At the turn of the 20th century, when Warren Township was nothing but a small hamlet nestled away in the Watchung Mountains, the land that would eventually become The Orchard Academy at Camp Harmony was filled with groves of delicious apple trees.  During the late 1910’s, a group of Jewish immigrants bought parcels of land and turned the area atop of Mount Horeb Road into the Harmonia Colony - a communal, agrarian settlement (known as a “kibbutz”) for those seeking a quiet, country life.  The space went on to become a country retreat – much like the nearby Catskills – catering to families from New York City looking for a weekend in the cooler-temperature and spacious New Jersey countryside.

In 1926, Israel Steinbaum bought the land and opened the first progressive boarding school in the nation, Home School of Warrenville, along with a residential summer program he called Camp Harmony.  In 1955, Camp Harmony made the transition to being a day camp and in 1964, Jerry Amedeo joined the staff as Program Director while also working as a teacher and residential administrator at the school.  In 1965 Home School of Warrenville became Somerset Hills Country Day & Boarding School where Jerry continued to work as a teacher and associate head master, becoming Director in 1972 and eventually purchasing the business outright in 1986.  After another name change to Somerset Hills School, Jerry would continue as Executive Director until his sale of the business in 2007, having totaled over 40 years of educational leadership experience with a varying arrays of student populations.

While summers were always special, Camp Harmony continued to rent the property during the school year to a private residential school until early 2014 when the tenants vacated the property.  While sudden, the exit allowed for discussions about what should become of the property during the school year and ultimately would usher in a new chapter in the storied history of Camp Harmony.

Seeing the need for a high quality, family-owned early child hood education center and capitalizing on our over 50 years of love and passion for child care, The Orchard Academy at Camp Harmony was founded in 2014 and opened its doors in January 2015 to the first class of students. Starting with 5 students that January, TOA has since grown to over 120 students and continues to see people seek out its unique environment.

In the spring of 2019, after needing to find a new home, The Orchard Academy joined with Mountain Top School creating the new Orchard Academy at Mountain Top School just 1.7 miles down the road from its old campus and beginning a new chapter in the school's already storied history!