FAIRHOPE -  The bidding process to move the historic Round House in Montrose ended on Tuesday, Aug. 11, bringing the relocation efforts another step closer to reality.

Currently located in an office building parking lot along U.S. 98 East, the Round House, also known as the "Hermit Hut," was built by Henry Stuart, an Englishman who immigrated to the United States as a child. Despite its hermit moniker, Stuart welcomed more than 1,300 visitors during his time living there. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.

With the 100th anniversary of the last brick being put in place on Oct. 23 approaching, the project aims to move the Round House to the Flying Creek Nature Preserve, located on the east side of Main Street in Fairhope. Local author Sonny Brewer, who wrote the 2005 novel "The Poet of Tolstoy Park," which is about Stuart and the house, is also co-chairman of the Tolstoy Park Committee, a community organization leading the efforts to relocate the house. The organization reached their fundraising goal of $369,000 in November 2025.

The City of Fairhope began receiving bids for the project on June 12, lasting until Aug. 11. Brewer gave details of the bidding process in a newsletter sent Aug. 12, saying that morning, the city clerk opened letters for five bids proposing to move the Round House.

"I was nervous," Brewer said 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 bids, Brewer said the third one, a bid from an undisclosed company from Fairhope, was "right on the money!"

"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.'"

According to Brewer, it now heads to Fairhope City Council, where he expects a vote on the matter during their next meeting on Aug. 24, with city leaders having previously voiced support for relocating the Round House.