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/.
Hermits portrayed
Two items about hermits portrayed in film and theater:
1. Lugger the 18th-century hermit who lived in a cave in Cornwall, England, is portrayed in a stage play; URL: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/cornwall/3922693.stm.
2. Robert Harrill, the Fort Fisher hermit of North Carolina, is portrayed in a documentary film. URLs: http://www.shelbystar.com/portal/ASP/article.asp?ID=10493; http://www.cucalorus.org/film_detail.asp?id=261 and http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/local/states/
north_carolina/counties/gaston/9222304.htm?1c. For more about the Fort Fisher Hermit see our original note for July 30, 2003 (URL: http://www.hermitary.com/around/archives/000094.html).
Dubches hermits of Russia
A monastic outpost in Siberia near the Dubches river clandestinely housed “hermits” and peasants against government approval. In 1951 the illegal monasteries were sighted from the air and subsequently demolished, their possessions destroyed, and all associated with the monasteries tried and convicted. The Library of Congress maintains a Web site with photographs documenting the trial.
URL: http://frontiers.loc.gov/intldl/mtfhtml/mfdigcol/iicoll.html#ph3.
URL of photographs: http://frontiers.loc.gov/intldl/mtfhtml/mfdigcol/lists/mtfwduTitles1.html.
Armenian hermit
Article from ArmeniaNow about Samvel Gyulizadyan , an architect, married and with two children, who abandoned family and city life for an isolated village, taking up residence in an abandoned house. His motive of peace and quiet overrides other concerns, his chief challenges being laundry and bread baking. Gyulizadyan plays an accordion and tries bee-keeping for money, going to the nearest town twice a year for provisions. His wife visits once a year. Several well-done black and white photographs. URL: http://archive.armenianow.com/archive/2003/may09/features/landlocked/.
Athonite Hermits: photos
Orthodox Advices is an Orthodox Christian site in Romania that includes a page of photographs of two dozen “Athonite hermits” plus many more of “elders.” This collection of photographs is unique on the Web, and will take most viewers into a seldom glimpsed culture. URL: http://www.sfaturiortodoxe.ro/foto.