Help Move Tolstoy Park
In 2025, Henry Stuart’s famous round house will be moved to the Flying Creek Nature Preserve.
Your support is needed to help relocate the Round House.
Your tax-deductible contribution will help move Henry Stuart’s round house to the Flying Creek Nature Preserve
Breaking News: The Fairhope Single Tax Corporation has pledged an Awesome $184,500 matching donation!
Remaining Amount Needed:
$163,151
Henry Stuart built his Round House at Tolstoy Park in Montrose, AL by hand over a two-year period, completing it in 1926. This picture was taken in 1927.
Who is Henry Stuart?
1858 – 1946
Stuart advocated and lived a simple and purposeful life. He was a vegetarian, growing food in an irrigated “concrete garden.” He was a voracious reader with an extensive library; Tolstoy occupied a place of honor on his bookshelves.
He had a wide circle of people with whom he corresponded. He was interested in the theories of the economist Henry George on which the colony of Fairhope was founded. He attended and participated in the weekly Fairhope Forum speaker programs and regularly socialized with neighbors and friends. He was an accomplished weaver of beautiful rugs, a craft he learned in Idaho and taught at Marietta Johnson’s Organic School. The simple life he lived in Baldwin County restored his health and spirit.
He had many visitors (belying his “Hermit” label) and kept a visitor book which had many names listed from notable figures intrigued by Fairhope such as the prominent lawyer and civil rights activist, Clarence Darrow. We now have Stuart’s diaries, photographs taken by him, and many articles of interest shedding new light on his life.
Mr. Stuart lived in Montrose from 1923 until 1944, when he left Baldwin County to move to Oregon where his two sons lived. Mr. Stuart died in 1946.
The Importance of the Round House
The Round House was constructed between 1925 and 1926 by Henry Stuart. The small domed concrete building, located on Parker Road in Montrose, is the only surviving portion of the 10 acres Mr. Stuart bought and named Tolstoy Park. It is the sole physical reminder of the man known as a modern Thoreau, the Hermit of Montrose, and Ye Olde Weaver.
Stuart’s house is on both the National Register of Historic Places and the Baldwin County Register of Historic Places.
It is architecturally significant and unique nationwide. Set two feet into the ground, the house was comfortable year-round from the insulation of the earth and good ventilation from windows and skylights. The solid concrete block structure (blocks handmade by Stuart) has withstood hurricanes for a century. Mr. Stuart designed and built the house himself from local materials: sand, bricks, wood from his property and found objects on the beach. It is a unique structure with a story to tell.
Where is the Round House?
Why Move Tolstoy Park to the Flying Creek Nature Preserve?
The historic round house will:
Local author, Sonny Brewer, fictionalized Stuart’s life in the popular novel The Poet of Tolstoy Park which was published in 2005.
…a lifestyle that disappeared decades ago.
“Henry will be glad to move out of the paved parking lot and back to paradise. Visitors will get to experience Henry’s round house as evidence of a lifestyle that disappeared decades ago. But the spirit of one man’s will to live still exists as a genuine keepsake in every one of those 80-pound blocks he stacked in a circle to make his walls.” – Sonny Brewer
The Poet of Tolstoy Park book is available at Page & Palette in Fairhope or from Amazon.
Project Status
The Owner, Ken Niemeyer, Has Donated the Structure to the City of Fairhope
City Will Provide Site, Signage, and Maintenance
Relocation Expenses Must Come from Outside Sources
Fundraising Campaign Launches
The Tolstoy Park Committee has launched a fundraising campaign directed to citizens, organizations, and major donors.
Donations Needed to meet matching FSTC contribution
A significant matching contribution by the Fairhope Single Tax Corporation (FSTC) has recently been announced. The FSTC will contribute $184,500, half of the project’s $369,000 goal, contingent on the community raising the remaining funds.
Help Move Tolstoy Park to Fairhope’s Flying Creek nature Preserve
Donate Today!
Instructions below
Remaining Amount Needed:
$163,151
Thank You In Advance for Your Contribution!
DONATE TO THE TOLSTOY PARK FUND
All funds will be used to relocate the historic Tolstoy Park Round House to the Flying Creek Nature Preserve.
You may donate online with a credit card through the Community Foundation’s secure website, or you may donate in person at City Hall with a check or credit card. To pay in-person, please visit City Hall or use their drive-thru. If donating with a check through City Hall, please make check payable to the City of Fairhope with “Tolstoy Park Fund” written in the memo line. For contributions mailed to City Hall, please use the following address:
City of Fairhope “Tolstoy Park Fund”
P.O. Drawer 429
Fairhope, AL 36533
DONATE TO THE TOLSTOY PARK FUND
You may pay by check or credit card. All funds will be used to relocate the historic Tolstoy Park Round House to the Flying Creek Nature Preserve.
Thank you for being a part of preserving this historic treasure!
Tolstoy Park Committee
Sonny Brewer and Richard Scott, Co-Chairmen
to pay by check:
Please make your check payable to the City of Fairhope with “Tolstoy Park Fund” written in check memo line.
Mail To:
City of Fairhope “Tolstoy Park Fund”
P.O. Drawer 429
Fairhope, AL 36533
You may also pay in-person by credit card at City Hall or the drive-thru.
To Pay through the Community Foundation:
You may pay online through the Fairhope/Point Clear Community Foundation by clicking on this link here or on the image below. The foundation will also accept checks on our behalf. To pay by check through the Community Foundation, please make your check payable to the Fairhope/Point Clear Community Foundation with “Tolstoy Park Fund” written in check memo line and mail to:
Fairhope/Point Clear Community Foundation
Tolstoy Park Fund
P.O. Box 990
Mobile, Alabama 36601
DONATE TO THE TOLSTOY PARK FUND
All funds will be used to Relocate the historic Tolstoy Park Round House to the Flying Creek Nature Preserve.
CHECK or CREDIT CARD
Make Your Check Payable To The City of Fairhope.
Send To:
City of Fairhope “Tolstoy Park Fund”
P.O. Drawer 429
Fairhope, AL 36533
Please put “Tolstoy Park Fund” in check memo line.
You may also pay by check or credit card in-person at City Hall or through the Drive-Thru. You will receive a letter from the City of Fairhope thanking you for your tax-deductible donation.