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MY
VISIT TO MARJORIE KINNAN RAWLINGS FARM IN CROSS CREEK,
FLORIDA
At a glance it is like you are entering a
land of enchantment from some fairy tale. Trees dripping with
Spanish Moss and wild flowers in the most unexpected places.
After parking in the designated area we walked down a winding
path. At the end of the path is a lovely 'cracker' house with
red and yellow trumpet flowers growing in abundance next to
the house, filling the air with the sweetest fragrance. A
friendly guide came out to greet us. THE TOUR began on the
large screened in front porch (see photo album). The guide
told us 'Marjorie' did most of her writing on this poach. On
the porch was a single bed, table (a piece of round wood over
the trunk of a sawed off palm tree), chairs (the seats on the
chairs were stretched raw hide) and her 'relic' typewriter on
the table. The guide continues," At times 'Majories' writing
was so prolific, she would stay on the porch working 15 hours
a day.
We entered the living room with the guide
explaining, When 'Majorie' bought the house there were
electric wires
hanging from the ceiling with bare bulbs.
She purchased wooden salad bowls and had holes drilled on the
edge of the bowls, attached chains in the holes and ran the
chains to the ceiling, creating pleasant indirect lighting
that was effective and inexpensive. There is a small room
(like a cloak room) directly off the living room. She put in
dutch doors and made a bar out of it (some of the empty
bottles are still there). Our guide told us, famous writers
and statesmen were visitors to this quaint place. "Poppa"
Hemingway was one of them.
THE TOUR GROUP entered
a hallway and proceeded to the the 'famous bath room' (*ref-
front page). This was the first indoor plumbing in Cross
Creek. When her bathroom was completed, she had a party to
invite her neighbors to see an indoor bathroom. She covered
the washstand with a wooden board and set her glasses and
bottles on top. She filled the tub with ice, sodas and alcohol
(which had to be secreted, it was still probition) and she put
long stem roses in her newly acquired commode.
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