42: Welcome to the Adirondacks: The Mayor of Cold River City, Population 1

In 2013, a man by the name of Christopher Knight was arrested while he was trying to burgle the Pine Tree Camp in Rome, Maine. He had done it many times before over the years, and had broken into a number of camps, earning the nickname the North Pond Hermit. Knight had committed at least a thousand break-ins, but he always felt searing guilt about it.

Knight had taken to the woods when he turned 20. The only thing he really felt affection for was a mushroom that grew near his hermitage; he hunkered down with books and other basic activities to occupy his time in the woods. It was all routine, for 27 years before his capture.

There are a number of motivations that make men and women run to the woods to slough off society. For Christopher Knight, it was an admiration for solitude, but for Noah John Rondeau, the Mayor of Cold River City, Population 1, it was freedom. On this episode of the Our Strange Skies podcast, we examine the life of the Adirondacks’ most famous hermit, Noah John Rondeau.

Special thanks to Doug Irving for the use of his song “Noah John Rondeau” in this episode.

Sources:

A Not Too Greatly Changed Eden: The Story of the Philosophers’ Camp in the Adirondacks by James Schlett

The Philosophers’ Camp at Follensby Pond, The Adirondack Experience at Blue Mountain Lake

“The Adirondacs” by Ralph Waldo Emerson

“You Can Camp Where A Famous Hermit Lived For 30 Years” by Ryan Wichelns

Noah John Rondeau’s obituary from The New York Times, August 26, 1967

Noah John Rondeau’s Adirondack Wilderness Days: A Year with the Hermit of Cold River Flow by William J. O’Hern

The Hermit and Us: Our Adventures with Noah John Rondeau by William J. O’Hern

Adirondack Wilds: Exploring the Haunts of Noah John Rondeau: An Adirondack Adventure by William J. O’Hern

Life With Noah: Stories and Adventures of Richard Smith With Noah John Rondeau by William J. O’Hern

Music: