UPDATE MARCH 31, 2022:
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A former hermit in New Hampshire who went back to live on the wooded property he was ordered to leave realizes that his time there is drawing to a close. David Lidstone, who just turned 82, is scheduled for a contempt of court hearing Thursday (March 31, 2022) in his tug-of-war with a Vermont landowner over a patch of forest near the Merrimack River that he’s called home for 27 years. A judge issued an injunction in 2017 for “River Dave” to leave after the landowner sued him. But there have been delays in the case: In addition to the pandemic, Lidstone didn’t always show up for court and he’s been in and out of jail over the last year as he resisted the injunction.
UPDATE AUGUST 19, 2021:
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — An off-the-grid New Hampshire hermit known as “River Dave” is no longer homeless. One of his supporters posted on social media that temporary housing has been secured for David Lidstone through the winter while he decides whether to rebuild his cabin or accept some other housing. The location is being kept secret to protect Lidstone’s privacy, Jodie Gedeon wrote in a statement. There has been an outpouring of support for Lidstone after he was evicted by a landowner and jailed before his cabin burned down.
UPDATE AUGUST 5, 2021:
CANTERBURY, N.H. (AP) — The New Hampshire State Fire Marshal’s Office said Thursday (Aug. 5, 2021) it has opened an investigation into a fire that destroyed a small cabin where an off-the-grid hermit had lived for almost three decades.
David Lidstone, 81, lived in the woods along the Merrimack River and was known by locals as “River Dave.” He was jailed on July 15 on a civil contempt sanction and was told he’d be released if he agreed to leave the cabin, which is on property owned by a Vermont man who considers Lidstone a squatter.
Fire destroyed the cabin on Wednesday afternoon (Aug. 4, 2021). The fire marshal’s office said it is investigating the blaze, but deferred questions to the Canterbury Fire Department. Lt. Dave Nelson of Canterbury Fire said he expects the investigation to take a few days and there were no updates available about its cause on Thursday.
“We just had the fire yesterday, it takes a while,” Nelson said.
Lidstone, who is originally from Maine, lived on a woodlot located a few miles from Interstate 93 north of the state’s capitol city of Concord. He told a judge during a Wednesday court appearance that he had no desire to comply with the order to leave the cabin. Most of his possessions were removed from it before the fire.
Lidstone’s off-the-grid lifestyle has made him a folk hero in northern New England, and news of the cabin fire led to sadness and empathy among his supporters. Horace Clark, a cousin of Lidstone’s who lives in Vermont, said the fire was “both sad and sick.”
AUGUST 4, 2021:
CANTERBURY, N.H. (AP) — For 27 years, 81-year-old David Lidstone has lived in the woods of New Hampshire along the Merrimack River in a small, solar-paneled cabin, growing his food, cutting his firewood, and tending to his cat and chickens. But his off-the-grid existence appears to be at risk. Court documents say the woodlot “River Dave” calls home just a few miles away from Interstate 93, yet hidden by the trees, has been owned by the same family for decades. The current owner has been trying to get him out since 2016. Lidstone, now jailed, says a prior owner gave his word — but nothing in writing — to let him live there.
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