Limberlost Cabin: Home of Indiana Author Gene Stratton-Porter

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The Limberlost Cabin was the home of famed Indiana author Gene Stratton-Porter, who designed and lived in the home in Geneva, Indiana, from 1895 to 1913.

Mrs. Stratton-Porter was born in nearby Wabash County, Indiana, in 1863. After marrying Charles Darwin Porter in 1886, the couple moved to Geneva in 1887 after the birth of their daughter, Jeanette. The cabin is a two-story home with fourteen rooms.

Mrs. Stratton-Porter was fascinated with nature and roamed the nearby swamps and marshes. It was here that she began writing many of her 26 books. Several of her novels were set in the Limberlost Swamp and include The Girl of the Limberlost , Laddie , and Freckles . She also wrote Birds of the Bible and Moths of the Limberlost , both based on her nature studies.

Eight of her novels were adapted into films between 1917 and the 1940's, with the most recent being 1992's City Boy , based on Freckles . Unfortunately, the Limberlost Swamp and marshes featured in her books were drained for agricultural and commercial development, prompting her to leave Geneva in search of new inspiration for her writing.

From 1914 to 1919, Mrs. Stratton-Porter and her family lived in Rome City, Indiana, at the Cabin at Wildflower Woods. She then moved to Los Angeles, California, where she continued writing and founded a motion picture production company. She died in 1924 as the result of injuries sustained in an automobile accident. Rome City and the circumstances surrounding her death, however, are stories for another day.