St. Augustine, Florida - Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings

St. Augustine, Florida - Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings told the story of an isolated, rough, and untamed side of North Florida.

I was a grade school student when my teacher, Miss Currie, encouraged me to read Cross Creek and The Yearling. I enthusiastically read those two incredible books, which have haunted me ever after. 
Little did I know at the time that my destiny would ultimately lead me to St. Augustine and an encounter with the people depicted in those unforgettable books.

Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, the author of Cross Creek and The Yearling, was born in 1896, and she began writing at age six. She submitted children's stories to newspapers until age 16 and won a writing prize at 15.

In 1918 she graduated with honors in English from the University of Wisconsin.

Her writing career took her to many places, and ultimately St. Augustine’s magical attraction drew her in.

In 1928 Marjorie bought a cottage and orange grove in rural Cross Creek, Florida. Her writing was inspired by that area’s rustic environment and untamed inhabitants. By 1930 two of her stories were published, in 1933 a novel, South Moon Under, led to the publishing of The Yearling in 1938. Marjorie received a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1939 for her novel The Yearling. MGM then made a movie, and that made her famous.

Cross Creek, an autobiographical story of her interaction with neighbors also became a best-seller and a Book-of-the- month club selection.

The Rawlings’ St. Augustine, Florida, residence was in the Castle Warden Hotel; now the Ripley’s Believe It or Not! museum, which is located near St. Augustine’s historic Castillo de San Marcos.

Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings passed away in 1953 in St. Augustine, Florida.

The United States Postal Service issued a commemorative postage stamp with her image in 2008.

Read more about this literary giant who called St. Augustine home, and  meet the people she depicted in her writing in Sailing to St. Augustine: Travels of Dursmirg, available in paperback and digital editions from online booksellers worldwide.