Remembering Marjorie and Preserving Her Legacy 

Please consider a donation to the Friends of the Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Farm.

Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings passed away more than 70 years ago December 15. People visiting Antioch Cemetery would see pens, pencils, a small deer statue and an orange on her grave, left by people inspired by her works.

Her grave marker reads:    “Through her writings, she endeared herself to the people of the world.”

The Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Historic State Park and the Friends of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Farm, Inc., are dedicated to preserving Rawlings’ home in Cross Creek, Florida, including the citrus groves, farm animals, and her beloved garden. Doing so helps to preserve her rich literary legacy.

Recent park guests have commented about their visit to the homestead:

• Thank you for preserving this historical home.

• “The Yearling” was the first book I read. I was six years old. Cried at the end.

• It's a rainy day, but this place is always shining in my deep childhood memories.

• What a writer, what a woman, wow.

Every year is a challenge to provide support for the Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Farm.  We have expenses to help maintain the home and the grounds and the support the park in thier preservation and interpretive efforts.

Won't you help preserve this historic homestead for future Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings readers?

Your gift - large or small – may be used to help purchase fertilizer for the citrus grove, paint for the house, chicken scratch feed, repair of the welcome kiosk, and other expenses.

Thanking you in advance.

From Novel to Movie: The Yearling in Florida

The one hour award-winning documentary was produced by Donna Green-Townsend and Kathlyne Walkup Sheppard.  The program takes an inside look at the Oscar-nominated MGM classic movie, The Yearling, as well as the Pulitzer Prize-winning classic novel of the same name by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, with the people who lived the story. The documentary shares oral histories from some of the actors and stand-ins who were featured in this coming of age story about a post-Civil War backwoods Florida family who raised an orphaned deer which leads to heartbreaking conflict.

The documentary also features unique home movie clips provided by the Gregory Peck Foundation of Actor Gregory Peck while he was working on the film in the Ocala National Forest in Florida in 1945. Also included are extensive interview segments with Oscar winner, Claude Jarman, Jr., who played young Jody Baxter in the film. 

Others included in the documentary are Jarman's stand-in, Bobby Randall and Gregory Peck's stand-in, Alva Kinsey, Sr., both from East Marion County, FL. Memories from Florida residents who worked on the movie set in the "Big Scrub" or who had family involved with the movie are also featured, including Lawrence Kinsey, Alva Kinsey, Jr., Richard Mills, Jennifer Pohlers, Kathlyne Walkup Sheppard and Celeste Godwin Viale. Interviewees also include MKR archivist at the University of Florida, Florence Turcotte and the grandson of Rawlings' bear hunting friend, Barney Sullivan.

The DVD also includes a special 9:23 bonus feature, Ora's Deep Lament which is based on MKR's character Ora Baxter in The Yearling who experienced the loss of five children during Florida's early history in the "Big Scrub."

DVDs are available for $20 plus $4 for postage and handling.  All proceeds benefit projects on the farm.  Please make your check payable to the Friends of the Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Farm, Inc., and mail to P. O. Box 337, Micanopy, FL  32667-0337.

Here is Home: Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings and Cross Creek

Here is Home: Marjorie Kinna Rawlings and Cross Creek DVD was produced by Sonja Doctorian for the Friends of the Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Farm in 2018. 

The 40 minute documentary features interviews of  J. T. Glisson, Carol Fiddia Laxton, Hettie Ross, Mrs. Dorsey Townsend, Bobby Townsend and Roy Bass.  Ann McCutchan, a Rawlings biographer, narrated the story.

The DVD is available for purchase for $24.  Send a check made payable to the Friends of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Farm, to P. O .Box 337, Micanopy, FL  32667.