The Mountain Man Memories of a Free Spirit

HARVEY IN HIS OWN WORDS“IF YOU CANNOT DO GREAT THINGS, DO SMALL THINGS IN A GREAT WAY” - Napoleon Hill I AM A HERMIT...I LIVE ALONE ON A MOUNTAIN in East Tennessee. I have a little cabin on 60 acres of timberland. I do not have electricity. I get my water from a spring. I use a kerosene lamp, or candles for light, a wood stove for heating and cooking. I sometimes go for weeks and never see another person. But I never get lonely. I keep busy. I do a lot of reading and enjoying God's handiwork. I have learned that loneliness is a sort of poverty, but solitude is richness.The post office is a two hour stroll away. Every once in a while I walk out to the road with a backpack and hitchhike into town for supplies. By keeping things simple, I am under less of a burden and can enjoy life more. I know the difference between pleasure and happiness... I can keep myself happy without a lot of what folks call 'earthly pleasures' and the Lord does take care of me. It is good to stop the pursuit of happiness and just be happy.Someone said, “There is a period of time between birth and death called life, but many never really live they just mark time.” That seems to be a sad reality in many lives and yet society has laid out as pure truth the way man should live. I could not, or would not, fit into that box. If I had, I would have just been marking time. While thinking about my past I realized it is the only mirror a person can use to view the future. All of us remember the bad and hopefully learn from it. The good is easy to remember. But what about the seemingly unimportant things? The simple things? Perhaps wisdom is being able to learn from all. What I have learned has brought me to my mountain... this is my story. YOUR JOURNEY JUST FOR A MOMENT imagine you have come to visit Harvey on his mountain. You may have read about him, heard stories, or met him somewhere on his travels. It is early morning and for most of the way, you find yourself driving through a cloud. A misty fog hovered over the mountain during the night and settled gently into the valleys. AS YOU PARK BESIDE the road and step out of the car the mountain wraps your senses. You hear the creek rushing over rocks as it follows its century old path around lower border of the mountain. The air is crisp. Nearby a blue jay calls out a welcome, or a warning. Walking on you remember to check your cell phone... no bars. You are officially separated from the outside world. CLIMBING OVER A FENCE, you follow the path through damp woods of pine, oak, poplar; their branches create a laced canopy above your head. Jewel-like dewdrops glisten on grasses and the delicate tips of pine needles. The trail is quiet except for the soft crackle of twigs under your feet and an occasional chattering of a squirrel. As you walk farther into the mountain the world shrinks to the path before you. Moss, rocks, ferns, leaves take on exquisite details you would have missed on other walks in wide-open spaces.The pervading silence of the mountain brings with it a solitude humans rarely experience, Alone? Not really, forest eyes are wondering at the stranger who has suddenly appeared in their kingdom. Standing still for a moment you see a whitetail-deer no farther than a stones throw away. She solemnly stares at you with unblinking eyes then melts off into the morning mist.Moving on at a gentler pace you vaguely wonder what it would be like to live this close to God's creatures and yet not see another human being for weeks at a time? YOU HAVE HEARD that before settling here Harvey traversed the length and breath of the country with only a backpack. There has to be a story behind the Mountain Man. Somehow you feel deep within that he may have answers that will help you live your own live in a more authentic way. That is why you made this journey....