A National Historic Landmark, the Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings house and grounds is nestled between a quiet country road and Lake Orange. The homestead is completely restored and preserved as it was in the 1930s including a barn, tenant house, orange grove, seasonal garden and nature trail.
The house at Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Historic State Park is a prime example of Cracker architecture, an adaption to the interior North Florida climate developed by pioneers in the 1850’s. Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings called this Florida backwoods homestead her “place of enchantment”. This is where she wrote “The Yearling” and “Cross Creek”. “The Yearling” received the 1939 Pulitzer Prize for fiction and was made into a movie starring Jane Wyman and Gregory Peck. The Yearling is a vivid portrait of the scenic and unique interior North Florida “Cracker” country and its people seen through the eyes of a 12-year-old boy living with his parents in the 1930’s. “Cross Creek” is Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings’ memoir.
The farmhouse reopens for guided tours October 1, 2021.
