Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Historic State Park
Visitors to this Florida homestead can walk back in time to 1930s farm life where Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings lived and worked in the tiny community of Cross Creek. Her cracker style home and farm, where she lived for 25 years and wrote her Pulitzer prize-winning novel The Yearling, has been restored and is preserved as it was when she lived here.
Marjorie Rawlings was honored as a First Floridian by Governor Charlie Crist in March 2009. The United States Postal Service released a commemorative stamp in 2008 honoring Rawlings and the literary arts. In 2007, the Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings house and farm yard was designated as a National Historic Landmark. Visitors may tour the house with a ranger in period costume from October through July. Picnic facilities and a playground are located in the adjacent county park.A NOTE FROM THE MANAGER
Valerie Rivers
Welcome to the Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Historic State Park web site. As you travel around Florida, don't forget to stop where Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings found her home, her "place of enchantment." Rangers in 1930s period attire will share her stories and farm life with you. Remember to walk through the citrus grove, see the historic home and tenant house, and wander the paths around the garden and deeper into the woods.
The park is open daily from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Although you can see inside the historic home everyday, access inside is by guided tour only. Guided walks through the Rawlings home are offered on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays at 10:00 a.m., 11:00 a.m. and 1:00, 2:00, 3:00, and 4:00 p.m. from October through July. Tours are not offered on Thanksgiving or Christmas Days. Group tours can be scheduled, in advance, on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Reservations are required for group tours. To make reservations or for more information, call (352)466-3672.
We hope you will join us soon on a guided walk through Rawlings' old Cross Creek home. Pets are welcome to the park on a hand-held leash (so they won't chase the chickens and the ducks!), but visitors who take the tour of the house need to be able to carry their pet. And remember, it's the 1930s and we are not air-conditioned or heated, so dress for the weather.
Come back into the past and visit us at Cross Creek. Relax, take a deep breath and explore an old farm. We look forward to seeing you this year.
GETTING HERE
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Historic State Park is located in Cross Creek, between Gainesville and Ocala, off County Road 325.
GET INVOLVED
Volunteer - Volunteers assist in many ways at Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Historic State Park. They greet visitors, provide guided tours through the historic farm house, help maintain the grounds, gardens, buildings and artifacts or work with the Friends of the M.K. Rawlings Farm, Inc. These volunteers create special events, conduct fundraising activities, manage special projects, coordinate grant requests and management and help maintain good contacts within the community. Volunteers are a critical part in the operation and maintenance of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Historic State Park.
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