Our History

Green Meadow Waldorf School began as a a vision for a new world -born out of a powerful imagination for the evolution of humanity- in 1926.

The first decades of the twentieth century were a time of social experimentation and spiritual exploration. In New York City in the 1920s, a small group of students of Rudolf Steiner ran a rooming house, a laundry, a furniture-making shop, and a vegetarian restaurant near Carnegie Hall. Led by Ralph Courtney, members of the Threefold Commonwealth Group included Gladys Barnett (later Hahn), May Laird-Brown, Louise Bybee, and Charlotte Parker. 

In 1926, Ralph Courtney, Charlotte Parker, Gladys Barnett, Louise Bybee, Margaret Peckham, Alice Jansen, and Reinhardt Mueller – acting on behalf of the Threefold Group – purchased a small farm on Hungry Hollow Road in what was then South Spring Valley, NY. Their aim was to create a center for learning about and living anthroposophical ideals, the philosophy born out of the work of Rudolf Steiner..

Biodynamic gardening began almost immediately, making Threefold Farm the first in North America to use the biodynamic method that had been outlined by Rudolf Steiner in 1924. Anticipating by decades the era of Silent Spring and the organic movement, biodynamics introduced a consciously chemical-free method of agriculture that has been shown to go beyond “sustainability,” actually strengthening and enlivening the soil where it is practiced.

Following the Second World War, the Threefold community attracted more homesteading families who bought land and built homes on and near Hungry Hollow Road. In 1948, Sabina Nordoff and Stephanie Jones started a kindergarten that in time grew into Green Meadow Waldorf School. Green Meadow dedicated its first building (today’s kindergarten) in 1956, beginning a period of construction and expansion that saw the dedications of the Lower School (1966), Gym (1970), Arts Building (1973), and High School (1974). Green Meadow passed a major milestone when it held its first twelfth-grade graduation in 1973.

Our present campus, containing five beautiful structures and two courtyards, has been built largely (though not entirely) through Threefold’s generous land use arrangement and large gifts toward buildings, given by Threefold Community residents, Green Meadow parents, grandparents, alumni and alumni parents, and friends of the school. We now have an endowment to ensure the future of Green Meadow and are welcoming second-and third-generation students to our beautiful school.