Jarvis Smith and his stilt home on Beech Hill in Mont Vernon NH. From the 1917 Boston Post.
I’d heard the old tales of a hermit that lived in Mont Vernon, New Hampshire but until recently I had not known his name. The story of this solitary man came to light in a series of newspaper posts published during the World War I era. The earliest article is quite interesting (as follows).
From a 1916 Boston Post article entitled “HOW A HERMIT PASSES HIS TIME,” by Joe Toye, the following story was gleaned.
Did you ever go calling on a hermit? And particularly a hermit who shaves himself with fire? There are hermits and hermits, and the one of which I am to write was the most hermitty hermit I ever hermitted with. He is a regular hermit, such as you read about in the books. He lives all alone in the middle of the woods, with the caterpillers [sic] and creepy things for company. Continue reading
