oakwell is safe-ish?

So… I have written about Oakwell before, including this post which included history that I dug up:

what about oakwell? once part of stoneleigh, now set to be demolished by greedy lower merion school district?

Apparently Lower Merion School District has had a change of heart? I will believe it when the deal is inked but I am cautiously optimistic.

Truthfully, I had stopped following much of what was going on at Oakwell, because some of the volunteers involved with the Save Oakwell I found to be so distracting as individuals, that it made it hard to follow the actual issue. That being said I would occasionally get my updates from other friends I have that have been involved with this since the beginning.

Oakwell is next door to Stoneleigh. Originally was part of Stoneleigh land before we all came along. I remember going to some nonprofit thing there years ago I think with my mother, it was a garden thing. It’s been too many years to remember what.

I wonder what the prior owner thinks? I wonder because he is the one who set this all in motion in the first place isn’t he?

And then you have to wonder who is the new potential owner? When this all first started, Villanova University was buying it. Then came the whole thing with Lower Merion School District.

Other posts I wrote:

lmsd is front page over eminent domain…again

once again, lower merion school district and her cheerleaders can’t see the forest for the trees….so why not just clear cut the forest?

So who is the potential new owner the latest superintendent of the Lower Merion School District mentioned? Honestly, I don’t know. What I do know is nothing is finalized and if there is a new owner brewing, it has to be voted on by the school board. In public.

So I wouldn’t be quick to believe everything you read on Facebook just yet, and I am saying that as someone who has pretty goddamn good sources.

I think at best we are cautiously optimistic. I hope it’s saved so that tea pavilion survives because that’s actually rare to see one pretty much intact. Given the history of the property, of course what would be awesome is if it could be added to Stoneleigh but I don’t know that that is happening and we just have to wait and see at this point.

Just pray, it isn’t some predatory developer. One of the biggest problems in this area when it comes to saving gardens and preserving things is, there are no more Ernesta Drinker Ballards around.