Gene Stratton-Porter's Cabin at Wildflower Woods

The calendar says that it is Spring. But after my visit to Northern Indiana last weekend I would have to say "Not Yet!". I spent the weekend in Nappanee, IN doing an art show. On Sunday the skies were brilliant blue but the air was crisp.  Before heading south to Bloomington, I made a stop near Rome, IN at "The Cabin at Wildflower Woods", a State Historic Site and home of Gene Stratton-Porter after 1913. Last summer I had visited Limberlost (see prior Limberlost blog), also a State Historic Site and home to Gene Stratton-Porter prior to 1913.

In 1886 Gene married Charles Porter, a pharmacist. After the birth of their daughter, Jeannette, they moved in 1888 to Geneva, near the Limberlost Swamp. Gene designed a 14 room, Queen Anne rustic log “cabin” completed in 1895. The interior at Limberlost is finished in both Victorian and Arts and Crafts styles. The Porters lived at Limberlost until the swamp was drained in 1913. She then moved to and built a new home on the shore of Sylvan Lake near Rome City.

YES, Sylvan Lake is frozen over on March 30, 2014. There were Ice Fishermen out on the lake the day of my visit.

The loss of the Limberlost Swamp meant the loss of inspiration for her novels and nature studies. The shores of Sylvan Lake near Rome City, IN and its woods and fields provided new energy for her to continue her literary and artistic work.

 

The Cabin at Wildflower Woods was designed by Gene Stratton-Porter and completed in 1914. The exterior walls are of Wisconsin cedar logs, and local wild cherry panels the entrance hall and dining room. There are three extraordinary fireplaces: one of polished English brick, one constructed of Indiana artifacts and stones collected from other states and one of puddingstone.

Even though winter was still in the air, I could imagine the site in full flower of  Spring and Summer and I enjoyed the careful design of the 125 acre property which includes a 35-bed formal garden accented with a 120-foot-long wisteria-covered arbor, an artesian well and a walkway gracing the shoreline of Sylvan Lake.

Porter Springs

Walkway along Sylvan Lake

 

I think I have to go back in the Summer to see this arbor draped in Wisteria!

The gravesites of Gene Stratton-Porter and her daughter Jeannette are located at the Cabin at Wildflower Woods.

Gene Stratton-Porter is Indiana’s most widely read female author, as well as a gifted nature photographer, naturalist and environmentalist. She began her career writing about nature for magazines. Soon she decided to reach larger audiences through fiction writing. 

In her lifetime, 1863 to 1924, Porter authored 12 novels, seven nature studies, three poetry books, children’s books and numerous magazine articles. With an estimated 50 million readers, her works have been translated into several foreign languages as well as Braille.