Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings – Home, Life and Impact on Florida
Before Rawlings, the rural interior of Florida was essentially invisible to the rest of America.
The country knew Florida vaguely as a place of swamps and citrus, but the people who lived in the backwoods scrub, the “Cracker” settlers, the moonshiners, the hunters, the small farmers, had no voice in American literature.
Rawlings changed that entirely. By the end of the 1930s, her descriptions of rural Florida were nationally known, and she had made north-central Florida a subject of genuine literary and cultural interest.
When did Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings move to Florida?
She and her first husband Charles Rawlings, received a modest inheritance after her mother died in 1923. They used that money in 1928 to buy a 72-acre orange grove near Cross Creek, sight unseen, hoping the citrus income would give them both financial independence and time to write.
Few writers have shaped how America sees a place the way Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings shaped perceptions of Florida.
Arriving at Cross Creek almost 100 years ago, she documented the land, the people, and the Cracker culture of the Florida scrub with such power and authenticity that her work won the Pulitzer Prize and remains required reading for Florida schoolchildren today.
How did Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings contribute to Florida?
The Florida land boom had already burst two years earlier in 1926, and the Great Depression hit a year after they arrived.
The orange grove turned out to be far more labor-intensive than either of them imagined. It was not the easy passive income they had hoped for.
But the real reason: escape and reinvention. Both Marjorie and Charles were struggling writers in Rochester, New York, with little success selling their work. Newspaper and journalism work was paying the bills but not satisfying either of them. Florida represented a fresh start and the freedom to write seriously.
What nobody planned for: Once she arrived, Marjorie fell completely in love with the land, the wildlife, and the Cracker people she encountered. What started as a financial scheme to fund her writing became the very subject of her writing. Cross Creek didn’t just give her time to write — it gave her something worth writing about.
In her own words from Cross Creek: “It seems to me that the earth may be borrowed but not bought. It may be used, but not owned. It gives itself in response to love and tending.”
The wilderness didn’t just call her there — it kept her there long after the practical reasons had faded.
Timeline – Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Life
1896 — Born August 8 in Washington, D.C.
1918 — Graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a major in English, elected to Phi Beta Kappa
1919 — Married college classmate and fellow writer Charles Rawlings
1919-1928 — Worked as a journalist and newspaper writer in Louisville, Kentucky and Rochester, New York, with little success selling her own work
1923 — Her mother died, leaving her a modest inheritance
1928 — Used inheritance to purchase a 72-acre orange grove near Cross Creek, Florida, sight unseen; moved there in November with Charles
1930 — Sold first significant works to Scribner’s Magazine — “Cracker Chidlings” and “Jacob’s Ladder” — coming to the attention of legendary editor Maxwell Perkins
1932 — Won the O. Henry Award for best short story for “Gal Young ‘Un”
1933 — Published first novel South Moon Under, shortlisted for the Pulitzer Prize; divorced Charles Rawlings
1935 — Published Golden Apples
1938 — Published The Yearling, which became the best-selling novel of the year
1939 — Won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for The Yearling
1940 — Published When the Whippoorwill
1941 — Married Norton Baskin, a St. Augustine hotelier
1942 — Published Cross Creek and Cross Creek Cookery, both became bestsellers
1943 — Norton Baskin joined the American Field Service, serving as an ambulance driver in the Burma/India theater of WWII; Marjorie ran both the farm and the hotel alone
1943 — Sued by Cross Creek neighbor Zelma Cason over her depiction in Cross Creek
1947 — Lawsuit finally resolved after four years
1953 — Published final novel The Sojourner
1953 — Died December 14 in St. Augustine from a cerebral hemorrhage at age 57
1955 — The Secret River published posthumously
1970 — Cross Creek farmhouse turned over to the State of Florida and became a state park
1987 — Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Society founded to foster scholarship around her work
1997 — Norton Baskin died and was buried alongside Marjorie at Antioch Cemetery, Island Grove, Florida
2006 — Cross Creek home named a National Historic Landmark
2008 — U.S. Postal Service issued a commemorative stamp honoring her literary career
2009 — Named a Great Floridian by the State of Florida
2025 — Inducted into the Florida Humanities Hall of Fame
Final Thoughts: Visiting Cross Creek
Cross Creek and the home of Rawlings is not difficult to find, but don’t expect a bustling tourist destination.
The park is on secondary roads that showcase the backroads of Florida. You can find it by taking State Route 346 east off US Route 441, which runs from Ocala, Florida to Gainesville, Florida. The road (346) will dead-end into State Route 325. Go south 4 miles to Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings State Park.
Nearby is Micanopy, a 200-year-old town known for antiques and a historic downtown district.
If you like Florida History and scenic roads into Florida’s cracker country, this is a trip for you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is the Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings homestead located?
The Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings homestead is located in Cross Creek, Florida, a tiny rural community situated on a narrow strip of land between Orange and Lochloosa Lakes, southeast of Gainesville in Alachua County. The address is 18700 S. County Road 325, Cross Creek, FL 32640.
When did Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings move to Cross Creek?
Rawlings and her first husband Charles Rawlings moved to Cross Creek in November 1928, purchasing a 72-acre orange grove sight unseen using a modest inheritance. It proved to be a life-changing decision that transformed her writing career.
What is the Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings homestead today?
The homestead is now the Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Historic State Park, a National Historic Landmark open to the public. Visitors can tour her original Florida Cracker-style farmhouse, the orange grove, barn, tenant house, and screened front porch where she wrote many of her works. Park docents still cook recipes from her cookbook on the original wood stove.
What famous novel did Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings write at Cross Creek?
Rawlings wrote The Yearling at her Cross Creek farmhouse, working at a typewriter on a table built by her first husband Charles Rawlings on the screened front porch. Published in 1938, The Yearling became the best-selling novel of that year and won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1939.
What award did Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings win for The Yearling?
The Yearling won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1939. It became an international bestseller, was translated into 29 languages, and was adapted into a major MGM film in 1946 starring Gregory Peck and Jane Wyman. It remains required reading for Florida schoolchildren today.
Who were some famous visitors to the Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings homestead at Cross Creek?
The homestead attracted some of the most celebrated figures of the 20th century, including Ernest Hemingway, Robert Frost, Margaret Mitchell, Thornton Wilder, Zora Neale Hurston, N.C. Wyeth, and Gregory Peck. Rawlings counted Hemingway and Hurston among her personal friends.
What other books did Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings write about Florida?
In addition to The Yearling, Rawlings wrote South Moon Under (1933), a tale of moonshiners in the Big Scrub that was shortlisted for the Pulitzer Prize; Cross Creek (1942), a beloved memoir about life at the Creek; and Cross Creek Cookery (1942), a cookbook inspired by her Florida recipes that remains in print today.
Was Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings a native Floridian?
No. Rawlings was born in Washington, D.C. on August 8, 1896, and graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1918. She lived in Louisville, Kentucky and Rochester, New York before moving to Florida in 1928. Despite not being a native, she immersed herself so deeply in Florida’s land and Cracker culture that she became the state’s most celebrated literary voice.
What was Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings’ connection to Florida’s Cracker culture?
Rawlings didn’t simply observe Florida Cracker culture from a distance — she lived it. She spent months at a time with families in the Big Scrub, hunted and fished with her neighbors, farmed her own citrus grove, and documented the dialect, customs, and daily hardships of rural Florida with dignity and authenticity. Her writing is credited with bringing national attention to a way of life that was largely invisible to the rest of America.
How did Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings die?
Rawlings died on December 14, 1953, in St. Augustine, Florida from a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 57. Historians note that years of heavy smoking and drinking, combined with the emotional toll of a five-year invasion of privacy lawsuit, likely contributed to her early death. She is buried at Antioch Cemetery in Island Grove, Florida.
Can you visit the Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings homestead?
Yes. The Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Historic State Park is open to the public daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Guided tours of the farmhouse interior are offered Thursday through Sunday at 10 a.m., 11 a.m., 1 p.m., 2 p.m., and 3 p.m. Admission is $3 per vehicle. The park grounds, farmyard, and trails are open daily.
What honors has Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings received?
Rawlings has received numerous honors recognizing her impact on Florida and American literature. The U.S. Postal Service issued a commemorative stamp in her honor in 2008. The State of Florida named her a Great Floridian in 2009. Her Cross Creek home was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2006. In 2025, she was inducted into the Florida Humanities Hall of Fame.
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