The Granville Hermit

What drove a quiet man to choose a life of solitude—away from people
he knew, and grew up with?
By early adulthood Carl Morse had experienced betrayals, leaving only a select few he could trust.
Was it the heartless acts of others? Was it lost love? Was it the atrocities of WWI he experienced? What was it that altered Carl Morse’s attitude toward society and public interaction?
He was known as a seer, a horse whisperer, one who could read people, who could intuit what was going to happen…
And yet…he retreated into the forest he loved, to the creatures he cherished, the place he felt safe, to reappear only twice a year.
Based on the real life of Carl L. Morse of Granville, Vermont, Morse’s life became folklore. He lived, he loved, he retreated, he vanished.
He is not forgotten.

Listen to an interview with Butch Foster about Carl Morse.

In its heyday, 1880 to 1900, the town of Granville was a timber and logging community. The diversity of local farmsteads provided a network of tradesmen, wood crafts, livestock, and smith works, all working, bartering and sustaining its fluctuating population of over 1100 folks, during these times.
With the exception of the Granville “burrow” nestled in the valley alongside the White River, mostly all of the farmsteads and unique characters reflected in this story were located within the lower ridges and upper elevations, as they bustled, flourished, and even failed their endeavors during this era. Route 100 as we know it today did not exist.
Census reports from 1950 mention a Granville population of only 280 folks. By 2007 it rose to 287. Today it remains at 298, all still very unique folks of character still applying their skills and trades.

Butch Foster met Carl Morse when he was 9 years old. So intrigued by the man and his sudden connection to him, as an adult, he felt Carl Morse was telling him to write his story.
While many of the characters are based on real people from Granville, the actions and storylines are folklore.
Carl Morse was caught up in the aftermath of a shooting, and drawn into innuendo not of his choosing. After his parents died while he was a teen, his love and future wife, Maimi, left him, as one disappointment followed another, Carl Morse retreated to the one place he felt safe. The one constant throughout his life: his close friendship with his childhood friend, Elwin Shirley. They remained close friends until Morse himself disappeared.

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Robert S. Foster, known as Butch, by his friends and acquaintances, spent the last forty-plus years as an excavation and site development contractor.
His passions over the years have included beekeeping, aviation, woodsmanship, playing guitar and blues harps, song writing, fly fishing and upholding “old school” New England values and traditions.
Along with his wife Mary, he developed a farmstead known as Old Orchard Farm, hosting an antique cider mill, bakery, and sound stage for homespun folk music events—a place where folks can sense the simplicity of old traditions and a small bit of Vermont’s serenity.
Today Butch enjoys making music, writing, restoring old things, ancient native Indian cultures along with the quiet natural beauty and energy of Vermont’s Green Mountains.