Birthplace Of AA Co-Founder Serves As Refuge, Gathering Spot

EAST DORSET, Vt. - The grand old hotel was in such bad shape that Ozzie, hired as a manager, feared it would collapse.

But the birthplace of Bill Wilson, co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, has bounced back. It now offers rest for pilgrims to Wilson's grave nearby, calm for visitors who need peace and a spot for folks turned around by AA to gather.

Staffed by volunteers, the inn, known as Wilson House, is a living memorial to the man who is revered worldwide for his healing plan for alcoholics. "It's a place for people to come and give thanks to God for their new lives," says Ozzie, who in the AA tradition goes only by his first name.

Wilson was born in 1895. He lived in the hotel, his grandmother's, for only a few years before his family moved to the Griffith house across the street. Ozzie and his wife, Bonnie, are building a library of archival material about AA that will be housed in the Griffith place.

Wilson House, a quiet inn with a large wrap-around porch, was renovated to the style of the 1840s. Its history is inescapable. AA and religious literature rest on shelves and coffee tables. Testimonials and photos of Wilson hang on the walls.

Guests leave their testimonials and their thanks to Wilson, known in AA as Bill, in a big guest book. "I expected a miracle and I received so much more," one entry reads.

The miracle that AA members talk about began with Wilson, a stockbroker, and Robert Smith, a physician. Although both were from Vermont, their partnership began in Akron, Ohio, in the early 1930s.

It was Wilson who came up with the famous 12 steps that underpin the AA program and others such as Al-Anon, Debtors Anonymous and Overeaters Anonymous, spun off in recent years.

Wilson House is a for-profit enterprise, while the Griffith house is owned by a nonprofit foundation. Honoring AA traditions, neither is affiliated with AA in a formal way. By avoiding affiliation with a larger network, you avoid "problems with money, property and prestige," Ozzie's wife, Bonnie, says.

For Ozzie and Bonnie, who manage both properties, keeping Wilson's memorial intact means running the properties along the principles Wilson made famous.

No souvenirs are for sale - no postcards, T-shirts or coffee mugs. Letting people take away tokens would detract from the fullness of their experience, Ozzie says.

"What you take away, you take away in your heart," he says.

There's no promotion, and no advertising, either. The Vermont Tourism and Marketing Department had never heard of Wilson House. Until three years ago, the inn didn't even list a phone number.

"People find it by word of mouth if they're meant to find it," Ozzie says.

There's no such memorial to Smith, who was born in St. Johnsbury in 1879. There's only a wooden sign outside his birthplace and boyhood home. The house is largely unused, though there is one room set aside for AA meetings, and a drug- and alcohol-treatment program rents space there. Its significance isn't unnoticed, however.

Says one AA member who asked that her name not be used: "Dr. Bob's house is a place where I can sit on the steps, place my hand on the porch rail and know that the life I live today is connected to the history contained in that modest house."

Profits from Wilson House, staffed by volunteers, are used to pay bills. Large, oddly shaped rooms furnished with antiques go for $45 to $70 a night, double occupancy. The rest of the house, overseen by a board of directors, gets by on donations and volunteer help.

AA and other 12-step groups rent space for regular meetings and conferences. Those grateful to Wilson stay for weeks, sometimes months, helping with cooking and cleaning.

"It's a way of giving back," Ozzie says. "How we stay sober is by helping another alcoholic." rm