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By Curt Burnette In her book, “Freckles”, Gene Stratton-Porter creates a character called Blackjack, whom she describes as a villain, whose “face is coarse and hardened with sin and careless living.” He is a tree poacher in the Limberlost, cutting and stealing trees from property owned by the Grand Rapids Lumber Company. He is a dangerous man, whoContinue reading “Wherein we examine the attraction that villains and outlaws have to wild and wooly wetlands like the Limberlost Swamp”

by Terri Gorney “The marsh, that can die and yet return to life in the first breath of spring, seems each year to repeat anew to its lovers,” wrote Gene Stratton-Porter in “Music of the Wild” which was published in 1910. She wrote very descriptively about the songs of the marsh. Her nature writings of the Limberlost areContinue reading “Spring Calls of the Marsh: An Orchestra of Music”

by Terri Gorney & Alex Forsythe Many of us start off the New Year with a variety of resolutions, often related to self-improvement. However, in the tradition of Gene Stratton-Porter, the birders of Limberlost and Adams County have a different sort of resolution: conservation. They choose to spend New Year’s Day participating in the ChristmasContinue reading “Christmas Bird Count 2015”

By Curt Burnette In 1925, the year after Gene Stratton-Porter’s death, it was estimated that about 10,000,000 copies of her books had been sold. Based on that number and an average thickness of the different books, another estimate about her books was also put forth. If every book sold could be stacked on top of each other intoContinue reading “Wherein it is speculated upon how Gene Stratton-Porter could potentially be a hazard to the International Space Station”

By Terri Gorney The “Song of the Cardinal” was Gene Stratton-Porter’s first book published in June of 1903. The book came close to not being written as Gene almost died in Geneva at the age of 39 in 1902. Newspapers from Indianapolis to Fort Wayne wrote of her illness. In 1934, Lorene Miller Wallace, her secretary from 1908-1915,Continue reading “The Story Behind “The Song of the Cardinal”Gene Stratton-Porter’s first book that almost was not written”

By Curt Burnette It is easy to imagine the mighty Limberlost swamp would have been brimming with wildlife during the years Gene Stratton-Porter wandered about it recording her observations and taking photographs. And in the case of many types of wildlife this would have been true. But other kinds of wildlife are more abundant now than they wereContinue reading “Wherein we learn why the Limberlost now abounds with deer but Mrs. Porter never saw any”

By Terri Gorney “The marsh, that can die and yet return to life in the first breath of spring, seems each year to repeat anew to its lovers,” wrote author, naturalist, artist and photographer Gene Stratton-Porter in “Music of the Wild” which was published in 1910. She immortalized the Limberlost Swamp in her novels andContinue reading “Land of the Limberlost”

By Curt Burnette Gene Stratton-Porter referred to herself as a Nature Lover, and she called scientists who studied nature, Naturalists. In her mind, in her day, a naturalist was a learned person who studied and specialized in some aspect of nature. An ornithologist who studied birds would be a naturalist. An entomologist who studied insects would also beContinue reading “Wherein we learn of the connection between the scientific name of an ancient sea creature and Gene Stratton-Porter”

By Terri Gorney Gene Stratton-Porter’s husband Charles enjoyed collecting Native American handiwork and relics as he called them. In 1895, the Geneva Herald wrote “C.D. Porter has probably the finest collection of Indian relics in this section of Indiana.” In October 1906, he wrote to Charles “Charlie” Deam asking if it would be all right if he andContinue reading “Gene Stratton-Porter and Charles Deam”