The Life of Gene Stratton Porter

Gene Stratton Porter (born Geneva) is one of Indiana's most famous authors. Her books include Freckles (1904), A Girl of the Limberlost (1909), and The Harvester (1911), all of which were set in and around the "swamp" near her home. Notice the word swamp in quotation marks. Marshy and mucky, it wasn't exactly the swamp of the Hollywood movies, more like a wetland but you get the idea.

Among other things, Gene was an accomplished naturalist, story teller and photographer. She was born near Wabash, Indiana in 1863, and lived until 1924. Injuries from a road accident took her life in Los Angeles at the height of her movie production career.

Limberlost cabin, where Gene lived, is open for visitors and was constructed in 1895. It contains 14 rooms, thus the term cabin is somewhat relative. Early Indiana cabins often contained only one of two rooms, certainly not 14! The architectural style is an unusual "Queen Anne Rustic," actually more of a Arts & Crafts style. The interior is indicative of the late Victorian period.

Gene is definitely one of those bigger-than-life individuals and it wasn't difficult to imagine her in this home. I admire Stratton Porter for her fierce independence and her ambition. She was not timid about venturing into the swamp, or timid about much of anything in fact. She was interested in conservation long before it became a trend.

Setting out with cumbersome glass plates, Gene took photos, sketched, made notes, and developed her own film. She tinted the photographs with watercolors, wrote books and went head-to-head with the publisher who tried to water down her knowledge. You go girl!

The original swamp covered 13,000 acres. Wetlands surrounding it added another 12,000 acres. Life flourishing amid this rugged terrain continued to fascinate Gene for many years. The Limberlost was commonly believed to be a "treacherous quagmire, holding every plant, animal and human danger known." Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!