Introduction
In the end of the 19th century, a group of Philadelphians who were members of the Swedenborgian Church (the New Church) moved their church community to the “country” near the area known as Bethayres. Industrialist John Pitcairn purchased more than 500 acres of farmland on which to build a school (now the Academy of the New Church Secondary Schools) and homes for church members. Pitcairn hired the architectural firm of Carrere and Hastings to build his Beaux Arts style home, Cairnwood, completed in 1895. Around the same time, plans were designed by the famous landscape design firm of Olmsted, Olmsted & Eliot for the school and residential areas. Part of the land given by John Pitcairn to create the Academy of the New Church was a 68 acre farm, which they rented out.