The Hermit’s Countdown to Christmas

December 8, 1943: Clouds and Sun and Cool. I tend fox pills

Adirondack Hermit Noah John Rondeau

The Cold River hermit’s Christmas Countdown Continues:

December 8, 1943:  Clouds and Sun and Cool.  I tend fox pills.

Noah recorded very little activity today. While he didn’t explain why he decided to stay holed up in his hermitage for the entire year – never once leaving to go Outside, the answer might be two reasons. Dr. Latimer Sr. and attorney Jay Gregory’s Camp Seward log book tells the men brought a great deal of supplies in with horse and wagon. Between the members who were in Camp Seward and Noah, many a day was spent carrying the food provision upriver to Noah’s diggings. Then second speculative answer might be Noah’s attitude. The hermit had been the center of some ridicule this year. It centered around his living all cozy back in the mountains and not doing his fair share for the war effort — criticism so strong that it prompted the hermit to fire off rebuttals that appeared on Letters to the Editor columns.

Adirondack Hermit Noah John Rondeau
Books about the Hermit

William “Jay” O’Hern has written extensively about the life of Joah John Rodeau, the hermit of the north country.