Brattleboro Retreat facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Brattleboro Retreat
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entrance to the main building (2012)
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 Location in Vermont
Location in the United States
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| Location | Linden Street and Upper Dummerston Road Brattleboro, Vermont, U.S. |
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| Area | 620 acres (250 ha) |
| Built | 1834 |
| NRHP reference No. | 84003478 |
| Added to NRHP | April 12, 1984 |
The Brattleboro Retreat is a special hospital that helps people with their mental health. It offers different kinds of care. Some people stay there for a while. Others visit for part of the day or just come for appointments.
This hospital is located just north of downtown Brattleboro, Vermont, in the United States. It sits on about 300 acres of land. This land is next to the Retreat Meadows, which is an inlet of the West River. The Retreat was started in 1834. It was the first place in Vermont to care for people with mental health needs. It was also one of the first ten private mental health hospitals in the United States. Many people see it as a leader in mental health care.
More than 600 acres of the hospital's campus, including most of its buildings, were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. This means they are important historical sites.
Origin and History
The Brattleboro Retreat began in 1834. It was first called the Vermont Asylum for the Insane. A woman named Anna Hunt Marsh left $10,000 in her will to start it. She wanted a hospital that would always be there to help people with mental health challenges. The hospital was later renamed the Brattleboro Retreat. This was done in the late 1800s. It helped avoid confusion with another state-run hospital.
The idea for the Retreat came from the York Retreat in England. It aimed to offer a kinder way to treat people with mental health issues. Before this, treatment could be harsh or even dangerous. The main idea was "moral treatment." This came from a Quaker idea. It means treating mental health problems as illnesses, not as character flaws or bad actions. This kind and respectful approach is still the hospital's main belief today.
For much of the 1800s and 1900s, treatments focused on fresh air and physical activity. Patients also learned new things and did helpful farm or kitchen work. Supportive staff were always there to help. Some methods used at the Retreat were inspired by the Quakers and Benjamin Rush. He was a doctor and a supporter of the American Revolutionary War. The first leader, William Rockwell, helped put many of these ideas into practice. He followed the lead of his teacher, Eli Todd. The life of Hiram Harwood, an early patient, shows how Rockwell's methods worked.
How They Help People
The Brattleboro Retreat has always been known for using "moral treatment." They also add new and advanced ways of caring for people. The hospital was the first mental health hospital in the U.S. to have many things. These included a newspaper made by patients, a bowling alley, a chapel, a theater, and a gym. They also had recreation fields, a patient choir, and book clubs. Patients could join an outing club. The hospital had a working dairy farm and businesses run by patients. It also had the first swimming pool at a U.S. mental health hospital.
Patients often went on outings. People from the community would sometimes join them for events. The hospital has some secure areas. However, it is not separated from the community by fences. Many of the Brattleboro Retreat's care methods and building designs have been used by hospitals worldwide.
The Retreat was careful when using modern treatments like electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). They used it in a very limited way. Today, the Retreat's ECT clinic is closed. Most patients had more freedom than at other hospitals. Their bedrooms had windows instead of being like cells. Because buildings were built quickly, patients had large private rooms. This was true even when other hospitals became very crowded. Many historians believe the Brattleboro Retreat has a good history of patient care.
This good treatment changed for many patients when state hospitals began to be built. Many long-term patients loved their home at the Retreat. They tried to avoid being moved to state facilities. Sadly, some were moved against their wishes. The number of patients also went down because new medicines helped people get better. These medicines helped people live outside the hospital. The hospital has used this extra space for new programs. These include special schools and outpatient services. Recent new programs include a unit for LGBT individuals. They also have a program for people who serve our communities. This includes firefighters, police, and military members.
The hospital does not have the bad reputation of some other mental health places. This is because it has always focused on treating each patient as an individual. A full team of doctors, psychologists, nurses, and social workers continues this tradition of good patient care.
The Campus and Buildings
Until recently, the president of the Brattleboro Retreat was a doctor. This doctor lived in the main building with their family. Dr. and Mrs. Beech were the last family to live in the executive apartment.
A special clock tower with four faces sits on top of Lawton Hall. This clock is lit from behind. It was meant to help sleepless patients know the time and feel calm. The clock can be seen from anywhere on the campus. The campus has 58 buildings and looks like a college. It is on a grassy plain between a meadow that floods sometimes and downtown Brattleboro. The hospital allowed a company to flood the Retreat Meadows. In return, the hospital could use it for ice fishing, boating, and other fun activities.
The hospital owns a lot of land in the area. This includes the site of the castle-like Retreat Tower. Patients and staff built this tower in the late 1800s. The Retreat Dairy Farm is now separate from the hospital. However, it is still well-kept and working. Patients no longer work at the bakery or carpentry shops. Programs have changed for the people they serve today. The main buildings where care is given are named after past doctors, like Tyler and Osgood.
The indoor swimming pool in Lawton Hall was the first at any hospital in the world. It closed decades ago after a polio outbreak happened outside Vermont. It has not reopened. A new area with tennis courts and an outdoor pool gives patients places for outdoor activities.
The land owned by the hospital is open to the public. People can hike or cross-country ski there. Many ice fishing huts appear each winter on the frozen Retreat Meadows. Sometimes, people can be seen ice skating there too.
See also
