A Seattle Times article about Bill Porter (also known as Red Pine), translator of ancient Chinese hermit-poets Cold Mountain and Stonehouse, author of Road to Heaven: Encounters with Chinese Hermits. URL: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/books/2001845874_redpine29.html
Two immigrant hermits
Australia: The curious story of Valerio Recitti, an Italian immigrant who became a hermit in Australia. The site includes a couple of photos of the restored cave that was his dwelling. URL:
http://www.griffith.nsw.gov.au/GriffithVisitorsCentreAttractionsHermitsCave.htm
Massachusetts: The Scottish-born John Smith emigrated to Erving, Massachusetts, in the late nineteenth-century and took up residence in a cave behind a so-called castle, where he promoted himself but also lived a self-sufficient life. Both sites include a photo of Smith. URL:
http://www.nentc.com/johnsmith.htm and
http://www.ervingmass.org/Public_Documents/ErvingMA_WebDocs/hermit.
Grand Canyon hermit
Louis Boucher was a reclusive explorer and prospector in the Grand Canyon who lived as a hermit at the turn of the 19th-20th century. A great many natural objects are named after him: Boucher Creek, Boucher Rapids, Boucher Trail, Hermit’s Basin, Hermit Camp, Hermit Canyon, Hermit Creek, Hermit Rapids, Hermit’s Rest, Hermit Road, Hermit Shale, and Hermit Trail. Pictures of Boucher’s dwelling area can be found on the Web: remains of his cabin (http://www.kaibab.org/tr981/gc981514.htm), his cabin fireplace (http://www.kaibab.org/tr981/gc981513.htm), and his orchard (http://www.kaibab.org/tr981/gc981511.htm). Some contemporary photographs (from the Grand Canyon Historical Society) of Boucher’s 1891 exploration are available: (http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Museum/5907/boucher1.html). Reflections on Boucher’s star gazing can be heard in an NPR audio segment from March 2002 (http://discover.npr.org/features/feature.jhtml?wfId=1140327).
Canonical hermit
The Catholic archdiocese of Philadelphia (USA) gave canonical status to a hermit in 2001. Details at: http://www.mailutilities.com/news/archive/85/1551.html. The article mentions his life in a rundown urban area, his daily routine, and his minimal livelihood. A photo of hermit Richard Withers is on the Images of Eremiticism: Hermits page of Hermitary.
Wisconsin hermits
The National Park Service (U.S.) has a couple of pages on historical hermits who lived on the remote Apostle Islands in Wisconsin, near Lake Superior. One was historically identified as William Wilson (http://www.nps.gov/apis/hermit.htm); the other was a Norwegian immigrant, John Nelson (http://www.nps.gov/apis/nelson.htm).