Nearly a century of Sandy Springers--teens, parents, grandparents, great-grandparents--hold diplomas from Sherwood High School. During those many decades, successive structures have been built, demolished, and replaced by bigger schools to accommodate ever climbing enrollments.

Founded as the Quaker Sherwood Academy in 1883, Sherwood became public in 1906 and at first taught only 11 grades, and only whites. The student body numbered 127 in 1909 when diplomas went to the first graduating class of two: Ruth Shoemaker and Dorothy Wetherald. By chance or by design, Sherwood's historical pupil boundaries generally matched those of Sandy Spring itself: north to Triadelphia, east to Burtonsville, south to Colesville, west to Norbeck. Until Brown vs. Board of Education forced integration in the 1950s, black students attended small community elementaries, then traveled by bus to Lincoln High in Rockville.

Sherwood of about 1915 looms over the student body. The building was erected in 1908, two years after the transition of Sherwood from Quaker to county school. The structure was enlarged with successive additions to the rear before being razed for the next of several generations of ever-newer Sherwoods.