Remembering hermit French Louie with bear grease and maple syrup (2024)

Feb 27, 2015 — A famous character in New York's southern Adirondacks from the late 19th and early 20th centuries will be remembered in Inlet and Speculator this weekend.

Louis Seymour, better known as "Adirondack French Louie" made the wilderness between Inlet and Lake Pleasant his home from the 1860's until his death on February 27, 1915. He was born near Ottawa, ran away and joined the circus at 12 and made a living in the region as a canal boat driver, lumberjack, trapper, hunter, and guide. Louie was also a hermit and became a legend after his exploits were published in numerous books.

Roy Reehil is a publisher and amateur historian who wrote about French Louie in his new book, "Adirondack Adventures, Bob Gillespie and Harvey Dunham on French Louie's Trail." Reehil contacted legislators in Herkimer and Hamilton counties and asked them to declare a day of remembrance on this centennial of French Louie's death. A couple of grass roots events will be held this weekend.

Reehil will give a lecture about the hermit's life at the Inlet Town Hall Saturday at 11 am and will also speak at a grave site ceremony in Speculator at 1 pm.

Reehil told Todd Moe when Louie died at the Brook's Hotel in Speculator in 1915, local townsfolk chipped in for a proper burial.

Roy Reehil: Apparently they close the schools (he was pretty popular) and the children passed by the casket and laid balsam springs on his body before they laid him to rest. He didn’t have a stone, though, and then there was just a crude marker, I guess, at the time because there wasn’t enough money for that. Apparently the costs of the funeral were borne by the Brooks Hotel, paid for the casket, and, I think, the Hamilton County or the town of Speculator and the town of Lake Placid split the cost.

Todd Moe: Roy, why is it so important to remember French Louie? Why are you asking folks, you know, and why did you sort of send the letter to the two counties and say, you know, we need to do something special, we need to remember this guy? Bit of a legend; is that part of the reason?

RR: He is just such a part of the fabric of the history and the folklore of that southern Adirondack region that it’s important to remember, not only because it’s so much fun, but because what’s interesting about the Adirondacks is hearing about the men who were there cutting the trees, building the dams, that’s just something I think we have to keep alive for future generations.

And, obviously, the Herkimer County legislature thought that was correct. The Hamilton County legislature is going to hold an event, I think like a week-long event of some sort in August, so we’ll be getting back together to do something again.

So it just keeps the whole history alive, it keeps the folklore alive, it creates destinations for tourism, puts value to the old things that we find, like when you can find an old pack basket and an old co*cked boot and an old pike pole that was used to move the logs on the river or an old bateau boat that they used to try to break up the log jam.

This is the piece that I thought was fun for the legislature and I said, well, on this particular day to celebrate Louie’s life we can live life a little bit like he did for one day. And I said, in memory of French Louie, if we declare this French Louie Day, I will vow to do these things: I will get up early, I’ll refuse to bath, I’ll cook my breakfast in bear or bacon grease, I’ll put homemade maple syrup on whatever my breakfast is, I’ll let my dog clean the dishes, I’ll go outside and enjoy the day, and I’ll howl like a wolf, screech like a panther, or warble like a loon at the top of my lungs, and buy a drink for everyone in the house (and of course soda is okay) and then I’ll watch the sunset.

So, sort of a day in the life of a hermit, living alone or with a friend or two that came to visit him in the wilderness, what would a day be like? That would be a day in French Louie’s life.