Article about Paul Marquis, employed as a webmaster for the local Catrholic archdiocese, who will live as a wilderness hermit. From the article: “After months of considering various locations, he said he expects this ‘desert’ experience will be in a simple shelter on a remote, forested piece of land, maybe on an island somewhere off the west coast of Canada.” Marquis is not pursuing the priesthood or canonical status as a hermit; his is a personal project. URL:
http://www.catholic.org/hf/faith/story.php?id=21346.
Wendell Beckwith, Best Island recluse
A Globe and Mail story (Oct. 11, 2005) about Wendell Beckwith, an amateur scientist who lived a reclusive life on Best Island, Ontario (Canada). American-born Beckwith hand-built an elaborate home in the woods, conducted scientific observations, and entertained a stream of visitors before his death at 65 in 1980. The Ministry of Natural Resources is mulling over whether to refurbish the isolated place or let it take its course in the wild. Concludes the article:
Ernie Nichols is a float pilot who lives in Armstrong and is one of the few locals to remember Mr. Beckwith. “He was a very intelligent man, but he was, at heart, a recluse,” he said. “He would have wanted it all just to go back to nature.”
Bob Kull: Wilderness Solitude
Bob Kull chronicles “A Year in Wilderness Solitude” on a remote island of southern Chile at his web site http://www.bobkull.org. The site is rich in resources: description, a half-hour video, photographs, his published article in Canadian Geographic (May/June 2004), and his own short stories and essays. Brought to our attention by a friend of Hermitary.
See also these articles on Kull:
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?
pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1110582612192
&call_pageid=970599119419 and http://www.thetyee.ca/Life/current/As+Lonesome+As+Can+Be.htm.
Nova Scotia hermit
This Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) report, complete with television news video, briefly describes the reclusive life of Willard MacDonald, who lived in a Nova Scotia woodland as a hermit since 1943, when he eluded military authorities conscripting him. Like most hermits, he was not without friends. He lived in a “shack” until 2003, then another building until his recent disappearance and apparent death at 87 years of age. URL: http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2004/06/28/canada/kitch040628