81-Year-Old New Hampshire Veteran Forced From Cabin After 27 Years By 2016 Complaint
NEW HAMPSHIRE – David Lidstone, 81, has lived in a modest home with solar panels in the forests of New Hampshire along the Merrimack River for nearly three decades. He has grown his own food, cut his own firewood, and looked after his chickens and cat.
His off-the-grid existence, though, appears to be in jeopardy.
Boaters and kayakers know him as “River Dave,” and he’s been accused of squatting on private property in Canterbury for the past 27 years. Lidstone has been in custody since July 15 on a civil contempt charge as the landowner attempts to demolish the cabin.
“You came with your guns, you arrested me, brought me in here, you’ve got all my possessions. You keep ’em,” he told a judge at a hearing Wednesday. “I’ll sit here with your uniform on until I rot, sir.”
Jodie Gedeon, a kayaker who encountered Lidstone around 20 years ago, is organizing a petition drive and collecting money to cover property taxes.
“He’s just a really, really, big caring guy, and just chooses to live off the grid,” she said. “It really is about humanity, it really is about compassion, empathy … he’s not hurting anybody.”
Judge Andrew Schulman of Merrimack County Superior Court agreed that Lidstone isn’t harming anyone, but stated the law is plainly on the landowner’s side. His house is in violation of municipal, state, and federal zoning and environmental restrictions, and there is no road access.
Lidstone claims that an owner offered him his word — but nothing in writing — that he could live there years ago. However, he is a squatter in the eyes of the present owner and must vacate.
According to a complaint filed in 2016, property owner Leonard Giles, 86, of South Burlington, Vermont, had no idea Lidstone was there until the town administrator discovered it in 2015 and informed him, expressing concern “with regard to the solid and septic waste disposal and the potential zoning violations created by the structure.”
Lidstone insisted his cabin is a hunting and fishing camp, not a home. He currently doesn’t have an attorney. He is a U.S. Air Force veteran who has made money as a woodsman.
“What they’re doing to him isn’t right for anybody, whether he’s my brother or anybody’s brother,” Lidstone’s brother said. “He’s 81 years old. Leave him alone.”
“We lived in the woods,” he said. “We camped, fishing, hunting. The three of us (him and a cousin) did everything together for a lot of years.”
Lidstone is unsure of where he’ll end up after the legal battle.
Hours after River Dave appeared at court for a hearing, WMUR-TV reported that the cabin where River Dave was living in caught fire:
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