A placid setting for a great school.
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One hour due south of Burlington, Vermont, Middlebury College educates 2,500 undergraduates in a placid setting on a beautiful campus. This is a highly rated liberal arts school and, if not the most famous, academically it is one of the best. Chartered in 1800 it was the first college to grant a bachelor’s degree to an African-American, that in 1823. It was also one of the first schools to offer education to women, in 1883. A healthy endowment sees to it that nothing is lacking in the way of amenities, as the pictures below show.
One of the striking features is that most of the buildings on the main campus are constructed from local white and grey granite, regardless of age, making for a cohesive whole. The outliers across Highway 30, which include Admissions, the Art Museum and the very extensive sports facilities, are more mixed.
If there is a standout, it’s the library. Colleges like Dartmouth may boast a greater selection of antiquarian books, but from the perspective of a place to study and a vast choice of contemporary materials, Middlebury is outstanding. Economics and languages are the strong suits here and recent gifts see to it that improvements continue apace.
A placid setting.
White granite abounds.
The Emma Willard House dates from 1811, and was the first location for the education of women.
Centeno House, the Parton Center for Health and Wellness.
Meeker House, one of the many dorms on campus.
The Kevin Mahaney Center for the Arts.
Inside the Art Museum.
A show of Roy Liechtenstein sketches for his hull painting for the America’s Cup boat.
The hull on display in the grounds.
A small part of the state-of-the-art recreation center.
The Axinn Center is an expansion of the original Egbert Starr Library. This is now the student center.
The Reading Room in the Axinn Center is magnificent.
Placid.
The Memorial Chapel.
The interior of the Memorial Chapel is very simple.
Large expanses of lawn let the campus breathe.
The Davis Family Library is a standout.
Inside the Library.
Middlebury alumni rank 7th nationally of any school, measured by their success, and include John Deere of tractor fame, hedgie Lewis Bacon, James Cromwell, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Ron Brown of the Clinton administration and Felix Rohatyn, the man who saved New York.