The Inn at Dupont Circle
A Relaxed Setting Surrounded by Our Nation's Capital

by Courtney Caldwell

The eight rooms at The Inn are each submerged in their own slice of history with every one different than the other. There are three floors with rooms on the lower level being the largest and most expensive starting at $215 per night. The higher you go with luggage in tow the rooms become less expensive starting at $165. The top floor is home to 3 very small rooms and one shared bath, and oddly enough has repeat patrons so often that they feel comfortable enough to leave their doors unlocked or opened. Strangers united in this architectural delight suddenly become family and friends. If size doesn't matter, but cost does, then these bigger-than-a-bread-box rooms range from $89 to $125, a steal for DC.

Wireless Internet is available free of charge in every room, and for those who don't have a computer, the house provides one in a tiny room converted in the attic. The only way to access this room is via a very narrow hidden staircase in the back of the house.

Radiators were installed in the 30s by then-owner and famed psychic, Jeanne Dixon, where she and her husband lived and died from 1936 to 1996. I was happy to have not known this little piece of trivia before I went to bed. Due to an overactive imagination coupled with creaking staircases, I would have likely hid under the covers, if not the bed, all night waiting for a haunting. Alas, there was none.

Dixon's former office has been converted to an outdoor solarium. The religious art in the background once belonged to Dixon.

The radiators are controlled by one central system. The only way to cool down your room on a hot summer night is to open a window or turn on the more recently installed window air conditioner in your room. It's these kind of oddities that give this old place character and charm. Consider yourself lucky to even have a radiator. During Dixon's domain, rumor has it she was so cheap, she refused to heat the top floor often leaving guests under heaps of blankets and fully clothed to avoid freezing to death. No doubt Ms. Dixon's lack of warmth contributed to her life as a recluse in her old age. Folklore has it that the deeply spiritual Dixon lived in this 4 story dwelling all by herself long after her husband died, surrounded only by religious art and portraits of herself in every room.

The rooms at The Inn are comfortable and charming. My room was draped in white wicker furniture including a rocking chair by a fireplace, which was once the only source of heat for each room. Lydia has preserved the history in this old place by keeping it true to its heritage. Everything from historic wooden chests as footlockers to old flip-front desks; to built-in bookshelves laced with literature from long ago to cozy quilts hanging above each bed. Yet, somehow all the modern necessities were nicely blended in with all the possessions of another time. Each room was equipped with color TV and DVD player, coffee maker, 2 bottles of water, a ceiling fan, alarm clock, pillow top mattresses, and toiletries. (CONTINUE...)