The Gunnery is a coeducational boarding and day prep school for 285 students in grades nine through twelve. The 220-acre (0.89 km²) campus borders the village green of Washington, Connecticut, U.S., a small, historic town in theLitchfield Hills. The Gunnery has no religious or military affiliations.
The Gunnery was founded in 1850 by Frederick W. Gunn, a teacher, abolitionist, and father of recreational camping in America. It was originally 30 boys on 50 acres.^[1] In 1894 The Ridge School was founded as an affiliated junior school for younger boys. The basic mission of The Gunnery is to promote the four cornerstones on which character is built: scholarship, integrity, respect and responsibility.
There are ten dormitories on campus that house from 12 to 48 students each. In most cases, students are grouped by class. Each dormitory consists primarily of single and double student rooms, but also houses faculty members and their families. 85 percent of the faculty lives on campus.
The Gunnery’s academic curriculum emphasizes the liberal arts; Advanced Placement courses and many electives are offered in all disciplines. Classes average 14 students in size and are taught as seminars.
 

• One of the first photographs of a Baseball game was taken at The Gunnery's first alumni day in 1869. The Alumnibaseball game is still played every year during Alumni Weekend.
• A school tradition is to find The Stray Shot, a 20", 80 lb (36 kg). cannonball hidden by a group of seniors who then leak clues to its whereabouts to the junior class. When a group of juniors finds The Stray Shot they engrave their initials into the ball and hide it again for next year. The game is usually played in secrecy. The Gunnery faculty lost track of The Stray Shot I in 1992 and The Stray Shot II in 2002. The Stray Shot was spotted at Graduation 2007 before it was abruptly hidden again. In 2013, a group of alumni found The Stray Shot, giving it to the class of 2013, who abruptly took the ball and hid it, announcing cryptic clues at all school meetings.
• Senior Rock is a large boulder in the middle of the Quad, in front of Gunn dormitory, dedicated to Hamilton Gibson (Third Headmaster). By tradition, seniors are the only group of people allowed to climb or sit on the rock. It is said that non senior students who touch the rock will not graduate.
• The School Walk - The whole school takes a day off classes on Fredrick W. Gunn's birthday to go for a recreational hike, a tradition that he started. This walk takes students around Steep Rock, the nature conservancy in the town.
• In 1978 the Gibson Dormitory became known as the "Hotel Gibson", complete with hotel T-shirts.