Steven Senne via AP
- David Lidstone, 81, has been living off-the-grid in New Hampshire for 27 years.
- His two-story wooden cabin built on someone's private property burned down on August 4.
- Lidstone, who was jailed for refusing to leave the property, said he won't return to hermit life.
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David Lidstone, known as "River Dave," told the Associated Press he will likely not return to hermit life in New Hampshire after nearly three decades of living off-the-grid.
Lidstone, 81, had been living in a cabin in the town of Canterbury for 27 years until he was jailed on July 15, under order of Merrimack Superior Court, for refusing to leave the property located on someone else's private land. According to a court summary obtained by Insider, he was jailed under a civil contempt sanction.
On Wednesday, he agreed in court to collect his possessions, including his cats and chickens, and vacate the property, according to the AP.
His decision comes just after his makeshift home burned down in a fire on August 4, as Insider's Joey Hadden previously reported.
The Associated Press reported Lidstone was in jail at the time for refusing to vacate the cabin, but was released the following day after a judge ruled he would have little incentive to return.
On Monday, Canterbury fire chief Michael Gamache told WMUR the blaze was likely started accidentally by someone attempting to dismantle the cabin. On Tuesday, Lidstone told AP reporter Kathy McCormack he couldn't see a way back to hermit life.
"I don't see how I can go back to being a hermit because society is not going to allow it," he said.
Canterbury Fire Department via AP
Even if he wanted to return, Lidstone told the AP his life in isolation wouldn't be the same.
"I would have people coming every weekend, so I just can't get out of society anymore," he said. "I've hidden too many years and I've built relationships, and those relationships have continued to expand."
Following the fire and Lidstone's court case, some New Hampshire locals started a GoFundMe to help him secure a "piece of land he can call home," which had raised over $12,000 at the time of writing.
Lidstone, who is a logger by trade, told the AP that returning to society may give opportunities he never thought possible.
"Maybe the things I've been trying to avoid are the things that I really need in life," he said. "I grew up never being hugged or kissed, or any close contact."
Steven Senne/via AP
According to the AP, he originally built his two-story wooden cabin alongside his now-estranged wife.
"I had somebody ask me once, about my wife: 'Did you really love her?' And the question kind of shocked me for a second," he told the AP. "I've never loved anybody in my life. And I shocked myself because I hadn't realized that. And that's why I was a hermit. Now I can see love being expressed that I never had before."
The private property where Lidstone had his cabin has been owned by the same family since 1963, the AP reported.
While Lidstone claimed a family member once told him he could stay, the current owner, 86-year-old Leanord Giles has wanted Lidstone to leave since he first discovered him living there in 2015, according to the AP.
The property dispute dates back to 2016, but Lidstone previously said in a court hearing on August 4 there is no bad blood between himself and Giles, the AP reported.
"He's a heck of a nice old man, I've talked with him a couple of times. This is not his fault, this is not my fault," he told the hearing. "It's lying, cheating corrupt judges like you that are stepping on little people like me."