Transitioning from Dartmouth residence halls to off-campus housing can be a jarring change of pace. Paying rent and utility bills, coordinating trash and recycling pickups or engaging in small talk with neighbors — off-campus housing exposes many students to the responsibilities of full-fledged adulthood for the first time.
Homemaking, though, presents its own challenges. Some houses come empty — blank slates for their new tenants. Others are pre-decorated, furnished with items left by past residents. In the process of trying to turn an already-furnished off-campus house into a home, students often sort through which items to trash and which to keep, to make into mementos passed from one generation of students to the next.
Lexi Chelle ’25, who lives on Maple Street in a residence colloquially known as “Doll House,” said the place was “too furnished” when she moved in. According to Chelle, the kitchen contained five kettles and two toasters. Past residents’ clutter is a seemingly common problem in off-campus residences. Emily Wangenheim ’25, who lives with three roommates on West Wheelock Street, added that her silverware drawer contains nearly 50 forks, none of which came from her or her roommates.
The kinds of objects that students report finding in their off-campus living spaces range from average household appliances to the flat-out strange. Tea Wallmark ’25, who lives with Chelle in Doll House, said that when she moved in there was a “huge basket of clay” in the house. Chelle also found a large pile of “flair,” or silly and brightly-colored clothing, in the basement.
Similarly, Wangenheim found a “TV … with no cables,” quirky mugs — including one from the Hanover Marine Corps Ball — and several drink umbrellas, which she has since transferred to her own bar cart.
Bryan Akin ’26, who moved into a nine-person house on School Street this fall, discovered a handmade poster hung up in the living room, a painted portrait of a sloth, a cracked mirror and a “folded up, full-size trampoline” in the basement.
While many students find discarded items in their houses upon moving in, not everything stays. Chelle and her roommates tried to make use of what they could, but decided to remove most of the items that were left behind, adding that she had a “really long conversation with our landlord” about removal.
“It was creating a lot of clutter in our house, and we didn’t necessarily feel like that was fair,” Chelle said.
Akin, however, kept all of the items he found, explaining that they contributed “to the ambiance and the history of the house” and “added some character to the house that you don’t find in dorms.”
Despite the challenges posed by some of these items, many students would rather take their chances with the odd and left-behind than move into a house without any furnishings. Wallmark said it seems “harder to make [unfurnished houses] cozy.” Similarly, Wangenheim said that even when a house contains a number of items left from previous tenants, “there’s still so many ways to make it your own and decorate it.”
Akin added that the furniture and assorted items he found when moving in gave him “a place to start, both legitimately and emotionally.”
“It gave me a notion of the house that I started to wrap my mind around,” he said. “It made me considerate of both the history and also the sense of place there.”
Most students view overflow items as markers of those who last lived in the space — and a net positive. Chelle describes finding each of the items left behind by past tenants as uncovering “a piece of history.”
“It’s very special that other people have been able to form memories here,” Chelle said. “It’s fun finding little miscellaneous things that used to be meaningful to lots of other people.”
Some left-behind items remain mysteries to new students, while others provide insight on past residents. Wangenheim views the mugs left in her house as “kind of a mosaic” of previous tenants.
“All the people who have lived here before us are leaving behind their mugs and leaving behind a little bit of their personality and who they were,” she said.
Chelle and Wallmark know that Doll House belonged to rowers prior to their moving in, based on the Dartmouth rowing symbol they found painted on the wall. Similarly, Akin’s house has ties to Ledyard Canoe Club, reflected in the objects left behind in the house. Akin said that he discovered an excess of cooking appliances in his new kitchen, and he later realized the equipment belonged to a past member of the club who loved cooking.
Some houses contain more direct reminders of past residents, including written messages. In one of the closets of Doll House, Chelle discovered a note from a member of the Class of 2020 wishing for future tenants to “love this room and this house as much as we have.” Akin’s house features inscriptions on bed posts, as well as on the walls of several of the bedrooms, with the names of former residents and humorous sayings, according to Akin.
Ultimately, these students found that their move-in experiences were made better through discovering what previous tenants left behind. Now, they hope to pass items down to future tenants to continue that legacy.
In Chelle and Wallmark’s living room currently sits a partial street sign that they found on top of Mount Cardigan that reads “OGGING ILL RD.” Though future tenants won’t know the full story behind the sign, the pair believes leaving it behind will contribute to the evolution of the house. Passing down these items strengthens the connection between Dartmouth students living in the same house across the years, brought together by items left behind and the memories they carry.
