall a medieval village centered on a "green" (now occupied by 2 ranch houses). With half-timbered exteriors, steeply pitched roofs, leaded casement windows, and brick wall cladding and chimneys with brick and stone inserts in interesting patterns, the homes on Loves Lane and Arthurs Round Table were relatively isolated when built.

One of the early residents here was S. Arthur Love, the architect who designed the English Village. His younger brother, Donald Love, was the developer of the neighborhood who lived with his wife, Estelle Lippincott Love, his 5 children, a nurse, a cook, and a servant at 626 Loves Lane. This home has original Mercer tile floors and mahogany paneling reportedly salvaged from John Wanamaker's home on Walnut St. in Philadelphia. Being the largest home and lot in English Village, this home has room for a lovely little garden with a water feature. I am grateful to the owners of these special homes in Lower Merion Township's English Village for letting us into these lovely homes last week.