“Olney Green” has many meanings in our community – a way of life, a guiding spirit, a love of living close to and working with the land, and, of course, the land itself. We see ourselves as stewards of the land and its many gifts. We adults in the Olney community are also, first and foremost, stewards of young people – looking after their growth and development, planting just the right seeds for a lifetime of intellectual curiosity and a flourishing of the spirit.

In these pages, we want to lift up for those new to, and also those familiar with, Olney Friends School some of the many ways in which we are a “green” school. We hope you will accompany us on a short tour of a much larger subject. Enjoy!




It is hard to define the Olney Spirit; it means many things: a genuine friendly outreach, an honesty of purpose, an integrity which makes it safe to trust each other, not only with one’s property, but one’s reputation; it is an urge to grow into better balanced, more wholesome and understanding individuals. It is, in fact, a practice of the law of love.

Anna Kirk Hartley, 1918

This section of the web site, “Olney Green,” owes the inspiration of its name to a poem of the same name by traveling minister Louis Taber, who taught at the school in its original location in Mount Pleasant, Ohio. (He, in turn, was fond of English poet William Cowper, whose Olney Hymns written in collaboration with clergyman John Newton include “Amazing Grace.” The hymns were named after the village of Olney, where both lived.) Continue Reading