Main Page - Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Historic State Park

A view of the Rawlings house surrounded by trees.

Manager's Message

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 1930's period attire will share her stories and farm life with you. Remember to wander through the citrus grove and see the newly restored tenant house, or wander the paths deeper into the woods.

The park is open daily from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. 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. 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.

Summer cleaning and restoration work on the house has been completed and we hope you will join us this fall or winter on a guided walk through the 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.

- Valerie Rivers, Park Manager

Welcome to Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Historic State Park

Visitors to this Florida homestead can walk back in time to 1930s farm life. 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 Crist in March of 2009. The United States Postal Service released a commemorative stamp in 2008 honoring Marjorie and the literary arts. In 2007 the Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings house and farm yard was designated as a National Historic Landmark. The National Historic Landmark designation is the highest such recognition accorded by our nation to historic properties determined to be of exceptional value in representing or illustrating an important theme, event or person in the history of the nation.

Contact the Florida Park Service Information Center for general inquiries.
For Information about Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Historic State Park, please call 352-466-3672.

Hours of Operation

Visitors may tour the house with a ranger Thursdays through Sundays, October through July (except for Christmas and Thanksgiving) at 10:00 a.m., 11:00 a.m. and 1:00, 2:00, 3:00, and 4:00 p.m. Tours at the park begin at the barn, walk through the farmyard and then through the historic house.

The farmyard, grove, and nature trails are open 9:00 a.m.to 5:00 p.m. daily, throughout the year.

Picnic facilities are located in the adjacent county park. Located in Cross Creek off County Road 325.

The park is open daily from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.