Like Phillips Exeter during World War II, Devon is a boys' boarding school in New Hampshire.
The approach from Gilman Street[2] gradually gives way to the Far Common, a leafy, manicured expanse of ground that proceeds the First Academy Building, which Knowles derives almost entirely from the Academy Building at Phillips Exeter, having the same cupola and similar Latin inscription over the entrance.
[3] The First Academy Building, the Georgian red brick dormitories, and the Gothic-style chapel, form a quadrangle around the Center Common.
Progressing in another direction, past the Field House (or "The Cage") the Center Common opens onto the Playing Fields, with tennis courts on the left, the Devon Woods on the right, and enormous open grounds for playing football, lacrosse and soccer.
Directly ahead, far across the Playing Fields, is the stadium (which envelops the swimming pool), the Devon River and the climactic tree that is the basis for a very crucial part of the plot.