| Saint Mary's School | |
|---|---|
 | |
 Smedes Hall at Saint Mary's School | |
| Location | |
 | |
27603 United States | |
| Coordinates | 35°46′58″N78°39′10″W / 35.78278°N 78.65278°W /35.78278; -78.65278 |
| Information | |
| Type | Private,Day &Boarding,College-prep |
| Religious affiliation | Episcopal |
| Founded | 1842 (183 years ago) (1842) |
| Faculty | 40 |
| Grades | 9–12 |
| Gender | Girls |
| Number of students | 308 |
| Campus size | 23 acres (93,000 m2) |
| Campus type | Urban |
| Colors | Light blue and white |
| Athletics conference | TISAC/NCISAA |
| Team name | Saints |
| Accreditation | SACS, SAIS |
| Tuition | $56,875 (boarding students) $28,515 (day students) |
| Website | www |
St. Mary's College | |
 Front entrance and main building of Saint Mary's | |
   | |
| Location | St. Marys and Hillsborough Sts.,Raleigh, North Carolina |
|---|---|
| Area | 16 acres (6.5 ha) |
| Architect | Multiple |
| Architectural style | Classical Revival, Late Gothic Revival |
| NRHP reference No. | 78001981[1] |
| Added to NRHP | December 19, 1978 |
Saint Mary's School is a private independentEpiscopal college-preparatory, boarding and day school for girls in grades 9–12. Located inRaleigh,North Carolina, Saint Mary's School operates as an independent school with a historic affiliation with theEpiscopal Church including an Episcopal chapel,St. Mary's Chapel, on the school's grounds. The school formerly operated asSaint Mary's College and for many decades educated young women in grades 11–12 and their freshman and sophomore years in college. The school changed to a four year high school in 1998,[2] at which point the name reverted to Saint Mary's School, the original name of the institution when it was founded in 1842.
The school has 40 faculty members, with 80% holding advanced degrees.[3] Enrollment is currently 315 full-time students, representing 14 states and 14 countries. The average class size is 13 students.[4] Saint Mary's has a 8:1 student to faculty ratio. Additionally, 36 faculty and staff members reside on the campus.[5]
Among the superlatives assigned to the school include the oldest continuously operated school in Raleigh, North Carolina,[2] the third oldest girls' school in the state,[2] and the fifth oldest girls' boarding/day school in the United States. Saint Mary's celebrated its 175th anniversary, May 12, 2017, and will celebrate its 200th year in 2042.[4]
Founded in 1842 by the Rev. Aldert Smedes, an Episcopal priest, Saint Mary's School has operated continuously on the same site ever since.
With the support of theEpiscopal Diocese of North Carolina, Smedes founded Saint Mary's as a school for young ladies "designed to furnish a thorough and excellent education equal to the best that can be obtained in the city of New York, or in any Northern school." The school was founded on the site of the Episcopal School of North Carolina, a short-lived school for boys in the 1830s. Three of the present school buildings—East Rock, West Rock and Smedes Hall—formed the original campus. East Rock and West Rock, the first two buildings, were constructed with remnant stones from the construction of theNorth Carolina State Capitol.
During theCivil War, Saint Mary's became a safe haven for relatives of bothUnion andConfederate officers, including GeneralRobert E. Lee's daughter,Mildred Childe Lee. Smedes kept the school operating throughout the war. In 1865, GeneralWilliam Tecumseh Sherman's Union troops camped in The Grove on front campus, and Sherman visited Smedes in the main building. From 1906-1908 PresidentWoodrow Wilson's daughterEleanor Wilson attended Saint Mary's.[6]
In 1900,Alpha Kappa Psi sorority was founded at Saint Mary's.[7]
In 1932, an alumna of the school,Margaret Mordecai Jones Cruikshank, was appointed as the seventh president of the school, making her the first woman president at Saint Mary's.[8]
The school wasracially integrated in the 1970s, when the first African student was admitted. That first African student, a college student fromAddis Ababa, Ethiopia, graduated in 1973, and the first African-American student graduated in 1981. International students from China were enrolled as early as 1928, from Japan and the West Indies in the 1930s, and from nations including Japan and Denmark in the 1950s. In 2025, students from 14 nations were enrolled.
Today, Saint Mary's School functions as an independent, Episcopal, college-preparatory, boarding and day school for girls in grades 9–12.
The historic core of the school's 23-acre campus is listed on theNational Register of Historic Places and is a stop on theNorth Carolina Civil War Trails. TheSaint Mary's Chapel, designed byRichard Upjohn, is a National Historic Site, and five of the school's 25 buildings are Raleigh Historic Properties.
Saint Mary's buildings date from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and also include antebellum structures individually recognized as Local Historic Landmarks. Three buildings from the 1830s are visible fromHillsborough Street from behind a wooded glade of large oaks, hollies, and magnolias.
The school's oldest structures, East and West Rock, are matching buildings constructed with discarded stone from the building of the secondNorth Carolina State Capitol in the 1830s. The brickGreek Revival building between them was erected soon after; it was remodeled in 1909 to include a Neoclassical Revival front portico and dormitory wings. This main building was named Smedes Hall for the school's founder, the Rev. Aldert Smedes.
Two buildings erected in the later nineteenth century areGothic in style: the 1856Richard Upjohn GothicChapel and the 1887 Gothic Revival arts building, a brick structure with pointed-arch windows.
The early twentieth century saw much construction; nearly all the permanent brick buildings, which were rendered in the Colonial Revival style, survive. Later construction continued to complement earlier buildings, and the view of the campus from Hillsborough Street remains notable for its historic integrity.
Saint Mary's School was listed on theNational Register of Historic Places in 1978 as a nationalhistoric district. The district encompasses nine contributing buildings, including St. Mary's Chapel.[9] Currently, the campus is considered to be part ofdowntown Raleigh.[2]
Saint Mary's School offers a full interscholastic athletic program consisting of 18 sports teams. Saint Mary's School competes as a member of the Triangle Independent Schools Athletic Conference (TISAC) and the North Carolina Independent Schools Athletic Association (NCISAA, 3A Classification). Sports offered at Saint Mary's include soccer, cross country, field hockey, golf, tennis, volleyball, basketball, lacrosse, swimming, track and field, softball, flag football, and cheerleading.
