Noah John Rondeau was born in July 1883 in the old Dewyer house. The Dewyer house on Jackson Hill, 4 miles easternly from the fork of the Ausable River, among the Sylvan Hills of Clinton County, New York. Before Noah ran away from home, he lived in this house for the first 15 years of his life.
Peter and Alice (Corrow) Rondeau were Noah's parents and he was the oldest 9 children. Noah had many trades that he learned such as: barbering, painting, carpentering, and mason work. However, he is most remembered for being an Adirondack hermit.
On a high bluff high over the end of Cold River Flow is where Noah lived in the little town he made, population 1. What an extraordinary man NJR must have been to tough out those hard Adirondack winters by himself. Don't get me wrong, he had many people hike miles to his town to see him and listen to his stories. Also, food packages were often dropped by airplane to help see him through the hard times.
During those long winter months two journels were kept. One of those was written in English, while the other one was written in a code. (To this day it has not been decoded, per my knowledge.) Noah had no need to cut fire wood because he actually use some of his buildings that he rebuilt each spring. Some of the buildings were in a kind of "tepee" shape. He would put notches into the wood at a desired length so all NJR had to do when he needed more fire wood was to take a log and knock it against a tree to break it at the notch.
Noah John Rondeau passed away in the Lake Placid Hospital, August 1967. He is buried in North Elba Cemetery, near Lake Placid, and a regular stone from his home on Cold River marks his grave.

Noah John Rondeau lead his life the way he wanted to and there is so much more information on him. If you are interested in learning more I would suggest reading the book: NOAH JOHN RONDEAU ADIRONDACK HERMIT by Maitland C. De Sormo. Or you could visit the Adirondack Museum at Blue Mountain Lake, New York. The museum has a wonderful exhibit on NJR including a wooden statue, cabin, belongings, and a journel in his code.