According to records of 1907, the 2.75 acre
waterfront land was presciently given the name
“The Hermitage,” so-named because of its remote
location.
Johanson, his wife and his family, which consisted
of their three youngest children, lived at their new
home until 1913. Adding to the hodgepodge
structure was a detached kitchen which serves
today as a bedroom, and a sleeping porch added
10 years later, which now serves as a living room.
The stone fi replace was built in the 1920s and
other additions followed in the 1940s, including the
The Hermitage
current kitchen and two bathrooms.
has been a
“My mom was kind of a cool, beatnik, hippy chick,
family affair for
the Swayze
you know. She had a coffee house in the 1960s and
generations.
so it wasn’t unusual to go over there and the house
Above, Ruth
would be just full of artists and musicians. They’d be
Swayze. Middle,
playing the piano in the living room and it was really,
Ruth and her
daughter, Carroll
really fun,” explained Carroll Swayze.
Swayze. Below,
Life on Manasota Key back in the 1970s was rustic
Carroll Swayze
and quite different from what we know of today.
and her son,
“There was no turtle patrol,” Carroll explained.
Shannon
Hoeckel.
“When there were storms in the summer, Mom
would call and we’d all race over there and we’d
dig up the turtle nests. She marked out the turtle
nests with stakes and they would get swept out to
sea, so it wasn’t unusual during summer to have big
buckets full of turtle eggs in the living room. You
would hear them hatching in the buckets and we’d
have to take them in the water. My kids were young
and they basically grew up there, so it was cool.”
The Nudist Colony
The Hermitage earned a salacious reputation in
the 1930s: The location served as a nudist resort.
The Hermitage was only accessible by boat for
those who wished to frolic au natural in the sand
and sea.
Later in the 1930s, the nudists were forced to hit
the road when a dirt road was laid on the key, and
The Hermitage was turned into a hotel owned by a
former patron, Louise Plummer.
A 1936 brochure for the colony listed the
monthly membership fee of $45, along with this
advertisement:
The isolation of our location permits the practice
of nudism 24 hours a day, if desired; also one may
stroll nude for miles along the shores of the Gulf. We
have the friendship of the authorities and the good
will of the community. What more could be desired
of a nudist resort? This coupled with the excellent The interior of a refurbished cottage.