Historic House Tour

a side view of a yellow and green house surrounded by orange and palm trees

Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Historic State Park

Tours are available Thursday through Sunday at 10 a.m., 11 a.m., 1 p.m., 2 p.m. and 3 p.m.

There is no fee for tours. Donations are welcome.

Have you ever wondered what it might have been like to have lived in rural Florida in the 1930s, when there was no air conditioning, no TV and no internet? Well, wonder no more! A great example of early 20th-century farm life waits you at Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Historic State Park.

A tour of the idyllic farmhouse where famous author Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings lived and wrote her eight books and numerous short stories about local Florida culture is like taking a step back in time.

a park ranger in period clothing talks to a large tour group outside underneath palm trees

The tour begins at the barn - an exact replica of Marjorie’s original - where a seasoned tour guide welcomes you and provides background stories and information to get your journey back in time started. Follow your guide for a short walk through the orange grove to the front door and porch of the farmhouse. Marjorie did most of her writing on the porch, sitting at the small table made from cypress boards and cabbage palm trunks, and taking breaks on her daybed during the long summer days.

Stepping into the living room, you’ve entered the original cracker home built in 1884. You will feel as if at any moment Marjorie might come in from another room to greet you, the way she greeted many guests over her two decades at her Cross Creek home.

a vase of red flowers and a typewriter sit on a small wooden table with chairs

Walk through the dining room and kitchen wing added at the turn of the century, and hear stories about Marjorie's famous heavy Southern cooking. Walk through a breezeway to the bedroom wing, originally a two-room tenant house, brought in and added on to the farmhouse in 1925. Movie star Gregory Peck in addition to many other distinguished guests slept in the tiny bed you see here.

Each room has its own charm, original furnishings and a unique story to tell. By the end of the tour, you will walk away a little more knowledgeable about life in 1930s Florida and the fascinating woman who wrote such classics as "The Yearling," and with the certain feeling that Marjorie herself was your guide.