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• Wood Stove Cooking

  • When
    02/20/2026
  •  
    10:30 AM - 1:00 PM
  • Location
    Historic Farmhouse

  Experience the sights, smells and sounds of cooking on a wood-burning stove in the kitchen where Cross Creek Cookery was developed!  This event will provide visitors a chance to see our stove in action as staff and volunteers prepare delicious dishes.

  Historic House Tours, except the 1 PM tour, will be limited to twelve people each on Wood Stove Cooking days.  A sign-up sheet will be available in-person day-of.  All guests will be given a chance to visit the dining room and kitchen in small groups between 10:30 AM and 1 PM.  The 1 PM Historic House tour will be conducted as a walk-through tour.

  Event is free with paid park entry fee of $3.00 per vehicle.

  
  

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• Writer's Talks - Cracker Horses and Cattle

  • When
    02/28/2026
  •  
    1:30 PM - 3:00 PM
  • Location
    Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Historic State Park

  

  Join us in welcoming Carol Matthews Gillen as she discusses her latest book, Cracker Horses and Cattle: A History of Florida’s Heritage Breeds. Carol will read excerpts from her book, which is a galloping romp through the long history of Florida's cracker horses and cattle. This is certain to be a fun and educational experience, which will hopefully encourage you to learn more about this fascinating part of Florida’s history. Carol will have her books for sale, and you will have an opportunity to meet Cazadora, her Florida Cracker Horse.

  About the Author:

  Carol Matthews taught elementary school for forty years. A graduate of Ohio University, her love of history began at an early age, when she would search for arrowheads after the annual spring plowing of her father’s corn fields. The last seventeen years of her teaching career were spent in a small agricultural town in Florida called Indiantown in western Martin County, where she discovered an unlikely history mentor in the form of a spunky cattle rancher, well known as simply Miss Iris in her circle throughout the state. Carol was Martin County’s Teacher of the Year in 2008 and is a member of the Florida Cracker Horse and Cracker Cattle Associations. Cracker Horses and Cattle: A History of Florida’s Heritage Breeds is her third book on Florida History.

  
  

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• Writer's Talk - Cultural Sites of North Florida

  • When
    03/14/2026
  •  
    1:30 PM - 3:00 PM
  • Location
    Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Historic State Park - Tenant House

  

  Join us as Ronnie Lovler and Dixie Nielson discuss their new book, Cultural Sites of North Florida: A Backroads Guide to Small Museums and Other Local Treasures.

  Cultural Sites of Florida highlights 43 intriguing, little-known destinations in the northern part of the Florida peninsula that reflect the stories and communities of the region and show what makes this area of the state unique.

  About the Authors:

  Ronnie Lovler is a journalist who covered Latin America for CNN and a former fellow of the International Center for Journalists. She wrote for the Gainesville Sun, is a correspondent for Mainstreet Daily News, and is an adjunct professor at the College of Journalism and Communications at the University of Florida.

  Dixie Neilson is a former director of the Matheson History Museum in Gainesville. Previously, Neilson was collections manager at the Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art and faculty member in the museum studies program at the University of Florida.
  

  Event is free with paid park entry of $3 per vehicle.

   

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