Honoring the legacy of Pulitzer-prize profitable novelist Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, this state park encompasses the homestead she lived on between 1928 and 1953.
Throughout these years, she penned many books and articles and entertained winter guests whereas sustaining productive orange groves.
Marjorie’s homesteadMost guests come to tour her residence, the place guides re-create the Forties as they clarify her influence on each her residence neighborhood and the literary world.
A lesser-known facet of the park is its two nature trails, one exploring her beloved lakefront “Jungle,” the opposite by the footprint of her orange grove.
Quotes from Marjorie add which means to the Jungle PathSources
Overview
Location: Cross CreekLength: 1.5 milesTrailhead: 29.480430, -82.160259Address: 18700 S CR 325, Cross CreekFees: $3 per groupRestroom: On the trailheadLand Supervisor: Florida State ParksPhone: 352-466-3672
Grounds open 9-5 each day. Home excursions provided Wed-Solar. Leashed pets welcome, however not within the residence. Decide up after your pet.
Instructions
In regards to the Park
On tour days, costumed guides clarify what life was like in Cross Creek when Marjorie sat on the entrance porch and typed the drafts of her novels.
Probably the most well-known of them was The Yearling, which grew to become an Oscar-winning movie.
A breezy place to put in writingSet in what stays of her authentic orange grove, this dogtrot Cracker residence gives some quirks particular to its northern resident.
Considered one of these is the “liquor cupboard” with firewater on prime and firewood on the underside. She additionally used inverted mixing bowls as ornamental fixtures for lights.
Christmas at Marjorie’s homeCary Grant, Spencer Tracy, and plenty of others stayed in Marjorie’s visitor room. Her husband Norton Baskin, a neighborhood hotelier, and he or she entertained many legends.
On days when excursions aren’t accessible, wandering the homestead offers you the texture of Cross Creek within the late Forties.
Marjorie’s kitchen backyardWatch the chickens peck at corn, and peek into the tenant cabin. Or take a hike on the pathways the place Marjorie used to stroll to Orange Lake and to her orange grove.
Parking for this park is shared with a county park offering entry to Orange Lake.
Kate Barnes Park has a ship ramp and financial institution fishing in addition to restrooms, a playground, and picnic pavilions.
Kate Barnes ParkHike
Pay your price on the stroll in entrance adjoining the kiosk and enter the park through an authentic gate within the fence.
The primary of a lot of quotes from Marjorie’s written works is displayed on a signboard below the oak cover.
Getting into Marjorie’s worldStroll again in time by strolling out from the oak hammock into the sunshine on a worn sand path right into a grassy clearing defining the homestead.
Cabbage palms rise above a mattress of coontie with a Nationwide Historic Landmark marker.
A step into Previous FloridaThe primary of many benches sits in a puddle of shade. On the fitting is the unique barn, the place seasonally, citrus from the groves could also be displayed.
It could have been packed into picket delivery crates below the shelter of this constructing. Rows of citrus timber stand close by.
The barnHead in direction of the entrance of the modest residence. Now restored, Marjorie’s beloved automobile sits within the shade of the carport.
The entry walkway results in a screened entrance porch. A indifferent adjoining constructing comprises bedrooms.
Marjorie’s residenceFlip in direction of the freeway and stroll out the entrance gate, crossing the highway to the other facet.
The Grove Path begins right here, 0.2 miles from the parking space. It tunnels into what stays of Marjorie’s Cross Creek Groves.
Palm fronds fill the understory beneath a cover of oaks and now-feral citrus timber, many bearing fruit in winter.
Begin of the Grove PathThe low cover dissipates in a transition to pines and oaks alongside the straightaway. Huge grapevines tangle below the timber.
Citrus and oaks seem once more because the path curves right into a hardwood hammock. Majestic mature reside oaks kind a excessive cover.
Citrus alongside the footpathLengthy, slender cabbage palms pressure for the sky. At 0.4 miles, bear proper at a path junction with a bench.
Begin a counterclockwise loop by this lush hammock. Cabbage palms and citrus thrive beneath the traditional reside oaks.
Close to Lake LochloosaThis stunning hammock stretches in direction of Lake Lochloosa, unseen within the distance however not far-off. Palm fronds body the footpath on a sweep previous one other bench.
Previous a cluster of oak trunks rising from a single level as sand reside oaks do and proceed alongside an apparent curve, finishing the loop by 0.6 miles.
Within the thick of the hammockFlip proper to exit alongside the Grove Path, jogging by yet another curve. The straightaway empties to CR 325 by 0.8 miles.
Cross the highway again to the homestead and stroll up the walkway behind the gate. If a tour is offered throughout your go to, it’s properly value your time.
Bedrooms for the houseStroll round the home to the fitting to look within the bed room home windows.
Circle round previous the outhouse to the kitchen backyard. Chickens could also be roaming free, pecking at pests.
Proceed round to the rooster coop and switch proper to start out the Jungle Path. Getting into the plush hammock, stroll in deep shade on a sand path.
Rooster coopMove small indicators with sketches and quotes from Marjorie about her beloved homestead. Don’t be shocked to see chickens scratching by the underbrush.
The cover lifts because the path edges nearer to Orange Lake, reaching a T intersection 0.9 miles into your stroll. Flip proper to comply with the Hammock Path.
Hammock Path junctionThis spur delves deeper into the fantastic pure great thing about this mature hammock. The excessive cover above is accented by the riotous progress surrounding the footpath.
Slipping between a thicket of cabbage palms, move under a large reside oak. The trail narrows, winding between palm fronds by twists and turns.
Shadowy hammockThickly lined in leaves, it reveals mild past the timber, reaching a bench at a group of stubby cypress knees at 1.1 miles.
That is the rim of the marshy Orange Lake basin, outlined by the grasses rising past treeline outdoors of the park fence.
Orange Lake floodplainFlip round and retrace this stunning stroll beneath the timber to the path junction with the signal pointing to the Tenant Home.
Proceed ahead for a stroll previous extra of Marjorie’s quotes inside the shady hammock, daylight illuminating thick draperies of Spanish moss above.
Alongside the pathwayEmerge at a small picket residence at 1.3 miles. Way more modest than Marjorie’s, it comprises a quilted mattress and eating room furnishings together with a woodstove for cooking and heat.
With an unscreened sitting porch, it sits on the very fringe of the small citrus grove adjoining her residence and barn.
Tenant residenceReturn to the rooster coop to stroll alongside the east facet of Marjorie’s residence, previous her water pump and kitchen steps.
Cross the grove to the sand entry path previous the barn to exit the homestead, reaching the parking space at 1.5 miles.
Exiting to the trailheadPath Map
Discover Extra!
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Exploring Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Historic State Park
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See our images from Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Historic State Park
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Articles collectively researched, written, and photographed by Sandra Pal & John Keatley, Florida authors and publishers of FloridaHikes.com.
