Near Everything. Away from it All.
Our Story
Ever find yourself stuck at home during a pandemic, dreaming of a world where you can travel, spend time with your friends, and enjoy endless access to the outdoors? So did we! In fact, that’s the short answer of how this whole inn endeavor came about. After a year of restlessness and reevaluation, we emerged with a renewed commitment to community, outdoor recreation and worthwhile work. Fortunately, we’ve found all three things in The Village Inn.
As for the longer version? We first met one another about a decade ago while working as guides on multi-day cycling trips. Though busy schedules often kept us based in separate hemispheres, we built and maintained a steady friendship, forged over bikes and beers (and alliterations, apparently). After years of living out of our suitcases, we couldn't be more thrilled to be unpacking in East Burke. If our bikes had kickstands, we'd officially be using them!
Mariah
The daughter of a park ranger, Mariah grew up in Bar Harbor Maine, with Acadia National Park (literally and figuratively) in her backyard. Mariah attended Tufts University and, shortly thereafter, developed a severe allergy to conventional office environments. This distaste for desk work led her to a four-year stint building trails for the National Park Service. At the ripe old age of 23, she traded her green jeans for bike jorts and began working as an adventure-travel guide for a Bay-area based company. Over the next eight years, Mariah led hiking and cycling trips everywhere from Bhutan to Bermuda to Bozeman; pre-pandemic, she was happily splitting the year between Southeast Asia and the States. (These days, she is happily splitting her time between the front desk and the linen closet.)
Amanda
Amanda was raised in New Hampshire, splitting her time between caring for horses at the barn and caring for herself at the hospital, where she frequently ended up as a result of equestrian related accidents. After attending UNH, she (very wisely) chose to swap out saddles and pursue a different type of riding, becoming a cycling guide and setting off to lead trips throughout North and South America. After nearly a decade on the road, Amanda’s New England roots pulled her to coastal Connecticut, where she accepted a position as the GM of a boutique hotel. Amanda grew the property (and opened a farm-to-fork restaurant) without sacrificing time on the trail; an avid mountain biker, it is she who first fell in love with East Burke and planted the seed of becoming more than just a weekend warrior here!
Cameron
Cameron was raised in the wilds of Fort Worth, Texas—it's more than just an airport, folks!
Showered in love, attention, and the occasional hair bow by two older sisters, his childhood proved to be a great training ground for working on this otherwise women-led wonder team. After graduating from TCU, Cameron began an industrious career in supply chain management. Once he had successfully managed said chains, he pivoted into work as an adventure travel guide (you may recognize his wardrobe from #airportbins). Cameron spent the better part of a decade bouncing between work the States, his homeland, and Sweden and Denmark, where he likes to pretend he is a native son. Separated from his beloved European adventures in 2020, Cam now focuses on injecting a little Scandinavian sensibility into our offerings here.
