“I was grown, so I lived off and on at The Hermitage,”
began Carroll Swayze, Ruth’s daughter, frequent
resident and collaborator. “But I think my mom was
there longer than they say in the history. I remember
mom was walking down the beach and saw that
house, and it had been abandoned for a really
long time. There were homeless people living in it.
Somebody had lit a fi re in the living room on the living
room fl oor. Luckily, it didn’t burn down. My mother was
a writer and researcher, so she started researching.
At the time, she lived down the beach somewhere,
just renting. She found the owner, called him up and
said, ‘You need a caretaker.’ So, they let her be the
caretaker.”
For Andy Sandberg, new artistic director and chief
executive offi cer of The Hermitage, it’s the isolation
and opportunity to midwife new work that is most
appealing. “It was really the commitment to support
new work. You know the work that we support here is
giving artists the time and space to create six, eight or
even ten years of work before there’s ever a premier or
an opening.”
Joining The Hermitage at the beginning of 2020,
Sandberg’s tenure has been affected by the challenges
of the pandemic.
“We’ve been working to try to bring every one of
these artists to the community. And being in Florida,
in this beautiful weather, with this fantastic campus,
as well as our partner organizations (which are in the
dozens but include Selby Gardens and the Ringling
Museum) that also have great outdoor spaces, why
wouldn’t we try to fi nd a way to safely bring that back
to our audiences and this community?”
“It was amazing, absolutely amazing,” refl ected
Carroll. “Mom paid some rent but it was really low and
she did all of the upkeep and maintenance on the
place. She ended up having an artist retreat while she
was there. I mean, she’s a writer and all of our friends
were writers and musicians. The house was magical.
We’ve all seen it, the ghosts in there. It’s just a magical,
amazing place, even with all the changes and all the
reconstruction and the kind of gentrifying, with the
ramps and stuff. It’s still a magical, amazing place.”
The Birth of The Hermitage
It was 1907 when Swedish-born Carl Johanson built
a cottage on Manasota Key. He used cypress, which
was known to not only repel bugs but withstand strong
winds and weather common for coastal homes. The
Calusa Indians had used this location as a “midden,”
otherwise known as a trash dump.
58 GASPARILLA MAGAZINE • July/August • 2021
The Hermitage House lifted from its
original foundation circa 1990.
A derelict beach cottage.
Cottage pre-restoration.
The Hermitage House placed on
pilings circa 1990s.