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| Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings |
― Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Cross Creek
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| Cross Creek, Florida |
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| Author of the Yearling, |
-Elbert Hubbard
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings was the famed author of the Yearling and Cross Creek, both of which were made into movies. She and her husband were New Yorkers, city type, not country folk. But Marjorie found an orange grove for sale and decided they could move South and she could write. At the time Florida was not the easiest of places to love, mosquitoes, snakes, sand and shell roads, no air-conditioning, and hurricanes. Her husband did not last long, but Marjorie relished the her new life. She was a character, hard drinker, assertive woman, hunter, fisher and strong woman. The local country folk had not a clue how to deal with her, especially when she begin to write about them in a not so flattering way. Leaving New York behind, the social life, and civilized world changed her writing and her focus. She adapted and ran a successful orange grove, learned to put up marmalade, shoot rattlesnakes, and cook for all her friends who dared to come visit. Her life reflected her art, and her art reflected her life.
Her home now is a state park that you can visit. It is set up to look as if she still lives there and just walked out the door. You can go to the Yearling restaurant near by and have Florida Cracker food, like turtle and alligator. And you can drive the back roads through the oak canopies with moss hanging low. You can walk through her orange grove and almost think you hear typing on the front porch. I often stop when I am driving out of the state or back in....it can be a bit on my way. I also taught the last 12 years at a school named after her Rawlings Elementary, a writing focus school.
I think for all of us visual artists, writers, actors, dancers or musicians...our lives are our art...it is our way of life.....and aren't we so very fortunate!
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