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Wilson House | |
Location | 378 Village St., East Dorset, Vermont |
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Coordinates | 43°14′22″N73°0′33″W / 43.23944°N 73.00917°W Coordinates: 43°14′22″N73°0′33″W / 43.23944°N 73.00917°W |
Area | less than one acre |
Built | 1852 |
Architectural style | Greek Revival |
NRHP reference No. | 95001427 [1] |
Added to NRHP | December 13, 1995 |
The Bill Wilson House is a historic 19th-century hotel at 378 Village Street in East Dorset, Vermont, United States. Built in 1852, it is the birthplace and living memorial of Alcoholics Anonymous co-founder Bill Wilson. With 14 guestrooms and a conference room the non-profit bed and breakfast is a center for recovery seminars and regular AA and ALANON meetings. The property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995. [1]
The Bill Wilson House stands at the southeast corner of Village Street and Mad Tom Road in the center of East Dorset, and is one of the village's largest buildings. It is a rambling two-story wood-frame building, its front facing west toward Village Street, and three sections extending along Mad Tom Road to the east. The front has a single-story porch with modest Greek Revival styling, which extends partially around the north and south sides. It is joined by a 2+1⁄2-story ell to a large carriage barn, which now serves as a meeting space and lounge. [2]
The building was constructed and opened as a hotel in 1852 in the small Vermont marble quarry village. The owners were the Griffith family when William (Bill) Griffith Wilson was born on November 26, 1895, on the ground floor behind the bar of the hotel during a snow storm. After two years he moved to Rutland until the divorce of his parents. Then, at the age of 11, Bill and his sister, Dorothy, returned to East Dorset to live with their maternal grandparents, the Griffiths. In 1987 the building had been vacant for several years and Ozzie Lepper bought it in order to turn it into a living memorial to Bill W. Since then the building underwent constant renovations and is now a functioning guest house and conference center. Bill W. is buried close by in a cemetery next to his wife Lois and the Griffith family.
Room 9 of the hotel is believed to be the room where Bill and Lois stayed during one of their visits.
Nearby stands the Griffith Library where Bill lived with his sister and his grandparents. Today it is a museum and a library dedicated to Bill Wilson who is the author of the book Alcoholics Anonymous, the 12 steps and many other books about recovery from alcoholism. It is at this house where he had many important childhood experiences such as building a boomerang from scratch and building a radio. At the nearby Emerald Lake he met his future wife Lois Wilson. [3]
Prior to the development of the Wilson birthplace, Bill and Lois Wilson frequently came back to East Dorset staying at the Aerie inn which is in the same local as the Wilson homestead. The Wilsons spent summers at the Aerie Inn from 1960 up until his year of death in the early 1970s. The Wilsons did not have any children which led them to become close to the owners and builders of the Aerie Inn. The room of their choice to live in was room 6 which to this day has been preserved. The property fell into disrepair up until 2003 when it was purchased with the intent of keeping the integrity of the Wilsons memory intact.
Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is an international mutual aid fellowship of alcoholics dedicated to abstinence-based recovery from alcoholism through its spiritually-inclined Twelve Step program. Following its Twelve Traditions, AA is non-professional, non-denominational, as well as apolitical and unaffiliated. In 2020 AA estimated its worldwide membership to be over two million with 75% of those in the U.S. and Canada.
Dorset is a town in Bennington County, Vermont, United States. The population was 2,133 at the 2020 census. Dorset is famous for being the location of Cephas Kent's Inn, where four meetings of the Convention that signed the Dorset Accords led to the independent Vermont Republic and future statehood. Dorset is the site of America's oldest marble quarry and is the birthplace of Bill W., co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous. East Dorset is the site of the Wilson House and the Griffith Library. The town is named after the English county of Dorset.
Bedford is a town in Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 17,335 at the 2010 census.
William Griffith Wilson, also known as Bill Wilson or Bill W., was the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA).
Katonah is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) within the town of Bedford, Westchester County, in the U.S. state of New York. The Katonah CDP had a population of 1,679 at the 2010 census.
Lois Wilson, also known as Lois W., was the co-founder of Al-Anon Family Groups, a 12-Step fellowship for the friends and family of alcoholics. She was the wife of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) co-founder Bill W. They both followed their respective groups' tradition of anonymity until The New York Times revealed their full names upon Bill's death in 1971. However, she continued to be known as Lois W. within Al-Anon until her death.
The Henry House, also known as William Henry House, is a historic house at 1338 Murphy Road in Bennington, Vermont. Built in 1769 and extensively reworked in 1798, it is one of Vermont's oldest surviving houses, and an important example of evolutionary architecture in the state during the 18th century. Now a wedding and events venue, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.
Mark A Whalon (1886–1956) was an Irish-American author. Whalon was a close friend of Bill Wilson, founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, and said to be a close influence on Wilson in his later life.
Washford is a village on the Washford River in the civil parish of Old Cleeve, Somerset, England. The village is next to Cleeve Abbey, one of the best-preserved medieval monasteries in England. It centred in a valley close to the Bristol Channel on the A39 road 7 miles (11 km) east of the resort town of Minehead and 2 miles (3 km) southwest of the port of Watchet.
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Stepping Stones is the historic home of Alcoholics Anonymous co-founder Bill Wilson and his wife, co-founder of Al-Anon/Alateen Lois Wilson, in Bedford Hills, New York. The historic site features their house ; Bill W.'s writing studio, nicknamed "Wit's End"; approximately 15,000 objects left by the Wilsons; a water pump house; the original one-car garage; a two-car garage and Welcome Center with an orientation display highlighting some of the 100,000 items in the Stepping Stones Archives; a flower garden; a community vegetable garden; and more. Lois left the property to The Stepping Stones Foundation - the nonprofit, tax-exempt organization that she founded in 1979. Since Mrs. Wilson's death in 1988 the Stepping Stones Foundation has maintained and preserved the site with the help of friends, and has offered on-site tours by reservation and off-site educational programs.
The Daniel Webster Family Home, also known as The Elms, is a historic house off South Main Street in West Franklin, New Hampshire. The house has been designated a National Historic Landmark for its importance as the summer home of Daniel Webster (1782–1852), who owned it from 1829 until his death.
Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) was founded in 1935 by Bill Wilson and Robert Smith, and has since grown to be worldwide.
The Dr. Robert Smith House, also known as Dr. Bob's Home, is a historic house museum at 855 Ardmore Avenue in Akron, Ohio. Built in 1914, it is significant as the home from 1915 to 1950 of Dr. Bob Smith, one of the cofounders of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). It was here that Smith and Bill W. began the meetings that became AA, through which Smith achieved sobriety. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985, and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2012. It is now owned by Founders Foundation, and is operated by them as a museum dedicated to the history of AA.
The Dorset Village Historic District encompasses a significant portion of the village center of Dorset, Vermont. Centered at the junction of Church Street, Kent Hill Road, and Vermont Route 30, the village was developed between the late 18th and early 20th centuries, and has a number of well-preserved unusual features, including sidewalks of marble from local quarries. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985, and was enlarged to the west in 1997.
The Jenks Tavern, also known historically as the East Rupert Hotel and the Hotel G. Jenks, is a historic public accommodations house at the junction of West Dorset Road with Vermont Routes 315 and 30 in Rupert, Vermont. Built about 1807, it is a well-preserved example of an early 19th-century traveler's accommodation in southern Vermont. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994. The building is now a private residence.
The Kent Neighborhood Historic District encompasses a little-altered early 19th-century rural neighborhood of Dorset, Vermont. Centered at the junction of Dorset West Road and Nichols Hill Road, the area is also historically significant as the site in 1775 of the first meetings that culminated in Vermont's period of independence prior to become the 14th United States state. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.
The Wallingford Main Street Historic District encompasses the historic portions of the village of Wallingford, Vermont. An essentially linear district extending along Main Street on either side of School Street, it has a well-preserved array of 19th and early-20th century residential, commercial, and civic buildings. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.
The Darling Inn is a historic former hotel building in the center of Lyndonville, Vermont. Built in 1927–28, it is a rare example in the state of an architecturally neo-Federal building, and one of the last major constructions during the state's Colonial Revival period. Now converted to a senior care facility, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.
High Watch Recovery Center is an alcohol and drug addiction recovery center located in Kent, Connecticut. It was the first recovery center in the World founded on the principles of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA).