A Newsweek article entitled “Life in Solitary” by Lisa Miller describes the life journey of Agnes Long, from comfortable middle-class marriage and motherhood to the unraveling of life to her canonical status as a Catholic hermit on an island in northern Wisconsin. URL: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/8186598/site/newsweek/. The article is also in the paper/newstand issue of June 20, 2005.
Florida island hermit
Joe Dickman, an Ohio-born man in the depression era 1930s, moved to Kice Island, a small undeveloped southwest Florida island, where he lived as a hermit. From the compiler of the story of Ed Seely, one of the Everglades hermits. URL: http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=2256&dept_id=457701&newsid=14336309&PAG=461&rfi=9.
Everett Reuss, wanderer
Everett Reuss (1914-1934) disappeared into the sierra of the U.S. West professing a love of nature and solitude. He wrote poetry and made block prints of natural settings. With his burro Reuss departed for the desert wilderness, not yet age 21, and never returned. A number of web sites tell his story. The “official” site for books, etc., seems to be EverettReuss.net (http://www.everettruess.net). More information includes a page from Traditional Fine Art Online (http://www.tfaoi.com/aa/2aa/2aa404.htm), Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (http://www.suwa.org/everett.html), and a descriptive biographical page (http://www.angelfire.com/sk/syukhtun/everett.html). Brought to our attention by a friend of Hermitary.
New York State hermit
Conflating homelessness, mental illness, and eccentricity with reclusion is illustrated by several sites about “The Leatherman,” a nineteenth-century hermit and eccentric in Westchester County, New York, so called because of his attire and interest in leather items. The conflation is furthered by adding details about his enormous appetite and by ghost sightings. URLs: http://www.trailsidemuseum.org/Leatherman.html, http://www.bearsystems.com/OldLeatherMan/OldLeatherMan.htm, (with photo), and http://www.hudsonvalleyruins.org/yasinsac/briarcliff/leather.html.
Southern California hermits
In this Los Angeles Times article, the author reflects on the “hermit of Tahquitz” and other colorful hermits who have recently populated the desert canyons of southern California. URL: http://www.latimes.com/features/outdoors/la-os-wildwest22feb22,
1,5376597.story?coll=la-headlines-outdoors&ctrack=1&cset=true.