By Geoffrey Norman
photography by hubert schriebl
Dr. Carlos Otis came up with an idea to build support in the community for the little hospital he founded in Townshend. That was sixty years ago. Today both Fair Day and Grace Cottage Hospital are still going strong.
he visitors begin arriving early and they leave their cars on the side of the highway and in empty fields that have been set up as satellite parking lots outside of town. The fame of Townshend’s “Fair Day” has spread far beyond the town itself or even the state line and many of the cars and SUVs—and more than a few motorcycles—have license plates from all over New England as well as the occasional wild card from as far away as Virginia or Michigan.
It was overcast but not yet raining when I arrived and I couldn’t get any closer than a quarter of a mile from the action. I locked up and walked the rest of the way to the village green. On the way, I passed a man headed back to his car, carrying a Windsor chair. He looked happy. The chair looked old and exceedingly well used.
“Got it at the auction,” he said. “Practically stole it.”
“Are they still at it?” I said.
“Oh, Lord,” he said. “You’ve never seen so much stuff in your life. It’s like the yard sale to end all yard sales.”
Yes, I thought, I’d heard that. People around here donated stuff all year long so that it could be auctioned on Fair Day, part of a tradition, going on sixty years now and vital to the life of this town. Fair Day is the soul of what makes Townshend special, an event that is charming and fun and just an excellent way to pass a Saturday in the late summer. But that tells only a little of the story. The reason for the fair is something more. Something all the visitors from all those other places might study at their profit.
At a time when it is commonplace for towns and even small cities all across rural America to advertise for doctors—and to spend money and effort recruiting them—Townshend, you see, actually has its own hospital—with, thank you, a staff of six physicians and fifteen nurses—and it is the town’s pride.
The visitor, eating homemade ice cream or fried dough, bidding for a piece of old furniture at the auction, or browsing the various tables of goods and goodies is helping keep that hospital alive.
The hospital is called “Grace Cottage,” and it is the creation of Dr. Carlos Otis, one of those mythic country doctors who blended a strong will and a compassionate nature and became legendary in his community and among his patients. It was Otis who founded the hospital in a private home in 1949 and named it after the wife of his principle financial benefactor. Fittingly, Dr. Otis delivered a baby in the hospital on the first night of its existence. ...
