Albert Large

Illustration by Rayna Polsky
(Click for a larger view)

Albert Large was a real person. He was born to a well-off family in Buckingham in 1805 and lived most of his life in Buckingham and Solebury townships. Albert is most commonly known as "The hermit of Wolf Rocks," but I feel that name makes him sound like something he wasn't, really.

He did spend much of his life apart from society. He did live, on and off, in a cave on Buckingham Mountain. But he also loved nature, and being outdoors. Solitude made him happy. He slept in hollow trees and in thick piles of fallen leaves. He knew how to work with his hands. He knew how to survive.

In 1858, when Albert was 53, a newspaper picked up the story of a "hermit" hiding in a cave in Buckingham. The story went international, and soon Albert was pestered relentlessly by people from far and wide, eager to see the freak. I haven't been able to find any record of him after that. I wonder what happened to him.

Recently I was house-sitting a property where Albert had spent two winters in the late 1830s. Above my bedroom, an ancient, creaky stairway curved up into the same dark attic where Albert Large had paced, and dreamed, and waited for spring.