December 2001 article from the Christian Science Monitor about a variety of Christian hermits in the USA. One point made is that several living in urban areas are diligently saving money for rural isolation some day. Web page: http://www.csmonitor.com/2001/1206/p15s1-lire.html
Sweets of Solitude
The Sweets of Solitude by Amos Wilson, called the “Pennsylvania hermit,” was printed in Boston in 1822. The only copy of the book is in the Free Library of Philadelphia, and has been scanned and placed on the Web at http://www.seclusion.com. It can be downloaded in .doc format, the whole book being 21 pages. Yahoo! calls it a work of fiction, and surely the melodramatic account reads that way, but the Webmaster assures me that he toured the cave in Indian Echo Cavern, Pennsylvania, where Amos Wilson, a hermit calling himself a Christian, lived for 19 years.
Recluse as Poet: on NPR
The recluse as a poetic device is featured in poet David Budbill’s book, which he discusses in an NPR interview. From the Web page: “Host Lisa Simeone talks with Vermont poet David Budbill, who reads from his book, Moment To Moment: Poems Of A Mountain Recluse. Budbill’s ‘recluse’ is Judevine Mountain, named after the mountain on which Budbill lives.” Program Web site: http://discover.npr.org/features/feature.jhtml?wfId=1120825.
Small House Society
Although it does not allude to hermits as such (it mentions Thoreau’s 150 square foot house and George Bernard Shaw’s little writing cottage), this Web site will be of interest to anyone who wants to build or identify a small house in various materials. There is a resources page and a news page.
The Web site is: http://www.resourcesforlife.com/groups/smallhousesociety/
Hermit Feature on NPR
The audio of an NPR All Things Considered interview from October 31, 2001 is still available on the NPR Web site. Linda Wertheimer talks with Sister Marion Madden, the Vicar for Religious in the Diocese of Wheeling, West Virginia, about the role of hermits in modern life and the Catholic Church. There are eight hermits in her diocese; their life revolves around prayer and the interior life. The interview is about four and a half minutes long. The Web link is: http://discover.npr.org/features/feature.jhtml?wfId=1132429