The Hermit of Cat Island ~ The Imaginative Conservative

The Hermit of Cat Island ~ The Imaginative Conservative

Like all genuine eccentrics, John Cyril Hawes was a blend of genius and madness. His fantastical, eclectic architecture captures the contradictions of the man: traditional, but modern; romantic but gritty and down-to-earth; artistic but tough; cantankerous but compassionate to the poor. He was a solitary hermit who became famous. Author Peter Anson—himself a convert to the Catholic faith from Anglicanism—cornered the market on a particular niche…