Last spring during the housing draw, the class of 2025 nervously refreshed the housing portal to watch incoming seniors swiftly claim Forest doubles, Kelly suites, and Chateau rooms — options once called “junior housing” — right before their eyes. With only one Lang suite and eleven Chateau doubles left before junior selection had even begun, my housing group’s middle-of-the-pack timeslot looked increasingly grim. We were left to choose between Saturday mornings spent cleaning up after a school-wide KDR basement party, intruding on a social house we were not a part of, taking a chance on summer draw or… the notorious Inn on the Green.
In a last ditch effort to ensure we would all be in the same building, my housing group chose the Inn. And I’m glad we did.
From the outside, the Inn looks slightly haunted-looking or charming and cozy — depending on who you talk to. Complete with hardwood floors, tall ceilings, large windows and en-suite bathrooms, bedrooms are undeniably “nicer” than those on campus. Each room is painted a unique color and maintained well enough that there isn’t a need to cover every square inch with posters as students often do on the concrete walls of Ross. The Inn’s two common spaces, one downstairs and one upstairs, offer a cozy and peaceful escape from the buzz of campus. Complete with a backyard overlooking Otter Creek, living at the Inn allows students to feel like they have an off-campus home without actually having to break into Middlebury’s real estate market.
While the living spaces are undeniably better than Hepburn singles and Chrome doubles, they aren’t perfect. For starters, the Inn’s main house has five singles and five doubles, and the Carriage House — the makeshift housing in the parking lot — has four doubles. Most students would hope to live in a single by the time they are an upperclassman (although it looks like doubles are the reality for many juniors this year anyway). The Inn does not have laundry machines, so students enjoy free Middlebury Wash and Carry services, which are incredibly convenient — until an item needs to be washed a specific way, or you unexpectedly need to wash something other than on the Wednesday laundry collection day. The typical $325 per semester Middlebury Wash and Carry price tag suggests it may be more economical for the college to put a washer and dryer in the Inn — or that students are seriously overpaying for laundry services.
The Inn also lacks kitchen appliances, which can be problematic considering it is a fifteen- minute walk from the nearest dining hall. With an army of toasters and microwaves, along with the eight minifridges provided to the Carriage House, students can make do with microwave meals and leftovers. But, there’s no denying that an oven or stove would be appreciated when Proc feels out of reach. That being said, if you are willing to walk two minutes and spend a bit of money, the snack offerings at Kinney Drugs or one of the three neighboring gas stations undoubtedly outperform those at Midd Xpress.
Anyone would agree that the Inn’s beautiful living spaces would more than make up for its lack of laundry machines and kitchen appliances — if it were on campus. Like most things about the Inn, the fifteen minute walk to campus is both a blessing and a curse. Morning walks in the warm fall weather are a great time to catch up with friends and family over the phone, while the lack of street lights can make the walk home a bit unsettling. On cold and wet Saturday nights, students are faced with an unfortunate choice: sleep on an Atwater couch or brave the fifteen minute pitch-black walk home in pouring rain?
During the week, the thirty-plus-minute round trip to the Inn makes it difficult to return home during busy class days, which can be upsetting when all you want is a calm space to relax during the busy academic day. I once carried a mail center package around campus with me to two classes, the athletic center and the dining hall before finally making it back to the Inn. On the other hand, the inability to rest in bed certainly increases productivity, as students at the Inn have no choice but to stay on campus and study between classes.
During the week, the location isn’t a major problem for students with cars, or for students with friends with cars. The drive to campus is less than five minutes, and Inn parking spots are free. And, while on-campus parking availability can be a problem for drivers who don’t get any sort of on-campus parking priority, it certainly isn’t for the two Carriage House students who ride electric scooters to class every day.
If I could redo my fall 2023 housing draw, I would choose the Inn all over again. None of its inconveniences are insurmountable, and having friends with cars makes the location only a minor drawback. The Middlebury campus can often feel disconnected from the town, and living at the Inn gives students a taste of what living in Middlebury actually looks like. While the college should seriously consider investing in Inn kitchen appliances and laundry machines, and maybe discontinue use of the parking lot Carriage House, I’m grateful for my fall at the Inn. I wouldn’t trade my evenings watching the sunset from the Inn rooftop or my Monday morning walks to campus for on-campus housing any day.
