Today is French Louie Day! Adirondack French Louie (Louis Seymour) died on this day in 1915.
French Louie is one of the Adirondacks' most famous hermits. Even in his day, it seemed everyone knew French Louie. He lived in what is now known as the West Canada Lake Wilderness. He built a small cabin and "homestead" on West Lake, one of the most remote parts of the Adirondacks.
Louie lived a life of solitude and simplicity, connected to the natural world around him and relying on its resources. He hunted and ran trap lines through the West Canada Lakes region and knew the woods better than anyone.
In memory of French Louie, choose to live like Louie in one of these ways today:
Get up early.
Refuse to bathe.
Cook your breakfast in bear or bacon grease.
Put homemade maple syrup on it, whatever it is.
Let your dog "clean" the dishes.
Go outside and enjoy the day.
Howl like a wolf, screech like a panther, or warble like a loon at the top of your lungs.
Buy a drink for everyone in the house (and soda is okay).
Watch the sunset.
French Louie day was started and developed by Roy Reehil of the Forager Press.

Bruce, I used to have the book about French Louie. We cut logs for the Adirondack Leage Club, up in the west Canada country for a number of years.

Great info, didn’t know there was a French Louie day. I’ve read the book about him. He was a squatter , but timber companies let him live there because he did do some forest fire prevention, and provided wild game to some lumber camps.

Another interesting Adirondacker is Noah John Rondeau, the hermit of Cold River. I was at it hermitage in the 1970’s, some of his buildings were still standing. His hut that he lived in was moved and is now on display at the Adirondack Museum in Blue Mountain Lake, NY.

Louis Seymour - French Louie Grave in Speculator NY. The Headstone was purchased by school children .

Very nice

Wow!!
Interesting history. So, it looks like he lived 85 years that was a good run.

Really good book