Rawlings's Life: The Land

Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings came to Cross Creek in search of a secluded wonderland filled with peace, serenity, and undisturbed nature. In Cross Creek, she regards Cross Creek as a utopian setting and finds it enchanting, "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 a geometric rhythm; to feel the mystery of a seclusion that yet has shafts of light striking through it" (Rawlings 16). Rawlings puts so much emphasis on her surroundings that it seems that she is trying to preserve Cross Creek forever through her writings.

Cross Creek is situated on a narrow strip of land between Orange and Lochloosa Lakes. Because this land is between two bodies of water, most of the soil is dark, rich, and damp, providing for various forms of vegetation to flourish. The area around Cross Creek is commonly known as a hammock. Hammock is a word that is used to describe fertile land that is usually higher than its surroundings. It is usually categorized in one of the following three ways (Hammock State Park).

1. High hammocks are areas of dense trees, such as palms, pines, holly trees, live oak, sweet gum trees, magnolia trees, and tall ironwoods (May). These areas provide a lot of shade and homes for red birds, beetles, eagles, cockroaches, hawks, egrets, blue jays, deer, squirrels, mockingbirds, buzzards, woodpeckers, hummingbirds, and blue heron. High hammocks typically start at the edges of water and work their way to drier soil.
2. Low hammocks, which contain bushes and other vegetation that grow closer to the ground, are interspersed throughout parts of the high hammock, but grow further inland. These areas contain gallberry bushes, allamanda, passion vines, bamboo, dogwood, Spanish moss, poison ivy, trifoliate bushes, and hibiscus. Flowers are also prevalent in the low hammocks. Bunches of oleanders, orchids, and wild iris are quite common. Because of such thick vegetation, it is extremely hard to clear this land. Most settlers find tiny clearings within the hammock to build their homes and barns. Here, they would have plentiful food and citrus. Practically everyone in Cross Creek, during Rawlings's time, owned citrus trees, such as oranges, grapefruit, or tangerine trees. People also grew corn, squash, cowpeas, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and pecans in their backwoods. In both types of hammock, there is quite an abundance of various animals. During Rawlings's time in Cross Creek, wild hogs, bobcats, and Florida panthers roamed through the scrub. Coral snakes, rattlers, and moccasins could be found in shaded areas. Quail, mallards, rabbits, raccoons, and skunks wandered as if there were no boundaries.
3. The third area common to Cross Creek is open plain. These fields are large clearings in between portions of hammock. The soil in these areas is too dry for trees or shrubbery to grow; however, tea-weed and coffee-weed are abundant. People have been successful at building homes here, but find it difficult to raise crops on the land. Although most of the animals stay within the security of the trees and shrubs, cattle can often be seen grazing in these types of areas.

All of these plants and animals make an appearance in many of Rawlings's stories. She takes the time to examine closely all of her surroundings and write about them in detail. Perhaps, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings wrote about the nature of Cross Creek the way that she did because she thought that it might one day be gone; however, it may be that her book, Cross Creek was, in the end, what saved it. After Rawlings's death in 1953, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection declared Cross Creek to be part of the Ocala National Forest. The land is still very much like it used to be when Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings was living at Cross Creek. She seems to make it clear that, "the hammocks were the same then as now, and will be the same forever if men can be induced to leave them alone" (Rawlings 42).

--Lindsay Davenport

Works Cited

• Florida Department of Environmental Protection. Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Historic State Park History. 20 Oct. 2002 (website).
• Highlands Hammock State Park. 20 Oct.2002 (website).
• Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings State Historic Site. 17 Oct. 2002 (website).
• May, Phil Jr. MKR Society Photograph Album. 17 Oct. 2002 (website).
• Rawlings, Marjorie Kinnan. Cross Creek. New York: Simon & Schuster Inc., 1942.