The Hermit of Fowler’s Cut

Mrs. Eleanor Stroud Evans gave a typewritten account of her memories of Tom Fowler to the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center. Mr. Fowler was known as “The Hermit of Fowler’s Cut.”  Well recognized for his long, flowing beard, during the summer, he lived in a houseboat in an area close to Big Island known as Fowler’s Cut. In the winter, he lived in an old shack on Big Island. 

During the fall season, he rented boats to hunters and fishermen. Mrs. Evans stated that old Tom Fowler “had a way” with animals. Ferrets would cling to Tom’s neck or perch on his head; hunting dogs obeyed every command that Tom gave them.  Tom trained hunting dogs for Dr. Clarence Stroud, the grandfather of Eleanor Evans, and also for the family of Allen Stroud, Eleanor’s father. Tom showed members of the Stroud family how to set traps for muskrats and fox, as well as how to handle the duck boats that he rented. Eleanor said that Mr. Fowler could have had a business in training hunting dogs, but he did not want to do anything that would attract too many people to his place.

According to the 1920 U.S. Census for Erie County, Thomas Fowler was born about 1856 in England. He emigrated to the United States around 1872, and became a naturalized citizen. An obituary, found in the 1927 Obituary Notebook at the Sandusky Library, stated that he had lived in the Sandusky area for forty seven years. He died at his residence at River Avenue, at Big Island, on July 25, 1927, and was buried at Oakland Cemetery. Mrs. Eleanor Evans wrote that Tom Fowler had been a fixture in the eastern portion of Sandusky Bay, and the East End would never be quite the same without “Old Tom.”