The very mention of secret societies evokes sentiments of old boy networking and prep school exclusivity. Boisterous laughter and backslapping, quaffing beers and dining on fried oysters, brothers with names like Don Santo, Thersites or Fra Diavolo — these once took place on the very campus we now tread upon.

Few students today know anything about secret societies, yet their legacy is tangible in unexpected walls of houses around Andover Hill. Indeed I was entirely unaware of them...