The long-running effort to relocate Fairhope’s historic Round House cleared a major hurdle on Tuesday, Aug. 11, when the City of Fairhope closed the bidding process for the project, moving the beloved local landmark one step closer to a new home.
The Round House, often called the “Hermit Hut,” currently sits in an office building parking lot along U.S. 98 East in Montrose. It was built nearly a century ago by Henry Stuart, an Englishman who immigrated to the United States as a child and later lived out his later years in the small, circular structure in the Fairhope area then known as Tolstoy Park. Though Stuart lived as a recluse, he was hardly isolated: more than 1,300 visitors are said to have stopped by during his years there. The Round House earned a spot on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.
A Community-Driven Push to Save a Landmark
The relocation project is being led by the Tolstoy Park Committee, a community organization co-chaired by Fairhope author Sonny Brewer, who wrote the 2005 novel “The Poet of Tolstoy Park” based on Stuart’s life and his time in the Round House. The committee reached its fundraising goal of $369,000 in November 2025 after roughly two years of community fundraising efforts.
The push to move the structure comes as the 100th anniversary of the Round House’s completion approaches. Stuart is said to have set the last brick on Oct. 23, a milestone the committee hopes to honor as the relocation moves forward. The plan calls for the Round House to be moved to the Flying Creek Nature Preserve, located on the east side of Main Street in Fairhope, giving the historic hut a permanent and publicly accessible home.
Five Bids, One Clear Choice
The City of Fairhope began accepting bids for the physical move on June 12, with the window closing Aug. 11. In a newsletter sent to supporters on Aug. 12, Brewer described the moment the bids were opened, saying the city clerk unsealed letters from five different companies proposing to relocate the structure.
“I was nervous,” Brewer wrote in the newsletter. “Sometimes, in my passion and intensity to save it, I have to be reminded that I am not Henry Stuart, and the Round House is not mine. So, with Bobby at my feet under the conference table, I held my breath as the city clerk’s letter opener came out to get inside the sealed envelopes.”
Of the five proposals, Brewer said the third bid, submitted by an undisclosed Fairhope-based company, stood out immediately. “Right on the money!” he called it in the newsletter.
“This move is going to happen,” Brewer said. “After two years of fundraising efforts — with a company from Fairhope, mind you! — a contract can be signed to ‘get’er done.'”
What Comes Next
With the bidding process complete, the project now heads to the Fairhope City Council, where Brewer expects a vote as soon as the council’s next meeting on Aug. 24. City leaders have previously expressed support for relocating the Round House, and a favorable vote would clear the way for a contract to be signed and the physical move to begin.
For a structure that has stood along U.S. 98 for generations, the move to Flying Creek Nature Preserve would mark a new chapter — one that supporters hope will preserve Stuart’s unusual legacy for future generations of Fairhope residents and visitors alike.