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  1. 34_66_001_016 - Documents

    Newspaper clippings, articles (inlcuding one published in the New York Times) and photographs about Henry Stuart (Henry James Stuart) known as the "Hermit of Montrose." Includes an interview with Fairhope, Alabama author Sonny Brewer who in 2005 wrote a fictionalized account of Stuart titled "The Poet of Tolstoy Park." From the Fairhope Public Library Collection and the Fairhope Single Tax Corporation Archives.

    Record Type: Archives and Videos

  2. 37_1_015 - Poem

    Poem dated August 1, 1930 and dedicated to H. J. S. (Henry Stuart, Henry James Stuart) titled "The Sage of Tolstoy Park. The author is the mysterious "Miss V. V." This cataloger believes her to be Vivian Howard (aka Lady Vivian), wife of Milford W. Howard. The Howards visited Fairhope in 1929 when Mr. Howard was writing travel articles for the Birmingham News-Age Herald paper, but cannot confirm this. From the Fairhope Single Tax Corpora...

    Record Type: Archives and Videos

    37_1_015
  3. 37_1_016 - Newspaper Article

    "Conversely Speaking" column from the Eastern Shore Courier dated November 1, 1979, written by Converse Harwell. Titled "A Life Enriched," these are Harwell's memories about Henry Stuart, who was also known as The Hermit of Montrose and Ye Olde Weaver. Henry James Stuart's life is fictionalized in the 2005 book "The Poet of Tolstoy Park" by Sonny Brewer. From the Fairhope Single Tax Corporation Archives, clipping is courtsey of Kenneth ...

    Record Type: Archives and Videos

  4. 37_1_017 - Newspaper Article

    Newspaper article, date and paper name not available, by Wendy Bernhardt titled "The Eastern Shore Once Had Its Own Hermit" about Henry Stuart. Stuart was known "The Hermit" of Montrose, Alabama. The article includes interviews with Converse Harwell and George Fuller, Jr. Henry James Stuart's life was fictionalized in author Sonny Brwer's 2005 novel titled "The Poet of Tolstoy Park." From the Fairhope Single Tax Corporation Archives, cour...

    Record Type: Archives and Videos

  5. 37_1_018 - Newspaper Article

    Newspaper article from the Baldwin Register dated June 30, 1999 about the addition by the Baldwin County Historical Development Commission of the "Hermit House" and other buildings to the Baldwin County Historic Register. The "Hermit House" (called the Beehive Building in this article) was the structure built in the Montrose, Alabama by Henry Stuart. Henry James Stuart's life was fictionalized by author Sonny Brewer wrote in his 2005 n...

    Record Type: Archives and Videos

  6. 37_1_020_p1-6 - Newspaper Article

    Newspaper article from the Birmingham News (Alabama) dated October 3, 2004 by Kathy Kemp, photos by Bernard Troncale. Article is titled "The Poet Within" about author Sonny Brewer and the novel he wrote titled "The Poet of Tolstoy Park." The book is inspired by the life of Henry James Stuart, "The Hermit," who built and lived in the dome-shaped Hermit House in Montrose, Alabama from the mid-1920s until the mid 1940s. Brewer gives information ...

    Record Type: Archives and Videos

  7. 37_1_021 - Newspaper Article

    Article from the Mobile Press Register and al.com dated July 7, 2019, titled "Remembering the hermit and his hut" by Kelly Kazek. The article is about Henry Stuart who constructed and built the dome-shaped Round House (Hermit House) in 1925-1926, and his life in the Montrose area of Fairhope. Author Sonny Brewer, who wrote a novel about Henry James Stuart's life titled "The Poet of Tolstoy Park" (2005) is interviewed for the article. ...

    Record Type: Archives and Videos

  8. 37_1_022 - Newspaper Article

    Newspaper article from the Mobile Press Register and al.com dated May 4, 2014 titled "Outside the Box, Architecture: Touring Alabama's Wild Polygons" by Kelly Kazek. The article includes information of the "Hermit House" in the Montrose area of Fairhope, Alabama. The structure was built in the mid-1920s by Henry Stuart. Known as "The Hermit," Henry James Stuart inspired author Sonny Brewer to write "The Poet of Tolstoy Park," which was publi...

    Record Type: Archives and Videos

  9. 37_1_023_p1-5 - Newspaper Article

    Newspaper article dated March 3, 1929 by Milford W. Howard and published in The Birmingham News-Age Herald. The copy is in poor condition and difficult to read. (Note that one page appears twice with different tones in the hope it can be read.) The article is titled "Vagabond Discovers a Modern Thoreau Living in Baldwin County" about Henry Stuart (Henry James Stuart) "The Hermit" of Montrose. Howard (1862-1937) was a lawyer, U.S. Congressma...

    Record Type: Archives and Videos

  10. 37_1_025 - Newspaper Article

    Newspaper article in the Mobile Press Register, no date, by Virginia Greer titled "The Hermit of Montrose" about Henry Stuart who built a concrete domed Round House in 1925-1926 and lived there untill 1944. The article provides details about Henry James Stuart's life and interviews by people who knew him. From the Fairhope Single Tax Corporation Archives, couresy of Kenneth E. Niemeyer.

    Record Type: Archives and Videos

  11. 37_1_027 - Newspaper Article

    Newspaper article dated May 6, 2007 titled "Saving the Hermit Hut" by reporter Guy Busby and published in the Baldwin Register.. The article includes information about efforts to protect the historic domed structure built by Henry Stuart in 1925-1926. Includes interviews with Sonny Brewer, Ken Niemeyer and others involved with the project, plus details about Henry James Stuart's life. From the Fairhope Single Tax Corporation Archives, co...

    Record Type: Archives and Videos

  12. 39_1_001 - Poster

    Architectural drawing by C. A. Wolcott, dated 2005, of the Henry Stuart Cottage, Tolstoy Park, Montrose, Alabama. Mr. Wolcott dedicated this to Sonny Brewer, author of the Stuart-inspired novel "The Poet of Tolstoy Park," and Kenneth E. Niemeyer, who has preserved the house. The drawing shows details about Stuart's Round House (Hermit House) and information about how it was constructed. An excerpt from the 1930 poem "The Sage of Tolstoy Park"...

    Record Type: Archives and Videos

  13. 39_11_001-002 - Letter

    Letter dated July 8, 1937 from Henry Stuart (Henry James Stuart) in Tolstoy Park, Montrose, Alabama to the presdient of Mount Union College in Alliance, Ohio. Stuart attended the school in the 1879-1880 academic year. Stuart, known as the Hermit of Montrose, Ye Olde Weaver and A Modern Thoreau, moved to Montrose, Alabama in 1923. He writes of his daily routine, articles which have written about him, his many visitors and correspondents, the...

    Record Type: Archives and Videos

  14. 39_13_001_005 - Article

    Article from the Mount Union University Archives titled "Alumni - Henry James Stuart" by N. Yost Osborne of Alliance, Ohio. (with no date). Stuart attended Mount Union College in the 1879-1880 academic year. In 1923, he moved from Nampa, Idaho to Montrose, Alabama where he built a "Round House" and lived the "simple life" for twenty-one years. Stuart was know as the Hermit of Montrose, Ye Olde Weaver and a Modern Thoreau, and named his prope...

    Record Type: Archives and Videos

  15. 39_16_001 - Article

    Article titled "Memories of the Round House" by Jerry B. Goss dated June 25, 2025. Goss is the grandson of William J. Herring and Sadie Ray Harris Herring. Between 1953-1955, the Herrings owned six acres in Montrose, Alabama. Their land had been called Tolstoy Park by an earlier owner, Henry James Stuart, who built a concrete and brick domed house there. In his article, Mr. Goss writes of his memories of the Round House where his grandpa...

    Record Type: Archives and Videos

    39_16_001
  16. 39_4_001_002 - Article

    Article about Henry Stuart, The Hermit of Montrose, dated 1929 from the American Riviera Review titled "Fairhope, Alabama The Fountain of Youth" by Grace Harrell Flagg. From the Fairhope Single Tax Corporation Archives, courtesy of the Mount Union University Archives. .

    Record Type: Archives and Videos

  17. 39_5_001_002 - Documents

    Mount Union College alumni form completed by Henry Stuart (Henry James Stuart) on July 7, 1937. In 1937, Mount Union College (now Mount Union University) in Alliance, Ohio requested that graduates and former students complete a biographical data form. Henry Stuart attended the then Methodist-affiliated college in academic year 1879-1880. He answers questions about his family, memories of Mount Union College, his views on anarchism and pacifism...

    Record Type: Archives and Videos

  18. 39_7_01 - Article

    One page of an article written about Henry Stuart (Henry James Stuart) which appeared in the Mount Union College Bulletin in December 1929. Stuart attended Mount Union College for one academic year in 1879-1880. The article is titled "Modern Thoreau Writes from Country Home in Montrose," and contains a letters from Stuart to the Mount Union Alumni Office." He says he is a Socialist and a Tolstoyan anarchist. From the Fairhope Single Tax ...

    Record Type: Archives and Videos

    39._7_01
  19. 40_38_001 - Poster

    "Henry Stuart Cottage, Tolstoy Park, Montrose Alabama" poster by C. M Walcott dated 2005. Mr. Walcott, an architect, created this architectural and informational poster when the 2005 novel "The Poet of Tolstoy Park" by Sonny Brewer was published. Walcott included drawings of Henry Stuart's Round House and details of its construction, biographical information about Stuart and Brewer, quotes from Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Pascal and Black Elk, and a...

    Record Type: Archives and Videos

  20. 40_57_081-083 - Article

    Article dated 1996 by Sonny Brewer titled "Coming Full Circle" which appeared in the Red Bluff Review. Brewer introduces the reader to Henry Stuart, the "Hermit" of Montrose, a weaver who left Idaho in 1923 and moved to the land he named Tolstoy Park in Montrose. Nine years later, in 2005, Brewer's novel about Henry James Stuart titled "The Poet of Tolstoy Park" was published. The book heightened interest in Stuart, so much so that, through...

    Record Type: Archives and Videos

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