Hermitage Artist Retreat

Established in the early 2000s, the Hermitage Artist Retreat serves to inspire artists from around the world in their work. It is located on the historic Hermitage-Whitney property, which was first settled in the early 1900s and has been used for a number of purposes since then. It contains several historic structures including the Hermitage House (c. 1907), the Hermitage Guest House (c.1935), and the Whitney House (c.1941). Swedish immigrant Carl Johanson built the Hermitage House and it appears he gave it its name. "Whitney" refers to retired engineer Alfred Whitney, who erected the house that bears his name in 1939. The property was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2002 as the Hermitage–Whitney Historic District.

Swedish immigrant Carl Johansen bought the property in 1907 from Giles W. Chapman, who acquired it in 1902 from the federal government as part of a large tract of land on Manasota Key. The Johanson family immigrated to America in 1873 and settled in a Swedish colony in the town of Sanford, Florida. They eventually moved to Arcadia and then to Punta Gorda before building a house on Lemon Bay near a sawmill that Johanson had bought. The house was originally one-and-a-half stories tall and the kitchen was in its own detached structure. For much of the early 1900s, the Manasota Key was largely inaccessible, uninhabited, and did not have electricity or running water. The Johansons caught turtles and fish year round and bought flour, rice, corn meal and dried fruits from a store in Englewood.

Johanson sold the property in 1913 (or possibly 1916) and the house sat vacant for around fifteen years. After a series of owners, in the mid-1930s the property became a nudist colony called The Sea Island Sanctuary. The venture did not last long, however. A road built in Manasota Key soon after the colony opened that compromised the privacy of the members, forcing it to close. One member, Louise Plumber, bought the property in 1937 and operated it as a small resort. She built the Hermitage Guest House around 1941. One of the guests was Alfred Whitney, who bought the adjacent property in 1939. In addition to building the Whitney House, he also erected a garage, pump house, and cistern system.

In 1943, Plummer sold the property to Ruth and Otto Alexander, who continued to offer the Hermitage to guests. They bought the Whitney property after Alfred died in 1946. By then electricity had arrived to the key and a second bridge was built in 1950. However, within a few years after World War II the Alexanders decided to keep it to themselves and lived there for the rest of their lives; Ruth died in 1973 and Otto in 1978. After another series of owners, the county acquired the property in 1986 and it became part of Blind Pass Park. The county intended to demolish the buildings but they were deemed too historically important and were saved. A group of locals led the effort to restore the buildings and develop a future use for them. The leader of the group, Patricia Caswell, proposed the idea of an artist retreat in 1999 and it was established in the early 2000s.

Baber, David. "Hermitage–Whitney Historic District." National Park Service - National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form. October 31, 2002. https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/02001261.

"History." Hermitage Artist Retreat. Accessed January 1, 2024. https://hermitageartistretreat.org/about-us/history/#.