History of the Community Clubhouse

The West Fairlee Center Community Clubhouse is a simple, small red brick building with a white clapboard addition, and although it is a modest structure, it has been vital to this community in many ways over many years. Built in 1804 to serve as a schoolhouse for all of West Fairlee, it fell empty in the early years of the twentieth century when a new schoolhouse was built on the hill behind the church. At that point, the local Mother ’s Club asked if they might have the old building to use as a community center. (The Mother’s Club had been founded in 1918 by the ladies of Middlebrook and Blood Brook valleys and was until that time holding monthly meetings in the homes of members.) The town agreed to the new use as long as the club kept the building in repair and paid the insurance.  The mothers held their first meeting in the old school house in April 1927, and a few years later they were incorporated as a Vermont non-profit organization, the West Fairlee Center Community Club.

West Fairlee Community Clubhouse, winter 2003

Clubs such as this one were once the backbone of social support, home education and economic advancement for local communities in Vermont. Women came together in this way to share everything from problems of child-rearing and the care and support of the sick and elderly to the demands of hill farming and small manufacture -- not to mention talk and debate on questions of the day. Sometimes speakers were brought in to teach valuable skills, skills that might range from home first aid to marketable crafts, though more often members themselves pooled their talents and abilities and instructed one another. In giving new use to the old schoolhouse, then, the women of West Fairlee Center knew that they were doing something important for themselves and their community, and they were proud of their ingenuity in putting the building to new use.
      
The Club has carried on uninterrupted in this same building ever since. In spite of much wear and tear on the structure itself, community activities of all kinds have been held here, from West Fairlee Center Day celebrations, with games and activities from Pin the Tail on the Donkey to Bobbing for Apples, to social gatherings after church or during the winter months. In line with its traditions, the current mission of the Club is to bring neighbors together, to provide educational and recreational opportunities for all, and, by giving time and resources to people in need, to strengthen the community and maintain its traditions of self-sufficiency and mutual aid. Among our activities are plant swaps, winter potlucks, game nights, making cards and arranging visits to homebound members, and supporting students at Westshire elementary school. We have plans for many more events, including yoga and rug-braiding classes and community talent shows. Through various fund-raising projects, we are also working hard to preserve and maintain the clubhouse building itself. These projects include our very successful “Bed and Breakfast” program for parents visiting the summer camps around the lake. According to an article in the October 18, 1957 Bradford United Opinion, “the club house in West Fairlee Center has always been and will continue to be a true community gathering place.” We hope this will indeed always be so, and we welcome contributions of all kinds in support of this mission.

Cummunity Club Facilities
The Club House continues a tradition of providing a gathering place for area residents. Activities such as yoga classes, game parties, plant swaps, wedding receptions, picnics/barbeques/pig roasts, and more, are just some of the events that the building can support. Amenities include electricity, cold, potable, running water and a composting toilet. The building is not heated and is therefore used mostly in the summer and fall. Parking is available on the Center Green, along Bear Notch Rd. and, to some extent, on the lawn of Kearns home with permission.

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