Dr. Graham's Homes — the Scottish school below Deolo Hill
What it is
Dr. Graham's Homes is a school on the slope below Deolo Hill in Kalimpong, the best-known of the missionary schools that grew up in the town. The Church of Scotland missionary John Anderson Graham opened it as St. Andrew's Colonial Homes on 24 September 1900 in a rented cottage with six children.
Photos: Pinakpani (CC BY 4.0) — via Wikimedia Commons, resized.
The story
Wikipedia says Graham arrived in Kalimpong in 1889 and meant the school to give a home and a trade to abandoned children of mixed parentage, many of them fathered by British soldiers, planters and administrators. The land grew to about 400 acres of cottages and fields, and the first cottage opened in 1901. Scottish missionaries opened other schools in Kalimpong in these years, which is why the town is still known for its schools.
Visiting
The Katherine Graham Memorial Chapel, a stone church with a spire, stands in the grounds. The Homes is a working school, so the gates may be closed to visitors. We have no verified visiting hours or rules; ask in town or at the gate, keep clear of classes and children, and ask before you photograph people.
Combine it with
The one day in Kalimpong fits the Homes between the Durpin monastery and Deolo. Read things to do in Kalimpong.
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Questions people ask
What is Dr. Graham's Homes?
A boarding and day school in Kalimpong, founded in 1900 as St. Andrew's Colonial Homes by John Anderson Graham, a Church of Scotland missionary. Wikipedia says it opened on 24 September 1900 in a rented cottage with six children, below Deolo Hill, and grew over the years to about 400 acres.
Can visitors go into Dr. Graham's Homes?
It is a working school, so access is not guaranteed. A Commons contributor photographed a guard blocking the entry to the school and an unguarded footpath beside it. We have no verified visiting rules, so ask in town or at the gate before you plan, and keep clear of classes and children.
Where is it?
On the slope below Deolo Hill, about 4 km and 9 minutes from the centre of Kalimpong on our routing. The Katherine Graham Memorial Chapel stands in the grounds. Many visitors combine it with Deolo Hill above and the Durpin monastery on the other side of town.