May Update

After a nearly two-year hiatus, due to the fire at Seton Castle, we are happy to announce work is underway on the Academy’s new home and Center! We broke ground on February 7th and have been preparing the site, digging away granite and earth for the new buildings.

The Academy Center, as it is now called, is located just west of the former Seton Castle, built into the hillside. We are going to berm the Center into the hillside, creating a lower profile and making the facility more energy efficient. The Academy will also have a caretakers’/guest quarters and an art studio for all ages.

The Academy’s buildings will provide an energy efficient home for us and our work, and will be a teaching model for all who visit.  We hope to achieve a Gold LEED certification, as provided by the US Green building Council, in testament to the energy efficiency and environmentally conscious building techniques and materials we are using.

Most of the Academy’s 86 acres of land will remain untouched.  Within this wilderness - part of the 2500-acre estate Seton originally purchased back in 1930 - we will house the Academy, set among native plants and wildlife.  

The Center and land around it will sit on top of a whole underground infrastructure.  This will include underground water storage tanks that will collect roof rainwater, a grey and black water recycling system, and some 40 geothermal wells for heating and cooling. We also plan to install arrays of photovoltaic solar panels to provide for a portion of our energy needs.

We will keep you posted as progress develops. We are all very excited to share the news of our new home, and look forward to the work that will take place there.

Preparing the site for the new Academy Center. The former Seton Castle looks on from the west. We plan to turn the ruins of the Seton Castle into a meditative garden, preserving the predominant west façade.

Aaron Stern, our founder, looking over the Center site. Valmai Howe, our feng shui practitioner for the entire project looks on. The white circle in the soil indicates the future site of our meditation Chapel.

The landscape surrounding the Academy's new home.