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Tours

1. Admission Tour

   An introduction to Middlebury

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   1. Emma Willard House

      All Middlebury tours, even the virtual ones, start from the Emma Willard House. 

      When Middlebury officials kept Emma Hart Willard from observing, much less attending, classes in the 1810s, she set out to improve women’s education herself. 

      While currently the Admissions Office, the building originally housed Willard, her husband, and the women’s seminary she started in 1814. From her home, she taught as many as 70 women at a time, and penned her paradigm-shifting work, A Plan for Improving Female Education.

      Willard’s perseverance planted the seed for more equitable education at Middlebury and across much of the nation. We honor her mission by continuing the fight and making her home the doorstep to our institution.

      131 South Main St.
      Middlebury, VT 05753

   2. McCullough Student Center

      In the home of the school’s original natatorium, students can enjoy a late Saturday night Dr. Feel Good (grilled cheese stuffed with chicken tenders) from the Grille, a morning smoothie at Crossroads Café, a game of pool, or a casual group study. 

      All roads of social life at Middlebury lead to McCullough. 

      The building houses the offices of the Student Government Association and the Student Activities Office, as well as student mailboxes; the campus convenience store, Midd Xpress; the bookstore; and the original gymnasium, converted to a performance hall for visiting acts, campus events, and student groups.

      More regularly though, this is where you bump into your friends, recap a weekend, sprawl across booths and benches, try to figure out why you recognize that person, belt karaoke, grab a coffee or beer, peruse the student activity bulletin boards, and catch your breath for whatever adventure is next.

      14 Old Chapel Rd.
      Middlebury, VT 05753

   3. Davis Family Library

      With its towering marble facades, light wood furniture, ceiling of skylights, and mountain views glowing like a cathedral’s window, Davis is an impressive but unintimidating space. Its size, with each of its three floors about an acre, is softened by quiet corners, natural light, and warm art throughout. 

      It’s a common crossroads on campus with as much going on at its shared tables, group study rooms, and soft reading chairs as at its frequently packed bike racks, front patio, and Wilson Café, where you can grab a coffee, meet with a professor, or burrow into a booth in the well-lit space. 

      The building also houses the College’s Special Collections (including Robert Frost’s writing chair); Library Information Services; Center for Teaching, Learning, and Research; 298 individual study carrels; a circulation desk; and the massive stacks, which efficiently store the more than 900,000 books, with many shelves still empty and waiting for additions to the College’s growing collection.

      110 Storrs Ave.
      Middlebury, VT 05753

   4. The Axinn Center at Starr Library

      The waterfall by the front door smoothes the edges of murmuring voices and stomping boots as the next wave of students head to class. Bright January sun warms the overstuffed chairs lining the wall of windows. It’s welcome on a cold day. Perfect for catching up on reading.

      Further in, bright glass and steel defer to dark wood, stiff-backed chairs, and the marble exterior walls of the Starr Library, built in 1900. The modern expansion of the Axinn Center flows off, and complements, the campus’s fourth-oldest building.

      Just as the buildings work together, so too do the departments that reside within—history, English and American literatures, American studies, and film and media culture. As well, the library’s original reading room; the expansive media-editing suites; high-ceilinged lecture halls; tech-packed screening rooms; leather-spine-lined shelves; and film production studios create an elegant mishmash of classic New England and cutting edge. 

      It’s emblematic of the balance of the building’s namesake, the late Donald Everett Axinn ’51, Mountain Club president, tennis team member, businessman, aviator, poet, novelist, and movie producer.

   5. McCardell Bicentennial Hall

      As the sun sets through the five-story westward window of the Great Hall, students wander in and out of lecture halls, head to chalkboard-lined recesses to study, or flop into oversized chairs for a quick nap.  

      Elsewhere, in the nearly quarter-million square feet of Bi Hall, you’ll find students bent over scanning electron microscopes, spectrometers, the 24-inch telescope, or a program in the GIS lab, shoulder to shoulder with professors, doing meaningful research.

      “Middlebury has the same technology as a big university, but it’s undergrads at Middlebury doing the research,” says Alex Gemme ’21, who researches nucleophiles and molecular composition. 

      While the building houses the departments of biology, chemistry and biochemistry, geography, geology, physics, and psychology, it’s a place for all Middlebury students, because, as former President John McCardell said at its dedication, “What we’re studying here in Bicentennial Hall are, perhaps, the most fundamental questions of life around us—questions that have been asked by philosophers, poets, and, yes, scientists.” They’re questions we still pursue.

      287 Bicentennial Way
      Middlebury, VT 05753

   6. Sunderland Language Center

      The Sunderland Language Center is a busy center for students, during both the academic year and the summer, when the Middlebury Language Schools are in session. In addition to housing offices for the Language Schools, the Middlebury C.V. Starr Schools Abroad, Off-Campus Study, and Media Services, Sunderland offers media editing rooms, 24-hour computer labs, and language laboratories.

      Adjacent to the Sunderland Language Center is the Charles A. Dana Auditorium, the largest auditorium on campus. It hosts large events, as well as regular film showings.

      Sunderland was originally built 1965 as the world’s most technologically advanced language learning center.

      College Street
      Middlebury, VT 05753

   7. The Mahaney Arts Center (MAC)

      The arts take many shapes at Middlebury, be it student dance groups, basement bands, theater productions, improv, or just collaborating on Battell Beach. Students' art passions are evident around the campus, but when students need an academic roost, they head to the MAC.

      From an expansive lobby, tiled with the otherwise cast-off ends of two-by-fours, performance can take you in many directions—to the dance theater, large acting classrooms, the art museum, Rehearsals Café, the black box theater, up the stairs to one of many practice rooms, the costume shop, or through the double doors of the 370-seat recital hall with its nine-foot-long Steinway. Following your passions at Middlebury takes little more than choosing which door to walk through. 

      And when you need a minute to pause, catch your breath, or reflect, burrow into one of the secluded corners, or look out past the patio, over the reflecting pool, to the public art of Robert Indiana and Clement Meadmore.

      “Having this place to work in was completely a draw to Middlebury,” says Emily Ballou ’21. “I spend a lot of time here. I joke that I live in the MAC; I’m always doing a show, and I have at least one theater class. Everything is so well set up to target shows and high-end pieces of art.”

      72 Porter Field Rd.
      Middlebury, VT 05753

   8. Middlebury College Museum of Art

      From the lobby of the MAC, a quick turn takes you through the entrance of the Middlebury College Museum of Art, and out of our Vermont town into ninth-century BCE Assyria, where you’ll find yourself face-to-face with the Winged Genie.

      The Assyrian relief at the door is just the gateway to Middlebury’s art and artifacts that number in the thousands, stretching from antiquities to the contemporary, across all continents, in every medium, with particular strengths in prints and photographs.

      When you could use a moment to reflect or enjoy a bit of quiet, walk through the museum and enjoy the Renaissance painting and sculpture, Asian ceramics, or modern street art. Entrance is free, no matter how long or short your stay. And if your curiosity leans toward the academic, students can consult with museum staff, volunteer as museum assistants or tour guides, or attend one of the many gallery talks, films, and lectures.

      In addition to its permanent displays, the museum cycles six to eight exhibitions each year from its collection and that of visiting collections. The museum is where the diverse histories of art and culture meet the future makers of art and culture.

      72 Porter Field Rd.
      Middlebury, VT 05753
      http://museum.middlebury.edu/

   9. Peterson Family Athletics Complex

      Middlebury’s athletic complex is emblematic of the longevity and success of its programs. The recently completed Virtue Field House, a cavernous expanse of glass and steel, mirrors the gymnasium and indoor tennis courts, housed beneath the impressive arched roof of a former Navy surplus recreation building that the College bought for a dollar after WWII.

      Many students use the facility to burn off steam, stay fit, and find the physical activity that brings them joy, even if it’s just tossing a Frisbee or playing Spikeball on the turf in February.

      While 27 percent of Middlebury students compete in intercollegiate sports, teams are not partitioned off in separate facilities. “The athletic facility is beautiful,” says Hana Matsudaira ’22. “I’m not an athlete but I’m in the gym five days a week. It's an approachable scene and very accessible.” Many of the facilities, like the squash courts, ice rink, and climbing wall, have equipment students can borrow to learn a new sport or play intramurals. 

      The facilities, and fields around it, are also a great place to interact with the local community who come out to cheer on our students.

      219 South Main St.
      Middlebury, VT 05753

   10. Center for Health and Wellness

       In order to be your best student, you have to be the healthiest version of yourself, both physically and mentally. And that goes for all students; the Parton Health Center welcomes and affirms all students’ gender expressions, identities, and sexual orientations. In order to help you feel grounded, safe, and healthy, the center offers a variety of health services, including counseling, screenings, and confidential lab analyses, available to all students, free of charge.

       The center is conveniently located in the Centeno House midway between the athletic center and Proctor Dining Hall. For emergencies, Porter Hospital is less than a mile away.

       The center staff of nurses, nurse practitioners, and a doctor keep health care convenient by offering lab tests like urine analysis, rapid strep tests, and blood draws; administering allergy and immunization shots; and accepting student prescriptions delivered to the center. The center also has a sexual assault examiner and HIV pre-exposure resources.

       Mental health is critical, so the center also has several counselors and three interns offering thousands of counseling sessions a year. Center staff are here to talk with you, work with you, and make you feel your best.

       136 South Main St.
       Middlebury, VT 05753

   11. The Center for Community Engagement

       Past the edge of campus, the stoic academic buildings, buzzing classrooms and dorms, sits the town of Middlebury, nestled in Addison County, in the heart of Vermont. It’s a community that cares about the College, welcomes its students, and cheers them on.

       “I think it’s important to give back to the community that is hosting us, that’s so kind and generous to us,” says Araceli Arizpe ’21. When students’ desires for service and community building needs institutional support, organization, and funding to grow, they turn to the Center for Community Engagement.

       The center empowers students with grants to pursue their civic passions, helps student groups, organizes events in town, and has regular service programs like Language in Motion, where foreign-language students can share their knowledge and experience in local schools; Community Friends, a one-on-one mentoring program; and MAlt, Middlebury’s alternative-break service trips.

       It’s where Middlebury students become active citizens in the Addison County community and beyond, and develop the leadership, scholarship, and commitment to service that ripples through the lives of so many Middlebury alumni.

       20 Old Chapel Rd.
       Middlebury, VT 05753

   12. Stewart Hall

       At the start of the fall semester, a first-year student opens the back of a car as boxes and bags spill out, threatening to fall to the sidewalk, before a cheery, shockingly energetic pair of hands reaches out and catches them. A Middlebury ResLife member helps you unload and find your new room, and introduces you to your roommate.

       First-year dorms are spread across campus; Stewart is conveniently located down the walkway from Proctor Dining Hall, and up the hill from the athletic center. It houses 156 students, all first-years. Your hallmates are often in your first-year seminar, which is true in all first-year dorms. Living and learning happen in community.

       After the first year, students can choose their roommates and live in traditional dorm rooms, suite-style dorms, or one of the academic or social interest houses, like Tavern, the community service house, or Brooker, the outdoor interest house.

       Housing is guaranteed all four years. Feeling at home on campus is important, which is why we approach housing as a force of community building.

       167 Hepburn Rd.
       Middlebury, VT 05753

   13. Gifford Hall

       A hollow sycamore tree stretches upward between Mead Chapel and Gifford Hall, casting a wide shadow over picnic tables, pathways, and Adirondack chairs. With the absence of wood in the trunk, students fill the tree with their thoughts and longings, scribbled across bits of old classwork, rolled up, scrunched up, and jammed into the “Poem Tree.”

       Gifford houses primarily sophomores in a combination of singles, doubles, and suites. But its central location makes it a meeting ground. Groups practice in the large lounge, students climb the ladder to the not-so-secret fifth-floor cupola for views of the Adirondacks and Green Mountains, and the basement performance space and kitchen, called the Gamut Room, regularly holds student concerts and poetry readings. Open the side exit and you’ll spill out onto the stage of the Gamphitheater, a regular locale for improv shows, a cappella concerts, and speaking events like The Middlebury Moth-Up.

       “When I was a senior in high school, my dad and I went to The Moth-Up,” says Alex Burns ’21. “I was blown away by the stories of the students and staff. And they also just seemed like a bunch of cool people. It was one of the reasons I came to Middlebury.”

       489 College St.
       Middlebury, VT 05753

   14. Proctor Hall

       Pop in for an apple and a cup of coffee and pop out. Grab a circle table, maybe one outside on the terrace, with some friends on a Saturday morning. Or, get lucky enough to snag a booth in the booth room, turn on some headphones, and bang out a couple hours of work in the afternoon.

       There are no swipes to count, meals to ration, menu prices to compare, or worries about your meals at Proctor. Middlebury’s all-inclusive meal plan means you can swing through however many times you want, enjoying as much locally sourced food and real Vermont maple syrup as you care to eat.

       It’s the same for all dining halls on campus. It makes the buildings more than dining halls; they’re social spaces, work spaces, meal-free meeting places, with a seat to read in as the sun warms your back.

       And with practice and performance spaces, as well as the College's independent radio station studio, WRMC, there is always a buzz at Proctor.

       58 Hepburn Rd.
       Middlebury, VT 05753

   15. Carr Hall

       Everyone deserves to feel at home, in a community, and surrounded by those who understand them. Carr is a place where this mission is reinforced for all students, especially the traditionally underserved.

       The Anderson Freeman Resource Center helps create a welcoming environment for students of color, LGBTQIA+ students, first-generation students, students from low-income environments, and all others who are underserved while providing advising, mentoring, community building, and support for student cultural groups.

       Middlebury students have long challenged societal structures around race, gender, and representation. Alexander Twilight was America’s first Black graduate in 1823; Mary Annette Anderson, valedictorian of the Class of 1899, was the first woman of color to graduate from Middlebury; and Martin Henry Freeman, Class of 1849, was the first African American president of a U.S. college.

       We continue their fight by challenging the forces of injustice and marginalization in our community, and the world. Carr is home to the Center for the Comparative Study of Race and Ethnicity, where students and academics analyze the intersectionality of race, ethnicity, sexuality, class, religion, age, (dis)ability, health, language, education, environment, housing, diaspora, and migration. The center focuses on challenging structures of power, and democratizing knowledge.

       452 College St.
       Middlebury, VT 05753

   16. The Knoll

       Walk between the rows of crops: kale, tomatoes, carrots, and more that will make their way to the dining halls and to members of the community in need. Maybe you jog there, hand at your brow to block the sun reflecting off of Bi Hall, or maybe it’s an evening stroll, wrapped in a sweater, tucking into an Adirondack chair to watch the sun sink below the horizon, the soft buzz of honeybees settling to silence.

       The Knoll is where the benefits of living in rural Vermont come to campus. Sure, it’s like a campus garden, where students can volunteer, get their hands dirty, and learn to farm, to grow food, but it’s much more.

       Visit in celebration, to socialize, to use the outdoor kitchen with its wood-fired pizza oven, with ingredients from the furrows just a few strides over. In more solitary moments, pass through the Serenity Garden, pause on the bench blessed by the Dalai Lama, or walk through the labyrinth.

       “The Knoll feels a bit removed,” says Alex Burns ’21. “It’s like you’re getting off campus and away from the stress and business of school. It’s refreshing.”

   17. The Town and Shops

       It’s a short walk from campus to downtown Middlebury. On an autumn day, as the crimson leaves fall, you can hear the Paul Revere bell tolling above the town’s Congregational Church and the water of Otter Creek flowing over Middlebury Falls in the center of town.

       Middlebury is about halfway between Rutland and Burlington, Vermont, nestled between the Green Mountains and the Adirondacks. It’s a historic town, familiar to the likes of Robert Frost and John Deere; old local marble flows like a seam through the buildings and infrastructure, but there’s a young and lively vibe as well. Small businesses, restaurants, and bakeries fill the town’s storefronts. Sidewalks buzz with families, professors, and students popping into shops, sitting on patios with a coffee or beer, grabbing groceries.

       Students walk down the street, interact with the community, nod to familiar faces and unfamiliar faces alike. “It’s just such a welcoming, warm, friendly place,” says Hana Matsudaira ’22.

       The Middlebury community opens its doors to students and gives them a place to step into the world around them, outside campus.

   18. Ralph Myhre Golf Course

       In 1922 men of the “Middlebury Country Club” swung their first brassies, mashers, and drivers on their newly completed nine-hole golf course. Sure, the club lacked today’s carts, pro shop, and restaurant, but the course passed through scenic pastures, and the sheep handled the mowing, even if they couldn't differentiate green from fairway. 

       In 1963 the club’s course became the College’s, and in 1978, Ralph Myhre expanded the nine holes to 18. He designed the par 71 course to move with the landscape, giving views of the Green Mountains from nearly every tee box.

       It’s a favorite place on campus for golfers and non-golfers alike, many of whom run and bike on the TAM (Trail Around Middlebury) that passes around the fairways, borrowing their vistas. The curious can even take golf lessons for PE credit.

       Playing 18 holes is affordable for students, and the clubhouse is a favorite stop for alumni, or anyone looking for a beer with a view.

       217 Golf Course Rd.
       Middlebury, VT 05753

   19. Bread Loaf School of English

       Between East Middlebury and the Middlebury Snow Bowl stand the clustered, mustard-yellow buildings of the Middlebury Bread Loaf School of English. Middlebury students are lifelong learners, and Bread Loaf gives students an opportunity to pursue their passion for language long after they leave with their bachelor’s degree. 

       The school opened in 1920, and for more than 100 years, has given writers, teachers, and interdisciplinary storytellers the opportunity to further their craft. To be at Bread Loaf is to engage with texts of English, American, and global authors, workshop your own written pieces, and delve into other interdisciplinary studies, including theater, with like-minded, similarly focused learners.

       It’s an immersive experience of living on, or near, the mountain campus. Come for four to five beautiful Vermont summers in pursuit of a Master of Letters or Master of Arts. Come for a single summer for continuing education, or follow in the footsteps of Robert Frost and come for one of the weeklong writers’ conferences with emerging and established writers alike.

   20. Snow Bowl & Rikert Nordic Center

       In 1939, the first skiers hiked the 1,000-foot vertical gain to the top of the Middlebury Snow Bowl—the rope tow wouldn’t arrive until the next winter. They followed in the boot steps of the College’s first competitive ski team from 1921, embracing the Vermont winter, and pushing themselves to recreate in the beautiful landscape.

       Today, the rope tow is gone in favor of three chairlifts and a carpet lift, snowboards carve among the skiers, and packed-in cars have been joined by a regular 20-minute shuttle bus between campus and the mountain—but the sense of adventure, and desire to get outside and onto the more than 600 acres and 17 trails, remains. Students don’t have to hike anymore, but some still choose to, continuing the adventurous spirit.

       Students can explore the trails, trees, and backcountry at the nation's first carbon-neutral ski mountain. Our Feb classes even graduate at the bottom of the trail after skiing, snowshoeing, or hiking down the mountain. 

       And for skiing on skinnier skis, the nearby Rikert Nordic Center at Bread Loaf offers skate and classic skiing, as well as snowshoeing and fat tire biking, over 55 km of groomed trails through the Vermont forest, past old stone farm walls, and even Robert Frost’s writing cabin. 

       Rentals, season passes, and lessons are available, and affordable, at both facilities.