Cross Creek

May 2, 2013
I never rode back to the Marjorie K Rawlings historic exhibit the next morning from the Holiday Motel in Ocala. Instead, I took Cousin Ralph up on his offer to drive me there from his house, which is only 88 miles away. If I got there before noon I could avoid the rain.

I was dressed for rain; Even had the rain cover on the pack. Let 'er rip, I thought. But I knew from experience this preparation was the best way to avoid rain. Many is the time I went through the cumbersome ritual and it never rained a drop. I was therefore surprised when it began to drizzle off and on during the two hour ride south on crowded Interstate 75 where about 15 miles shy of my exit I saw northbound traffic at a standstill. The presence of two or three state troopers, lights flashing, indicated a wreck but I saw no wreck. Maybe one of those sink holes I've been hearing about claimed a few cars?

Cousin Ralph, whom I'd never met but have corresponded with via email for several years, had invited me to stay as long as I liked at his home in Thonotosassa, a suburb of Tampa. (It took me several years to be able to spell the name of his town, much less speak it.) Ralph, a native of Kansas, came to Florida around 1960 and obviously knows the area quite well. He has plans to show it to me over the next few days from the comfort of four wheels, starting tomorrow.

Ocala To Thonotosassa (88 Miles)

May 2, 2003
First on our list was to return north and finally put to rest the elusive mission I was on to visit Cross Creek.

Ralph admitted, though he is familiar with the backroads around Tampa, and the one we were traveling back to Ocala, he'd never been to Cross Creek. I expounded on the virtures of my Garmin GPS, but he was skeptical about trusting the device, which I plugged into his cigarette lighter outlet and consulted as we made our way north through small towns and farmland.

Cross Creek, not being a town exactly, wasn't available so I had to choose something nearby for a destination to enter into the Garmin. I remembered a town called Micanopy, near Cross Creek, that I rode through the previous day, so put that as our destination. Surely, that would lead us to Cross Creek. It didn’t.

I could go on and on here, explaining the reason we got lost but the blow by blow details would be boring..... suffice it to say, four miles from our target, we had to stop and ask directions. For those of you who are thinking …. “You were just there the previous day and you can’t find the way back???” …. My attempt to do just that put us on the wrong road. There are several roads and they all look alike, okay? … i.e asphalt and yellow lines, etc.

"You won't find us on your GPS," said the tour guide at the Marjorie K Rawlings site as he began his riveting narration of this subtle moment in history when a “citified” New Jersey couple, both aspiring novelists, came to and fell in love with Florida during a vacation. At least Marjorie did. She proved to be a natural in taking to the hard country life of the 1930’s. Her husband not so much, especially when their newly purchased 72-acre orange grove, which was to be their livelihood (they weren’t writers yet), went bust along with the rest of the country, for they had arrived shortly before the start of the Great Depression. While Charles Rawlings couldn’t handle the added burden of poverty in the already hard circumstances of living off the land, Marjorie thrived. They divorced. He returned north. She stayed. (The movie version, showing Marjorie arriving in Florida alone, is wrong, said our guide.)

The home-grown folks of the nearby swamps didn’t take kindly to Marjorie at first, most likely considering her a "prissy and snooty Yankee" ... but after seeing her hard work and steadfast resourcefulness in overcoming one hardship after another they gained respect for her and became best of friends.

Marjorie's orange grove eventually began to provide a livable income and she was able to concentrate on her true passion, writing. But her efforts in the romance genre wasn't thought publishable by her editor. Instead, he was fascinated by her letters, giving account of daily life in Cross Creek, and told her if she could write “like this” it would sell. So it was, from her surroundings and the people who shared her life, a story for the ages emerged. Marjorie Rawlings’ 1938 novel, “The Yearling,” won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction the following year. The 1946 movie version made her famous.

Eventually, Marjorie remarried --- hotelier Norton Baskin who lived 44 years after Marjorie’s death from a cerebral hemorrhage in 1953 at the age of 57. Recognizing early on their historical worth, Baskin put the home's furnishings in storage and, consistent with Marjorie’s wishes, donated most of the property to the University of Florida in nearby Gainesville where Marjorie taught Creative Writing. The Rawlings home (containing the original furnishings previously stored by Baskin) and surrounding grounds are now maintained as a State Historic Park.

Click here for more of the story: Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings

The Movie:  Cross Creek

Cousin Ralph's Tourmobile

Ralph Collecting Maps For Us



Entering The Marjorie K Rawlings Property

 

Chickens Are Maintained On The Premises

 

Spanish Moss Hanging On Left

 

Guided Tour Starts At The Barn

 

Our Tour Guide Captivated Us For An Approximate Hour
With Non Stop Stories About Marjorie K Rawlings' Life At Cross Creek

Our Guide Points Out A Baby Orange

Dressed In Period Attire Is One Of The Tour Guides
At The Marjorie K Rawlings Historical Site

This Rusting Shell Of A 1942 Oldsmobile,
Similar To One Owned By Marjorie Rawlings,
Was Donated To The Historical Site



The Screened Front Porch

Tools Of The Trade

Rawlings' 1939 Pulitzer Prize Winning Novel, The Yearling
Is Among Her Body Of Work On Display Inside The House



Rawlings'  Memoirs, Cross Creek,
Was Published In 1942

 

Marjorie Often Entertained Guests In Her Dining Room And
Always Sat Facing The Window To Spare Her Guests
The Embarrassing View Of The Outhouse

The Red Flag Was A "In Use" Signal To Those Waiting

Our Guide Explaining The Broom Made From Corn Husks

Real Eggs In The Kitchen

As Mentioned By Our Tour Guide,
This Lady Was Prepared To (and did) Separate
From Each Of Us $6.00 At The Tour's Conclusion



In Her Bedroom Is This Portrait Of
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, c1918