Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - 44
SleepIng In School (And not Getting Kicked Out!) It's a dream-come-true, especially for former students: The setting where they struggled to stay awake is now a place designed for the best in a comfortable night's rest. Story and photos by Joe Tennis Melvin Dixon pulls anD tugs. But he cannot get his locker open. "Stuck," he says, smiling. Good thing that doesn't matter anymore. It's been about 35 years since Dixon needed his locker while attending the eighth grade in Benham, Kentucky. So, why is this all-around nice guy still standing in the hallways of the old Benham School? Well, he's not a teacher, and he's not a principal. Dixon is, instead, the innkeeper of what is now called the Benham School House Inn. To d a y, p e r h a p s i r o n i c a l l y, Dixon's job includes raising the flag out front - just like he did as a student, all those years ago. But, here's a big change: "I have slept in the school," Dixon says, smiling. "The beds are very comfortable." Benham School House Inn ranks among a small number of educational institutions in the mountains - including a women's college and a one-room school - that have become overnight accommodations. Come check in like you would enroll for your first day in class. Carry a suitcase like a book bag. And 44 BlueRidgeCountry.com don't worry about making the grade. Why, you don't even have to make the bed! Just remember: Dismissal is now your checkout time. Benham School houSe Inn 100 CentRal avenue, Benham, KentuCKy, 606-848-3000 | KentuCKytouRism.Com Some guests at the Benham School House Inn look at the old lockers in the hallways and appear initially hesitant to spend the night. "I guess it's just that thought, 'I'm sleeping in an old school,'" says the innkeeper, Melvin Dixon. "Then they see the rooms. And the rooms sell themselves." This hotel offers 30 plush guest rooms that are numbered, mostly, for the years that the school in Benham, Kentucky, was open to high school students: 1928 to 1961. Classes for elementary grades were held through 1992. Four years later, the entire inn opened. The principal's office became a dining room, and the old library graduated into a guest room. "We melvin dixon, now innkeeper at the Benham school house inn, attended the school. have three rooms that are the size of a classroom," Dixon says. "All the other classrooms, they split in half. So, one big classroom is now two lodging guest rooms." Many visitors are former students. The school's alumni have, in turn, donated money to renovate the handsome brick building. "They didn't want to see it abandoned," Dixon says. "And, they wanted that school feeling when you walk in." Restaurant for Recess: Enjoy complimentary breakfast with breads, fruit and cereal at the Benham School House Inn. Bramwell hIgh School aTV lodge 205 Bluestone avenue, BRamwell, west viRginia 304-754-5500 | RidehatfieldmCCoy.Com