American 'Hogwarts' (cover, human, rowling, harry potter)

[lovethewest]

This is just for fun, but first I'm going to say that yes, I am a huge Harry Potter fan. I'm not afraid to admit it. So, I was wondering, Rowling never mentions an American school of witchcraft and wizardry. So, if there was an American Hogwarts, where do you think it would be? I'm going to say in a central location to be easily accessible by the whole country, but it also has to be secluded to remain hidden. I'm going to say it would be in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, or Idaho. Oh, and please no spoilers for the last book as I've not read it yet.

[Mark S.]

Colorado would be WAY too populated. I'd guess it would be in North Dakota, northern Minnesota, or Maine. In Wyoming, the wizards would likely get shot. (I kid, folks. I love Wyoming!)

[Northwoods Voyager]

Originally Posted by lovethewest

This is just for fun, but first I'm going to say that yes, I am a huge Harry Potter fan. I'm not afraid to admit it. So, I was wondering, Rowling never mentions an American school of witchcraft and wizardry. So, if there was an American Hogwarts, where do you think it would be? I'm going to say in a central location to be easily accessible by the whole country, but it also has to be secluded to remain hidden. I'm going to say it would be in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, or Idaho. Oh, and please no spoilers for the last book as I've not read it yet.

How about Missouri? Have you ever driven down highways 19 or 72 south? Going towards Blue Springs. VERY isolated area and those lovely Ozark 'Mountains'. Think about it...Who knows just what goes on in them thar hills and hollars You don't want flat land and you don't want majestic mountains. Ya need a great mixture and that is exactly what Missouri has to offer.

[MrsSteel]

I think there would be more than one school in the states just because the country is so big! So I'd put on up northeast ... possibly in Maine. And you've got to have one down south in Louisiana. Another in the Pacific Northwest amongst the mountains & such (does Oregon have any spooky spots?). Possibly another in New Mexico or someplace else that feels kinda mystical. Atmosphere is key!

[nanannie]

The mountains of Oregon would be perfect

[KelsieB]

Na Mrs. Steel i think there'd only be one, i mean there was a ton of kids in hogwarts and it wouldnt be everyone just the cool wizards! haha but i agree on the colorado thing, im from colorado and i could definitley see it be hidden up in the mountains up here. ha ha ha yea i go to the american hogwarts its pretty cool ha ha just kidding but the book is amazing amazing amazing!!! if you have yet to go get the book GO GET IT WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR YOU CRAZIES!!

[Jason_Els]

The first and oldest, Los Tres Calderas, was founded in 1577 in the Okefenokee Swamp. The school was established soon after the founding of St. Augustine and meant to serve the northern Spanish holdings in the New World. As the oldest school, it is also the smallest and serves most of the deep south and the Spanish-speaking countries of the Caribbean. Graduates of Tres Calderas are highly regarded for their knowledge of herbology and care of magical creatures. It is interesting to note that the Hogwarts gamekeeper, Rubius Hagrid, secretly studied there after being expelled from Hogwarts. The Dean of Students at the time was Nicholas Flammel, a close friend of Hogwart's late Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore. As a result, Hagrid's very rare wand comes from St. Augustine and is made of wild Franklinia, and contains the hair of skunk ape.

The second oldest school that serves the US isn't even in the United States! After the founding of Jamestown in 1607, the need for a school was established as King James I (of England) was adamantly intent on establishing a permanent British presence on the American mainland, but no suitable area could be found in the immediate area. Instead, the wreck of the supply ship sent from England, Sea Venture on the island of Bermuda in 1609, provided an answer.

Off the shore of North America, 640 miles east of what is now Cape Hatteras and just a few short miles from Bermuda, the Isle of Devils proved a perfect spot, easily accessible from the entire coast of North America, uninhabited, and now near to the new muggle colony of Bermuda. Portugese and Spanish ships had stopped or wrecked on the Isle of Devils before but when the wizarding community saw the island, they decided to move all traces of previous muggle presence, particularly Spanish Rock, to the island of Bermuda. Muggle technology being what it was at the time, the disappearance of the island could be simply explained as a mistake by the earlier mariners who mistook Bermuda for another island.

In 1615, Krakenhurst was founded by Wendolyn Brooks with a small faculty and just 3 students in tow. The first female to head a SoWW in the New World, Brooks worked tirelessly to assemble books, build a campus, and attract students. As time progressed, Krakenhurst was able to serve students from the English possessions in the Caribbean and, with the arrival of the pilgrims in Massachusetts in 1620, the Plymouth colony. Eventually, Krakenhurst would come to serve students throughout the British colonies ranging from Barbados to Newfoundland. Of all the SoWWs in the New World, Krakenhurst is, by far, the most popular with students seeking study and a tan. Without question, Krakenhurst excels in the study of magical marine life. The Center for Merpeople and Human Relations is headquartered at the school; the Watery Languages instruction is considered the finest in the magic world; the school's research submarine named for its most famous alum, Jules Verne, has studied lake monsters around the world; and the school has managed to keep The Pelagic Bloops from physical discovery by muggles. While Krakenhurst has the reputation of a party school, the forms are most rigorous and Krakenhurst O-levels are notoriously difficult.

While the school is excellent, its hiding charm has proven most problematic over the years. Hiding a campus on land is not nearly so difficult. Account must be taken of currents, tides, open sea weather patterns, ships, and even planes. The charm has failed from time to time and created tremendous difficulties for muggles, frequently causing boats and planes to completely disappear from the waters surrounding the school. In the early 1970s, experts were brought in from Gondolas Neri, the SoWW in Venice, Italy to stabilize the charm and it seems to have worked well so far.

As an aside, wands from St. George's made of Bermuda Cedar are highly prized. Usually filled with such unique relics as Kraken teeth, Cahow feathers, Mer Hair, or Seamonster fins, the wands spark in a startling shade of turqoise and are especially useful in water spells but also, oddly enough, in personality charms. The lately retired master wizard, Gilderoy Lockhart, only used St. George's wands. Professor Flitwick of Hogwarts was said to be greatly suspicious of Lockhart because of his fondness for wands crafted in St. George's but as Rita Skeeter of the Daily Prophet has pointed out, Flitwick was likely simply envious of Lockhart's proficiency with them.

[Mark S.]

Hey, Jason, that's all very cool. Where'd you find that? I don't remember that in any of the books. But I haven't read the last two.

[Jason_Els]

While Los Tres Calderas and Krakenhurst served their respective needs well enough, the exploding population of the British colonies on the eastern seaboard of North America through the 1600s proved problematic. Students were coming to Krakenhurst from as far afield as Canada and even St. Helena, thousands of miles away. Expanding Krakenhurst was out of the question not because more island could not be created, but because the complex hiding charm would become even more unstable and less reliable. A mainland institution for the British territories would be necessary.

The Plenipotentiary Committee on Schools of Witchcraft and Wizardry met early in 1677 to decide the new location. While many on the committee favored the Virginia area, it was decided that the faster growing mid-Atlantic and New England colonies would be a better choice and also encroach less on what the Krakenhurst Board of Governors felt was its home territory. With much fanfare, and even more controversy, Raven Rook was opened in Salem, Massachusetts in early 1682. Never before had a school opened so close to a major population center without a natural barrier. Opponents said that such proximity to so many muggles would bring undue scrutiny, while proponents pointed out that magically hidden areas (such as Diagon Alley) had existed in the heart of muggle cities since time immemorial. They believed that the New World presented an opportunity for magic folk and muggles to live together openly and, when the time was right, Raven Rook could serve as a liason between the two worlds, offering education to the wizarding world and muggles. In their minds, most of the inhabitants of the New World were shunned by their own societies and that common denominator would serve as a catalyst to enhance relations. As history would prove, that idea was disasterously premature.

Raven Rook grew very quickly with funds donated by witches and wizards the world over. The new experiment captured the imaginations of even the naysayers and soon some of the finest professors from around the world were attracted to Raven Rook with it's large campus and hefty endowment. It was said at the time that an education at Raven Rook rivaled that of the more established schools such as Hogwarts or Beaux Batons and for a few short years, it did. Because of its unique charter, muggle studies was a core program, but divination and potions were heavily emphasized. These were believed to be the wizarding arts most understood by the muggle community and indeed, not a few muggles seem talented in these arts if only to a small degree.

It all came to an end all to quickly and fatally. In 1688, the first contacts were established in the community of Salem. The Raven Rook apothecary began supplying potions and charms to the healers in the town on a trial basis. The efficacy of these items was stunning and word quickly spread of certain women within the town who had the ability to work miraculous cures. These cures and the attendant strange behaviors of the patients while the cures were taking effect, alarmed the community more than the diseases did. Immediately the muggle clergy became alarmed and a prominent Boston minister by the name of Cotton Mather published, Memorable Providences Relating to Witchcrafts and Possessions in 1689 sparking a religious backlash against the healers of Raven Rook. Those who were unaware of the Raven Rook school accused the healers of witchcraft and there began the Salem witch hysteria in 1692. Among the accused were Martha and Corey Giles, the Raven Rook caretaker, Tituba, a Los Calderas-trained witch, and John Proctor, the Raven Rook Headmaster, and his wife Elizabeth, a professor of divination.

To secure the school and the witching world as a whole, aurors were sent from England and Bermuda to dispense memory charms amongst the muggles making the accusations. It was too little, too late. By the time they arrived, hundreds of muggles had become involved and the entire Massachusetts Bay area was afire with paranoia. Little could be done. Their wands taken, the witches and wizards were tried in muggle courts and sentenced to hang. Of the accused magic folk, all were hanged in 1692 save for Tituba who died in prison and Elizabeth Proctor whose execution was postponed owing to pregnancy. With Proctor dead, Raven Rook was closed, the buildings dissolved, and the students returned to the relative safety of Europe and Bermuda. Elizabeth Proctor was eventually released from prison after giving birth to her son, John Proctor III, and urged the Plenipotentiary Committee to allow her to re-establish a New England school, but her pleas fell on deaf ears and she spent the remainder of her life living with family.

John Proctor III is a name renowned amongst magic folk to this day, nearly as famous as Harry Potter is now. Born with the magic powers of his parents, Proctor attended Los Calderas upon the petition of his mother who felt rebuked and abandoned by the British wizarding community years earlier. Upon graduation, Proctor took-up the profession of his parents and began teaching divination at Hogwarts for over 15 years. Dissatisfied with the state of colonial education, Proctor presented a proposal in 1730 to found a new school in the colonies to service its now burgeoning population of over half a million souls. It was agreed that narrow-minded New England would be avoided and a school would instead be created in the far more liberal-minded colony of New York. Various locations were considered but, in an unconventional move, it was decided to split the campus between two locations in case one location was compromised. Knowing the Plenipotentiary Committee was searching for a location, the highly respected and very wealthy Gardiner family offered their private island at the end of Long Island. It was there, in 1737, that The Lion Gardiner School, named after the benefactor's patriarch, was founded.

Proctor's tenure as Headmaster at Lion Gardiner, while shortened by his premature death at age 52 in 1745, was spectacular. With the backing of the Gardiners, Proctor was able to build freely and expend vast sums acquiring an exceptional library. As a professor of divination, Proctor appreciated the art and went so far as hire pythias from the Oracular School at Delphi, Greece. With the commercial growth of the nearby cities in New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Maryland, Lion Gardiner was fortunate to receive the largesse of many wealthy alumni. Much of that early money went to establish the second campus further upstate in what is now Millbrook, New York.

The Millbrook campus was established shortly after Proctor's death by the new headmaster, Caleb Malfoy, a scion of the prominent British Malfoys. Nestled in the rolling hills of rich farmland, Millbrook was immediately successful. Lower form students study, "on the island," for their first four years then transfer to the Millbrook campus for their upper forms. The exception to this are those students who wish to study wand making at the school's Wandcrafting Institute on Fifth and A Half Avenue in New York city. Every witch or wizard worth their broomstick can spot a New York made wand. They are sleek, sometimes futuristic, and frequently made from the most exotic materials, but always elegant. Many New York wands are crafted with inlaid silver or electrum and many are made to be hidden in canes, umbrellas, walking sticks, fans, or other common items.

Today Lion Gardiner, still with a Malfoy as its Headmaster, is arguably the most successful SoWW in North America. Students of any inclination can be assured that they will receive the finest instruction in any chosen field and the roles of remarkable witches and wizards are filled with Lion Gardiner graduates. Before his death, Proctor wanted to be sure that his parents' wishes of bringing the muggle and magical communities together would be fulfilled someday. The generations of Malfoys who have served as Headmaster have worked to honor that dream and, in 1931, the Millbrook campus was cautiously exposed to the outside world for the first time. Though it poses as a muggle prep school, the Millbrook campus is still a SoWW. With its large acerage, there are four Quidditch pitches and what is considered to be the finest magical creature zoo anywhere in the world today, even housing two dragons for veterinary study on rotational loan from various dragon aeries all over the world. The current Headmaster, Proctor Malfoy VI, who uses an alias in the muggle world, has worked tirelessly to emphasize muggle community service to his students and it is to the credit of he and his forebearers that a required course of Magical Ethics and Philosophy taught at the campus has been mirrored throughout the wizarding world.

Early last year, Malfoy was honored with the prestigious, John Proctor Peace Prize for his work in mending relations between muggles and magic folk. While Malfoy has stated he feels tremendously honored by this prize, the gala dinner ball was tempered by the noted absence of his British cousins with whom, it is believed, there are lingering differences despite Proctor presenting his cousin Lucius with a very fine New York wand some years before.

[HeleenieWeenie]

Originally Posted by Mark S.

Colorado would be WAY too populated. I'd guess it would be in North Dakota, northern Minnesota, or Maine. In Wyoming, the wizards would likely get shot. (I kid, folks. I love Wyoming!)

Maine, nobody there. Vermont, equally de-populated. how about Salem, Mass.