If asked to define the idea of "place" one might struggle. Yet people across time and cultures readily share examples of important places or safe places or "foreign" places with one another and offer heartfelt descriptions in literature and art of childhood places, favorite places, strange places. Akinbola Akinwumi, paraphrasing Yi-Fu Tuan, describes it as "the starting point for articulating cultural meaning and awareness: the core of human emotional attachment." A definition of place ought to capture its multiplicitous nature and multidisciplinary connotations while still being responsive to the specific context of its use in education. An understanding of place and a sense of how it may be useful in education may be useful to other educators who are not inclined or able to participate in building distinct educational movements around place-based education. The author argues that many of the goals of educators--particularly progressive educators--are deeply intertwined with the concept of place and share philosophical roots. In this article, the author explores the links between the educational philosophy of John Dewey, a foundational figure in progressive education, and the tripartite definition of place. Three tenets of Dewey's philosophy of education seem particularly germane to the concerns of place-based education: (1) environment (in Dewey's particular use of the term); (2) experience; and (3) democracy. But although place-based education writers often locate Dewey as an ideological ancestor of their work, and many even quote Dewey, somewhat selectively, to support their arguments, the relationship between these central tenets of his educational philosophy and the defining features of place have not been thoroughly explored. (Contains 30 notes.)