Mount Aetna Academy was established in 1949 as a day school. It was located at the present Mount Aetna Adventist Elementary School on Crystal Falls Drive. In 1963 the Chesapeake Conference of Seventh-day Adventists voted to build a fully accredited secondary boarding school. The name Highland View Academy was chosen in 1965 as a result of a conference-wide contest. On October 9, 1966, ground was broken for the first two buildings, Janel Kay DeHaan Hall and Hartle Hall. The boarding phase of the school opened in the fall of 1967. In 1975 the administration building, housing the first two classrooms, was occupied. Four years later the gymnasium was built as a separate building. In 1981 the central and south wings of the classroom building were completed, connecting the administration building to the gym. The cafeteria-music building was added in 1986 and named I & E Barr Cafeteria Complex in 1993. In 1991 a library wing was added to the administration building which housed several classrooms and a computer lab. The Highland View Academy Church members moved into a new sanctuary on campus in 1993. Highland View Academy continues to make improvements to the campus, curriculum and extra-curricular aspects of the program.
