Harlan & Anna Hubbard - Adventuring & Homesteading Inspiration

Surprised to search permies and not find mention of Harlan & Anna Hubbard, they were homesteaders at a place they named Payne Hollow. (just uphill from the Ohio River(bank)  named Payne Landing in Trimble County Kentucky)

Harlan was a Thoreau disciple who lived an entire 88 year life structured upon joy in nature and and hard work and the freedom to experience it as much as possible.

At a young age, I dreamed of being an artist...

Ideas ripened, and I saw cleavage between the world and nature.

Everyone I knew accepted the world and bondage to it without question.

Was I alone in wanting to live a free and joyous life on this fair earth?  - Harlan Hubbard

I had no theories to prove. I merely wanted to try living by my own
hands, independent as far as possible from a system of division of
labor in which the participant loses most of the pleasure of making
and growing things for himself. I wanted to bring in my own fuel and
smell its sweet smoke as it burned on the hearth I had made. I wanted
to grow my own food, catch it in the river, or forage after it. In short,
I wanted to do as much as I could for myself, because I had already
realized from partial experience the inexpressible joy of so doing.
- Harlan Hubbard (Chapter 2 of Shantyboat)  

Harlan was an artist, writer, homebuilder, boatbuilder, & homesteader.

Anna was a musician, writer & homesteader.

Theirs is a unique love story and worth your time and your kids' time to hear their story...

While dating Anna, Harlan built a house for his mom, in Brent, KY (across the Ohio River from Cincinnati, OH). Laid the stone foundation himself. He was a struggling artist and earned extra money as a construction laborer. He even underpriced his labor to ensure loyalty from the people that hired him.

He loved the rivers near there (Ohio & Great Miami) and Anna encouraged him to build a Shantyboat (drifting houseboat) and they set off (with dogs Skipper and Sadie) to drift all the way to New Orleans (1,385 miles).

They did end up having to stop in the summers (when river flow slowed) and farm before shoving off to drift again. They even "summered" for 10 months in Natchez, MS.  

After reaching New Orleans, they loved the adventure so much that they purchased a little towboat and paid to lock through the Miss. River and explore the Bayous west of New Orleans (my old stomping grounds ~30 years afterwards).

It took a while, but they sold the houseboat & towboat for $679 in Morgan City, Louisiana and purchased their first and only automobile; a Dodge with a rebuilt engine, built a wooden trailer and set off on a 10 month roadway sojourn to the American West. They couldn't easily decide where to homestead, but eventually decided to return to Payne Landing.

For $300 (~7.4 oz of gold) in 1951, they purchased 7Ac of homestead land near the Ohio River bank where they spent their first summer aboard the Shantyboat.

“Anna and I were attracted by the very conditions which caused it to be abandoned. We are unique among its inhabitants, not farmers, nor fishermen nor shanty boaters in the accepted sense; yet closer to the earth than any of them, with true respect for the river and the soil, and for Payne Hollow. May it long remain as it is, not merely for our selfish enjoyment, but for the satisfaction it must give many people to know there is such a place. Few wild pockets are left along the river these days.”  —Harlan Hubbard from Payne Hollow: Life on the Fringe of Society.

You can read more about their adventures in each of the (4) books. And see Harlan's artwork in a few more. His woodcuts and sketches are my personal favorites. He used watercolors  to paint quick snapshots. A wonderful map based biography can be found here.

Every American kid would benefit from hearing their story. They always lived well below the poverty line but had an incredible life. And Harlan even built their house to accommodate Anna's grand piano.

His artwork now hangs in several museums and a non-profit raised  $500K+, purchased their homestead and is working to restore it. (Harlan willed it to a friend/artist, but it fell into disrepair)

Harlan was interviewed by a University of Louisville researcher and the archives of those interviews are available upon request for audio download.

Wendell Berry wrote a book entitled 'Harlan Hubbard'

Harlan foresaw that the American industrial revolution was a road filled with peril and wrote about it in his books.

Harlan's (4) books are:

Shantyboat - A river way of life

Shantyboat on the Bayous

Payne Hollow - Life on the Fringe of Society

A Shantyboat Journal

There is a VERY funny story in 'Shantyboat' where Harlan speaks to a census taker while they are drifting.

Hope you enjoy and take some inspiration from their story, that there is always a path to follow your dreams if you can build your skills along the way.

There is a documentary about their life entitled 'Wonder' (Anna's middle name)
Here is a clip:

Here's a nice synopsis of all that I wrote above (and what I was trying to articulate) (~12:30 - 13:30):

And a sweet excerpt from the documentary creator on the Shantyboat design & construction. Good info for design considerations for any home.

Thank you for posting about the Hubbard's....great thread!

I don't remember ever reading about them and will try to find Wendell Berry's book at our library and Harlan's also...the woodcuts seem familiar 🤔
I'm unable to watch videos with limited data on my cell phone.

Good morning Judith!

I'm pleased to hear your interest is piqued; I hope you are inspired to share with your kids and grandkids!

Here is a wonderful (bandwidth friendly ) piece that describes What it was like to spend time in their company at

https://smallboatsmonthly.com/article/harlan-anna-hubbard-shantyboat/

And another well-crafted essay about a 2025 visit to Payne Hollow:

https://22rivers.com/2025/08/01/a-return-to-harlan-and-anna-hubbards-payne-hollow/

Cheers!
JP

PS Will send you a PM as welll.

I enjoyed reading Shantyboat and Payne Hollow and I'm pretty sure they've been talked about a little bit around here.

Thanks Christopher, very pleased to hear you enjoyed (2) of Harlan's books.

I am still new to Permies, and I just did a basic search and came up with zero hits. So I figured I'd start a thread devoted to them.

Harlan's story is incredibly inspirational for both adventurers and homesteaders and I enjoyed contemplating how Anna really encouraged him to build the boat and married him to join the adventure.

I hope you have time and  enjoy reading the short article links I posted as well. Interesting to hear how kind and hospitable they were.  

Did anything in those two books inspire you in a concrete way?

Cheers,
JP

J.P. Waters wrote:I just did a basic search and came up with zero hits. So I figured I'd start a thread devoted to them.

Good idea! I'm getting the same search results so either my memory or the search engine is borked -- probably me.

I found 'Shantyboat on the Bayous' at our local library this morning so I'm exploring Louisiana first rather than beginning in Ohio

I haven't checked the ebook library yet.

Hope you enjoy!

There is a scene in that book where a local is yellling at him and waving his arms across a waterway.

He is sure Harlan is a spy.

Harlan goes directly to him in his boat and works it out face to face and they become friends.

In Louisiana Bayous, people usually carry guns, but that didn't deter Harlan.

He usually finds an elegant solution to each problem.

While looking for the book I stumbled upon this PBS series.  I haven't watched it yet but I thought I would pass it along:

https://www.pbs.org/video/harlan-hubbard-nsk4oi/

Thanks for posting Ed!

I especially liked that they had several perspectives and more detail about Anna. And Harlan's spoken word (which is not too easy to find)

Anna's love and admiration made all the difference for Harlan, I'm sure.

More books and films about them is always good, thanks again!

I'm thoroughly enjoying Harlen Hubbard's first Shanty boat book 'a river way of life'.
Thank you so much for this thread about them JP.

I can't believe Steve and I had never read any of his books nor were aware of he and Anna.
The forward by Wendell Berry is priceless!