America, was enormous. She was one
of the real ‘big sellers,’ her novels be-
ing eagerly read and re-read by all sorts
and conditions of people, children and
adults. It is rare indeed for a writer to
appeal, as she did, both to experienced
readers equipped with standards of lit-
erary taste and to the most unsophis-
ticated, who live apart from the world
of books.”
Porter was such a beloved author that
New York State commemorated her
with a grove of 10,000 trees along Lake
George. During “Gene Stratton-Porter
Memorial Week,” programs across the
country celebrated the literature and
landscapes that were her legacy.
But the greatest tribute to her by far is
the Loblolly Marsh Nature Preserve. In
the grass on the side of the road there,
I see a rusty horseshoe from a passing
Amish buggy, cast off like a message
from another era. I reach down, pick it
up, and pop it into the back pocket of my
jeans like a lucky charm. I will hang it
above my greenhouse door in England.
I walk through the wildfl ower mead-
ow and skirt the pond. I am on the look-
out for blue grosbeak, kingbirds and
maybe pelicans. Instead, a red-spotted
purple butterfl y sails through the air
followed by an orange viceroy, bounc-
ing over autumn goldenrod and purple
thistle. In a landscape that has been
erased, rewritten and restored, Gene
Stratton-Porter’s handwriting is every-
where.
70 SMITHSONIAN | March 2020
Gene Stratton-
Porter
Answers from Page 17
1
C
2
G
3
I
4
I
5
P
6
A
7
S
8
HUT
9
T
10
WRACK
11
ELLA
12
BEAUTY
13
FOLK
14
ART
15
LIP
16
ERA
17
FIVE
18
S
19
HOCK
20
WAVE
21
WHEN
22
IAM
23
ORR
24
INDI
25
A
26
N
27
A
28
MOO
29
ING
30
LAIR
31
EVILS
32
YALE
33
NECK
34
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