In the novel Huron’s Bend the protagonist Kodi Auyang lives in Smith House, right next to Parker House where his love interest Jordan Blythe calls home. The residence halls are two buildings within the 10-house dormitory complex in the University of Michigan’s North Campus in Ann Arbor. Built in the 60’s to exclusively house graduate students, the two to three-storied sandstone colored dorms, named after Vera Burridge Baits, a member of the Board of Regents, are strung across acres of wooded hillocks. Autumn around Baits is marked by shades of yellow, burnt orange and red from sugar, silver and Norway maples. The spring? Dazzling white and pink crabapple blossoms stretching down the streets as far as eye can see. I stayed in Smith house for two years. Through the tiny window in my single room, I could see at the bottom of the hill Earl Moore Music School and the mystic Piano Pond, both barely a stone’s throw away.
Because of its proximity to several university departments Baits’ tenants were an eclectic mix of music, architecture and engineering majors. Being grad students they tended to keep to themselves — a stark contrast to the nearby undergrad dorm Bursley, where ear-popping Metallica that easily registered on seismographs played on all hours of the day (and night.) But the serene atmosphere also yielded many interesting encounters among people who lived there. Huron’s Bend is loosely based on one such romantic story.
A few years ago the University, in its infinite wisdom, opted to designate Baits as undergraduate housing. Some time later, half of the Baits complex was shut down due to high cost of renovation. The mystique of Vera Baits halls, where tech and art mingled and where intellectual pursuit never got in the way of sweet romance, has since gone forever.