The home of Alcoholics Anonymous founder Bill Wilson has become a pilgrimage site of sorts for many people in recovery and their family members since opening to the public as a museum in 1988, the New York Times reported July 6.

The house in Bedford Hills, N.Y., part of Westchester County, includes the desk where Wilson wrote the Big Book of A.A. -- a popular spot for visitor photos. Many tourists become emotional when they visit the place where the A.A. movement was born.

"This, to me, would be the equivalent of a Christian going to the Vatican," said Jean Z., of Long Island. "To think that he just sat at this desk, a simple man who had a problem and wanted to get better. It's touched my life and saved my life."

The house is called Stepping Stones and was left to the Stepping Stones Foundation when Wilson's widow, Lois, died in 1988. The Wilsons hoped the home would help educate future generations about A.A. and the recovery movement.

Stepping Stones was the site of much of the early organizing of A.A., and also was where Lois Wilson founded Al-Anon, the support group for family members of alcoholics. The house is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is part of New York's Women's Heritage Trail.

"A.A. and Al-Anon are unquestionably among the greatest social movements of the 20th century, so it's a very important site," said Richard White-Smith, director of Heritage New York, part of the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.

Tours are given by appointment daily. About 60 percent of visitors are A.A. members and 30 percent are family members, but officials would like to see that change. "There's an important story here for the general public to understand," said Annah Perch, executive director of the Stepping Stones Foundation.