Firehouse Inn — Hotel in Barre City

We recently spent three nights at this hotel while visiting family in Vermont for American Thanksgiving. I had read on trip advisor that it was not like a large hotel…definitely boutique…but we loved it. The Inn consists of four rooms, two studio rooms, two one bedroom suites..we were in a studio. These rooms are on the top floor of a converted Firehall. There is a restaurant on the first floor. One of the quirks is that there is no front desk to check into..you go to the bar in the restaurant. The rooms themselves are big and have lots of beautiful and interesting details….like the stained glass above the door. There is a fridge, microwave and coffee maker, plus plates, bowls, cutlery, bottle opener, dish detergent…just about everything you might need. Even sandwich bags for left overs. The bed was comfortable and the bathroom was clean and quite large. But it was the decor that made the place. The walls were lined with memorabilia from when it was a working firehall …and the common area even has an old switchboard. Every door has a different knocker..ours was a cat. And the old wood everywhere was lovingly restored, just beautiful. Now there are a few accommodations that have to be made to achieve this degree of historic quirk..like there is no elevator, and as I mentioned no front desk, but we appreciated it the way it was. The only thing I would mention…and someone else said it as well…that there was no Kleenex..which considering all the other inclusions was a bit odd. I want to also mention that I called ahead because we thought we might be later than 8.00pm as we were driving in from Toronto and were worried about the border and a possible snow storm. The person I spoke to..I assume the owner..was really pleasant and actually told us if we got delayed to call them …and if that delay meant we won’t get in until the next day …thanksgiving..they would accommodate us and not charge us for the extra day of our booking. Very good customer service. The storm held off and we made it…but you might want to call if you are later than 8.00pm...

When I booked this room it was because everything else was taken. GPS had trouble finding the place and once we did there was no sign for Fireplace Inn. The sign reads FIREHOUSE AT BARRE LADDER 1 GRILL. So we were very confused and pulled through the parking lot, that really needs to be paved, to call. Valerie the owner answered and held a spot in the parking lot for us. Check in was at the bar in the Grill. There is no ADA elevator to the second floor so we decided to forgo hauling our standard bags upstairs to our room. It would have been nice if someone had gone up with us to show us the procedure for check out, sitting area, and our room. We had the Chief's room. It had a living room, kitchen, bathroom, waiting area and bedroom. We went back downstairs for dinner and music. The three guys playing were great! The Halloween decorations were out of this world. I took my nacho upstairs to watch the baseball game. The 32" TV was dwarfed in the large living room. There needs to be TV trays in order to eat and watch. The bar at the kitchen is nice, but not facing the TV. There was no kleenex in the bathroom. There was a holder, but no box. We did not take showers because the shower was small and our luggage was in the car. The bed was excellent. Because the hallway light is on all night it shines through the stain glass above a door next to the bed. In the morning we had no clue where the key drop box was and we accidently pulled something we shouldn't. Sorry, but no one explained anything. I feel it was overpriced for what we got. I feel $95 would have been a...

Friendly and helpful staff in a unique setting of an old firehouse.

A few other unique things that prospective guests should be aware of include:

The rooms are above a working restaurant. To get to the rooms you enter through a side door to the building that goes past the kitchen, and directly through the room containing the staff lockers. The smell is quite unpleasant and wafts upstairs to the hallway where guest rooms are located.

If you are a potential guest who needs ADA compliant accommodations be aware that there is no elevator to access the rooms, all of which are on the second floor. To access the aforementioned side door one must ascend two cement steps without any bannister or railing - then you will need to ascend a steep, poorly lit staircase that passed code nearly a century ago.

After that the room was well-appointed and the overall concept of the place is unique.

Given the accessibility challenges one would encounter when getting to the room, the ADA compliant shower in the room was surprising.

The group of unhoused people who frequented the parking lot never...