Category: United States

The story of the Italian-born hermit Agostini-Justiniani (1800-69) is related on several pages. He emigrated to the New World as a young man. Agostini walked throughout the U.S. West and into Central and South America, settling in New Mexico in the 1860’s. He lived as a hermit in a mountain cave (“La Cueva”) in Dona Ana County, known for his herbal healing skills and his ascetic life. Agostini-Justiniani was murdered, probably by bandits. The inscription on his gravesite reads (in Spanish): “John Mary Justiniani, Hermit of the Old and New World. He died the 17th of April, 1869, at 69 years and 49 years a hermit.” URLs: http://www.rozylowicz.com/retirement/drippingsprings/dripping.html#hermit and

Posted on October 15, 2004September 12, 2008

Florida Everglades hermit (continued)

Not long after posting our article on Florida Everglades Hermits, the following item appears in a local Florida newspaper relating the discovery of one of the hermit’s notebooks, Al Seely’s would-be autobiography titled by him The Phoney Hermit, which is reprinted in part here.
Part 1: http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=12931630&BRD=2256&PAG=461&dept_id=455823&rfi=8;
Part 2: http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=12971705&BRD=2256&PAG=461&dept_id=455823&rfi=8;
Part 3: http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=13023953&BRD=2256&PAG=461&dept_id=455823&rfi=8;
Part 4: http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=13074695&BRD=2256&PAG=461&dept_id=455823&rfi=8.

Bill Mattila was called the “hermit of Brockway Mountain.” There are pictures of his cabin, near Copper Harbor, Michigan, on a message board, plus several messages from people who remember him or just wanted to add a comment. URL: http://www.pasty.com/discuss/messages/313/893.html

Dorothy Molter (1907-89) — sometimes spelled Moulter — lived as a hermit in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, in the Superior National Forest, in northern Minnesota. She was the subject of a LIFE magazine profile on hermits and a book by Bob Cary entitled Root Beer Lady, the Dorothy Molter Story (Duluth: Pfeiffer-Hamilton, 1992). Molter was called the “Rootbeer Lady” because she offered her home-made root beer to visitors and travelers. A museum near Ely preserves her cabins and effects. URLs: http://www.canoecountry.com/dorothy and http://www.irontrail.org/Attractions/museums/Dorothy+Molter+Museum/.