After seeing Mid-America Windmill Museum, we made the short drive to Rome City, IN to tour the Gene Stratton-Porter Historic Site as we were making our way to Lake Michigan. We thoroughly enjoyed the peaceful grounds and lovely home.
Just as was the case at our previous stop, we were blessed to have a private tour and learned a great deal about this interesting Indiana author, environmentalist, nature photographer, artist, musician and business woman. Gene Stratton was born on August 17, 1863. Growing up on the family farm, she spent hours exploring outside and loved everything about nature. These formative years instilled a lifelong passion. This is just a small glimpse at the gardens surrounding her home. Our tour guide told us that she used to tend the grounds dressed in men's clothing since it was so much more practical than trying to work in those conditions while wearing a dress! As you can imagine, this setting lends itself perfectly to a wide variety of wildlife. We were able to see her artwork depicting the birds and other animals she encountered.
Sitting on Sylvan Lake, the home was her vision and Gene not only designed it, but oversaw the construction process. It was completed in 1913, has an incredible lake view and was named Cabin at Wildflower Woods.
We found it interesting to observe how insightful she was when laying-out the house, making it both creative and progressive. Her kitchen, for example, was ahead of its time in design and function.
Gene Stratton was married to Charles Dorwin Porter and they had a daughter, Jeannette. In 1919 Gene went to California, intending on spending winters there. She became fond of the area, though, and ended up staying. She even started her own film production company there. Gene passed away while living in CA in 1924.
We thought it was clever of the historic site to display her book titles at the entrance of the grounds. In addition to these published works, Gene penned numerous national magazine articles for McCall's and Good Housekeeping.
After having been to this interesting historic site and learning about this incredible woman, I am inspired to read some of her works. I have reserved the first book of the Limberlost series, Freckles, from the library. Have you read any of her stories or poems? If you're ever in the area, you may want to stop and poke around the Gene Stratton Porter Historic Site. I think you will be very glad you did.