Tolstoy Park

WHEN? Monday · April 27

WHERE? Montrose, Alabama · find us on the map

Recently I sent a video on Turkey (the country) to a member of Wells United Methodist Church in Jackson, Mississippi. Earl Hill, Jr. replied, thanking me, and added this: "Be sure you read The Poet of Tolstoy Park by Sonny Brewer and see his little house in Fairhope."

I purchased the book and read it and then started trying to find the little round house referred to in the book. It took a second day of searching with more specific directions to finally locate the house.

I recommend the book to you if you are one who likes to read books of a spiritual nature and about philosophy. It's very much like a journal of sorts and is based on a real person, Henry Stuart.

Excerpt from an interview with author Sonny Brewer:

THE POET OF TOLSTOY PARK is based on the true story of a 62-year old man, Henry Stuart, whose doctor in Idaho in 1923 told him he was dying of consumption. He moved here to Fairhope, left his shoes out west, and lived barefooted in a round concrete house he built by himself with his own two hands for twenty-two years! He had a divinity degree from Mount Union College and listed his occupation in the 1920 Census as “weaver of rugs.” Clarence Darrow befriended him and visited Henry a number of times in Fairhope. He was a writer and poet, a gardener, and a self-reliant man Thoreau would have loved.

That's probably enough to grab your interest without giving away the plot. The little round house was not easy to find, even though I had some photos of it from the internet. I think the house had become "bigger than life" in my mind by the time I finished the book because I was really surprised at how small it seemed when I stepped inside of it. It was a pleasure to visit it and take a few photos, which you can see here.