When you have a 180-acre classroom, new experiences and activities await you every day. That is why we fold every part of our landscape into the academic curriculum.
Our corner of the woods is surrounded by some of the country’s greatest natural treasures and one of the most diverse ecosystems on earth. Groups routinely take trips to:
- Looking Glass Rock, a famous site for rock-climbing
- Blue Ridge Parkway’s Folk Art Center, rich with Appalachian history and arts
- Cradle of Forestry, home of America’s first forestry school
- Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education, a local environmental education site
- The Green, Tuckaseegee and Nantahala rivers, famous for whitewater paddling
- Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest, home to magnificent old-growth trees
- Shining Rock Wilderness area and beautiful Cold Mountain
Our outdoor excursions complement what we learn in the classroom. Students take overnight and multiday trips into the Pisgah National Forest to hike, camp, paddle, rock climb and explore caves. Where else can you explore the ecology of a local river in natural science class, then spend the weekend paddling down a river experiencing firsthand what you’ve studied?
To enhance their academic studies, students take overnight excursions every other weekend. Each semester there are two five-day trips into the Southern Appalachians, where students, led by OA staff, use the outdoor skills they have developed during their time at OA.
