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The Hermit King of Moose Island

GREENVILLE — One of the wonderful things about the Moosehead Lake Region is the rich history of the area, replete with some extraordinary characters. One such was the “Hermit King of Moose Island.” I have heard various stories about him over the years, but after some digging, discovered some tales were even more amazing than I had first thought.

I found an article buried in an 1895 issue of the Scientific American. It could be true or just fanciful folklore and it appeared to have been penned by a niece or nephew because they referred to him as Uncle John Cusack.

Moose Island Hermit

Photo courtesy of Moosehead Historical Society & Museums
REMEMBERING THE MOOSE ISLAND HERMIT — Phil Matthews stands beside the new stone for John Cusack in the Greenville Cemetery.

The writer described Cusack as a “hale and hearty man …who came from Readfield, Maine, and pitched his camp upon Moose Island, which subsequently he bought. He was a man of intelligence and some education who had studied law.”

Some believed he went to Bowdoin College and had been unlucky in love – perhaps it was reason enough for him to ditch it all and live a solitary life. But, according to a Bangor Daily News article written by Wayne E. Reilly, Cusack denied these allegations saying, “I could have had the prettiest girls in Readfield… I was a dandy in those days with my fine clothes and horses… but I did not want them… A man always wants to keep at least a foot away from the women, and then he is sure to be safe.”

He built a raft and used it to float himself, a horse and a cow, along with some provisions to the 600-acre island. Once there he erected a cabin and shelter for his animals. By 1885, he was a popular local celebrity with great skill at river driving and walking on logs.

According to the Scientific American article, he was “energetic, industrious and temperate, and he became famous on the West Branch of the Penobscot for his wonderful skill in log riding, a proficiency exercised to great advantage in getting the log drives down the broken waters of that swift and turbulent stream.” The article mentioned Cusack’s abilities in crossing the Piscataquis River at Dover-Foxcroft “standing on a 35-pound binding pole. Such a performance is a commonplace one for him. Frequently, on a wager or merely to exhibit his skill, he has crossed the broad reach of West Cove at the foot of Moosehead Lake, on a pole as slender, and even when upheld by nothing more buoying than a lumberman’s pick-pole.”

Photo courtesy of Moosehead Historical Society & Museums
MOOSE ISLAND HERMIT — The Hermit King of Moose Island, John Cusack.

Apparently he used that skill often to cross the coves of Moosehead much to the amazement of locals and visitors. A number of times, according to the Scientific American article, he surprised passengers on the SS Katahdin as it went back and forth from the huge resort at Kineo. This is where the line between fact and fiction is most likely blurred; still, it makes for a great yarn:

“Once as the steamer from Kineo plowed down the lake through a heavy sea, the ship’s company were astounded by the sight of a man, in mid-lake, standing breast high in the heaving waters, with which he was battling, in seeming pursuit of a small dog that sat in full view above the surface a few feet ahead of him. The steamer, changing her course, slowed down to pick up Uncle John, who was making the fourth mile of a voyage with an old tree root as his craft and his dog as passenger. He stood upon the larger end of the root, thereby lifting the other end above the water, and upon this upraised tip the dog found a safe if not quite dry footing.”

Apparently, according to the article,“The sight of (him) and his dog making similar though less venturesome voyages about the lower part of the lake is not uncommon, and the dog has learned to take his place on the dry end of the stick or root at his master’s first word of command.”

Over the years he acquired a number of animals for his island realm. According to that same article, “Cusack lives on terms as patriarchal and friendly with the dumb animals which are his companions, as did Robinson Crusoe with his goats. In the summer his sleek oxen, sheep and poultry forage well for themselves… In the winter, should it chance that (he) desires to go away for several days, he does not trouble himself to import a man to care for these creatures. He pitches … hay down into the middle of the barn floor, scatters corn and grain around where the hens can get to it, opens the barn door so that they can go to the spring for water at pleasure, and goes away for an indefinite time with assured confidence that all will be well at home.”

Despite his solitary habits, when he came to town Cusack made up for his quiet times by engaging folks at the local stores in Greenville or the various hotel lobbies that bordered the lake. Again, from the same article: “Despite his secluded and celibate life, he has no aversion to human society, but, on the contrary, enjoys it, and he is especially gallant and chivalrous to the fair sex. In the solitude of Moose Island he doesn’t find much of a field for conversation, but he makes full amends when he emerges, as he often does, into the settled communities. Then, by the stove of a country store or a hotel office, he can talk a continuous streak, without pause for rest or refreshment, for six hours at a stretch!”

Cusack met with an unhappy fate when he was 77 years old. It was during December of 1904 and he was returning to his island when his snowshoes broke through the ice when he crossed the narrow inlet between the island and the mainland. He was pulling a sled filled with provisions and could not extricate himself from the snowshoe binding. He froze to death standing shoulder high in the icy waters, with his little dog anxiously pacing at his side. He and the dog weren’t found until the next morning.

Wayne E. Reilly discovered that Cusack had a bit of a philanthropic side, planning to create a portion of the island as a public park. That never came to fruition. Reilly’s research found that Cusack had 18 heirs and there were financial claims made on the estate. The Hermit ended up buried in an unmarked grave in Lot 159 in the Greenville Cemetery.

The story could have ended there but it didn’t. Last summer Phil Matthews, who had an abiding interest in honoring John Cusack, stopped in at the Moosehead Historical Society in Greenville Junction with a proposal. He met with Executive Director Suzanne AuClair and offered to match any donation raised to purchase a gravestone for Cusack. She thought it was a splendid idea and took him up on it. By autumn, enough money had been raised to pay for the stone and it was installed on Cusack’s grave before the ground froze.

Special thanks to the Moosehead Historical Society for photo of John Cusack and Phil Matthews. For more information contact them at 695-2909 or visit www.mooseheadhistory.org.

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