Above, an aerial view of The Hermitage compound. Below, the Pump House with cisterns.
food, plenty of warm sunshine and congenial
companionship, is the ultimate.
In 1941 Alfred Whitney, a retired naval engineer,
had an elevated house built on the land south
of The Hermitage. He called his new home the
Liability Lodge, which included a pump house and
garage. Whitney’s property was combined with The
Hermitage property after his death in 1946, and
remains part of the property to this day.
“The place was magical,” recalled Carroll. “I don’t
know, maybe it was the privacy factor. My mom was
Canadian, and when Prince Charles married Diana,
for weeks my mother was planning to watch it on
television and demanded that we all be there. Now
this happened in England, I think it started at 4:30 in
the morning, so the demand was that we all arrive
there at 4:30 in the morning. I got there on time
and the house was full of people. My gosh, so many
strangers, complete strangers. My mother always
had strangers. She went down to the beach the day
before and put a Canadian fl ag and American fl ag
and the Union Jack on the beach and just started
bringing people in. It was absolutely hilarious.
“My mom’s friend Cheryl Brown was a very famous
Canadian painter. She would come down for a month
or two every year and Cheryl did
moon dance parties in the middle
of the night. They would sleep all
day and then have these massive
eating and drinking, dancing
parties on the beach. There were
always musicians playing. It was so
fun and the place was so full of life.”
Carroll talks about visiting
The Hermitage today and her
conversations with the current
artists in residence.
“I laugh now because every now
and then, someone will ask me to
60 GASPARILLA MAGAZINE • July/August • 2021
Panoramic view of The Hermitage compound.