Saint James School of Maryland
175 Years
by W. L. Prehn
Foreword by David Hein
Imprint: Wipf and Stock
Saint James School is far more than one of the oldest boarding schools in the United States. The school was founded in 1842 in western Maryland as the second iteration of the national scholastic vision of William Augustus Muhlenberg (1796-1877) who, with his principal disciples in five states, established some of the best schools in American history. These schools pursued academic excellence without sacrificing the Christian faith. Saint James, St. Paul's (Concord, NH), St. Mark's (Southborough, MA), and many other schools set a national tone in the preparation of young men for college and for life. Their objective was to educate the whole person to excellence and they largely succeeded. Saint James School of Maryland: 175 Years tells the story of the school by focusing on the long tenures of five headmasters.
Walter L. Prehn III is an independent scholar who has studied the nineteenth-century church school movement on both sides of the Atlantic and is a specialist on William Augustus Muhlenberg. Prehn is a freelance journalist, a poet, and a director of the Living Church Foundation.
“This riveting story of an extraordinary high church Episcopal prep school is no coffee table book. The reader unacquainted with Saint James School yet interested in the spiritual formation and education of adolescents, finishing this book, will take heart about life. Intrepid, even saintly headmasters devoted to ‘the soul of the thing,’ the Civil War, near death experiences and resurrections—it’s all there, right now. Bravo.”
—Andrew C. Mead, Rector Emeritus, Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue
“St. James is the patriarch of church schools in America. Retaining the rich common life of its founding before the Civil War, students and faculty share in daily habits of scholarship, athletics, worship, and fellowship. The first headmaster, John Barrett Kerfoot, insisted that education was not a passive, abstract endeavor, but must be experienced in the carefully choreographed rudiments of an entire day. Over 170 years later, that commitment remains.”
—Patrick Gahan, Rector, Christ Episcopal Church
“This is a useful discussion of St. James School, told through the lens of the school’s successive headmasters. One chapter is a transcription of a memoir by Adrian Onderdonk (headmaster, 1906-1939), and another is written by the current headmaster, Stuart Dunnan (1992–present) about predecessor John Owens (1955-1984). The book is well worth reading. It contains among other things a frank discussion about slavery and Southern sympathies, and thoughtful reflections on the goal of religious schools.”
—Robert W. Prichard, Alexandria, Virginia