When it became clear after Tropical Storm Irene that nature had dealt a fatal blow to the Vermont State Hospital, Tom Stevens said it immediately occurred to him that there should be some sort of special event to bid farewell to this place that had meant so much — good and bad — to so many for so long.
Rep. Tom Stevens, D-Waterbury, plans events this weekend to pay tribute to the Vermont State Hospital.
Stevens, a state representative, tried to enlist others to plan something. Months went by. Demolition plans loomed (it’s now likely to happen early next year). Finally, others persuaded him that he was the one with the vision for the event. He should plan it.
So Stevens has. It’ll happen this weekend, even if it takes him right up to the moment to pull everything together. Though he found other reluctant to direct the show, he said he has found plenty willing to take part.
“No one has said no,” Stevens said.
The Vermont State Hospital, which has been in Waterbury for 120 years, was shut down by Tropical Storm Irene in 2011.
What Stevens plans is actually a weekend of events called “Going to Waterbury” that include a photo exhibit, recorded interviews with those affected by the place and a moment of silence to mark its passing. He likens the events to a wake.
“Going to Waterbury” is the phrase many a Vermonter knows as the mostly-derogatory euphemism for going to the psychiatric hospital that was housed there for 120 years. (The state now plans several smaller facilities around the state to replace the psychiatric hospital.)
“’If you don’t behave, you’re going to Waterbury’ was pretty common in its usage,” Stevens said. “That created this stigma to the town of Waterbury.”
Stevens said he hopes the closing of the state hospital, which the Aug. 28 storm forced by flooding the aged, beleaguered building, brings an end to the stigma — for Waterbury, for psychiatric patients, for everybody. He hopes Waterbury instead becomes a place known for one of Vermont’s finest restaurants (Hen of the Woods) or some of the finest biking trails (he might have added ice cream and beer, but didn’t).
To zero in how to go about memorializing the state hospital while also putting its demons to rest, Stevens looked to two shows that artist Anna Shuleit (www.anna-schuleit.com) put on in Massachusetts. The first show, Habeas Corpus, at the abandoned Northampton State Hospital in 2000, involved a sound installation in which Bach’s “Magnificat” was played throughout the empty hallways. The second, Bloom. for the closing of the Massachusetts Mental Health Center in 2003, involved placing 28,000 potted plants through the hallways.
Stevens plans to use sound, lighting and artwork. He doesn’t have permission to use the Brooks Building, which wrapped up in federal red tape and awaiting the wrecking ball, for the show, but he’ll set up in nearby 4 South, a building in the Waterbury state office complex that is expected to be renovated.
Floral sculpture by Ned Davis of Waterbury Center, photos by Neil Dixon of Waterbury, recorded interviews by David Goodman of Waterbury Center, sound by Jenn Karson and lighting by Jeffrey Salzberg will be the focus of the art installation that is open in 4 South from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
Gov. Peter Shumlin and others are scheduled to speak at 10 a.m. Saturday, followed by a public forum. Sunday will feature a 2 p.m. moment of silence and 7 p.m. closure ceremony at St. Andrew’s Church that will feature music by ME2/Orchestra.
Stevens said he has no idea how many people will come, but he has heard interest from psychiatric groups, former employees of the hospital and others who worked with patients. They all have a different perspective on what the state hospital meant to them, he said.
“Some will say how horrible it was. Some will say what a community it was, what good it did. I can’t include all that because I’m going for an abstract vision,” he said. “People are going to come at it from their own experience.”
He added, “No one can ever say to them again you’re going to Waterbury. If we do it right there won’t be a stigma.”
