Inspiration Fieldtrip: Cross Creek

One great way to get inspiration for writing is to read the work of other writers you admire.  On a recent trip to Washington Oaks State Park, I bought "Cross Creek" and "The Yearling," hoping I could get a lot of inspiration for my own writing.  I started reading Cross Creek and instantly fell in love, and started planning a fieldtrip there.

Then, as providence would have it, my family got the opportunity to stay at a cabin in Interlachen, and guess what was only 45 min. away?  Cross Creek!  It took a lot of convincing, but finally our whole family headed out for the day.  There's a State Park, where you can walk on nature trails, walk through a small citrus grove, see the barn, garden, tenant house, and even take a tour of her old cracker-style house.

She was a college graduate, married twice, had no kids, wrote 10 books and 26 short stories, and died at the young age of 57 from a brain hemorrhage.  Even though she's lived in in various places throughout the US, it is clear that her time at Cross Creek was special, and I can see why.  She wrote her best works here, among the orange trees, dirt roads, and wildlife.

She wanted to pass this inspirational gift to others- and bequeathed her property to Rollins College to be used as a writers retreat.  Unfortunately, that dream would never be realized.  But as a National Park, writers like me can at least visit and be inspired.


"Enchantment lies in different things for each of us.  For me, it is in this: to step out of the bright sunlight into the shade of orange trees; to walk under the arched canopy of their jadelike leaves, to see the long aisles of lichened trunks stretch ahead in geometric rhythm; to feel the mystery of a seclusion that yet has shafts of light striking through it.  This is the essence of an ancient and secret magic." - Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings