Nick Connell: A cave hermit’s artful past
What started out as a legend is turning into a book about former Nashua/Hudson resident Nick Connell (1921-1994) who hand-dug a cave in a Southern California seaside park and lived there in secrecy for 20 years.
Connell’s achievement was long considered a tall tale until San Diego historian Jack Innis came across a handful of old photographs taken by “Nick the Hermit” at Torrey Pines State Nature Reserve. Further research confirmed that Connell began digging his cave in 1971 and expanded it over the years into a two-room 120-square-foot artist’s sanctuary. The hermit’s cave art chiefly comprised bas relief carvings on the interior sandstone walls, hand painted in vibrant colors. State park authorities eventually caught on and filled the cave with concrete in 1991. Connell’s art was forever entombed.
Innis is writing a book about this colorful New Hampshire native, his art, and the cave. He is working with Ruth Parker at the Hudson Historical Society and would like to contact any relatives who may be living in the Nashua/Hudson vicinity.
Innis may be contacted at 619-359-4368, via his website jackinnis.com, or through the Hudson Historical Society.
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- In this undated photo, Nick Connell shows physique that earned him the title of Mr. New Hampshire in 1948. (Photo courtesy Jack Innis)
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- In this circa 1986 photo, an unidentified visitor sits in Nick Connell’s hand-dug, religious art-covered cave at Torrey Pines State Nature Reserve in San Diego, California. Connell, who grew up in Nashua and Hudson, secretly occupied the cave for 20 years. His stay ended in 1991 when authorities filled the cave with concrete and permanently buried Connell’s art. (Photo courtesy Jack Innis)
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