Listing Through Life

In 1913, Gene Stratton-Porter moved from the cabin in Geneva, Indiana to the shores of Sylvan Lake near Rome City. She designed another cabin, similar to the Limberlost cabin, but larger. She only lived here for five years. She was becoming more famous — every day, people would wander about the grounds and look in the windows — and she wanted more privacy. She also wanted to produce movies based on some of her books, so she moved to California. Again, her husband Charles stayed behind but visited when he could.

We arrived shortly after 1:00 to find the visitor center locked and nobody around. A sign said tours were given on the hour, so we stuck around. We found a bench near the house on the shore of Sylvan Lake and relaxed.

When it got close to 2:00, we wandered back to the visitor center and met another couple and our guide. The tour gave us a lot of the same information we’d gotten in the morning. The house looked similar to the Limberlost cabin in many ways, which makes sense since Gene designed them both herself. She added a lot of clever designs that made living there more practical — a doorway from a bedroom closet into a bathroom so a person wouldn’t have to walk through four rooms to get to the facilities, an ice box with inside and outside doors so the ice man wouldn’t have to walk through the kitchen.

The stones in the fireplace supposedly form pictures — a butterfly in the center and a Revolutionary War soldier on the right.

Our guide, on the right

Gene’s dark room

When Gene moved to California, she lived in a house on Catalina Island (top) and then had the house in the lower photo built (which gives an indication of just how successful she’d become). But she never lived in that house. Just a week before she was planning on moving, her chauffeur pulled out in front of a street car, and Gene was killed.

Fairly recently, in the 1990s, I think, Gene and her daughter Jennette were re-interred in a grave along the path leading to the house. The statue, with part of the right arm missing, was donated after it was broken and replaced on another grave.

We liked this house better because of the setting, the size and the paneling (cherry), but Gene lived in the first one longer and it probably gives a better insight into her as a person. Either one is interesting. I probably wouldn’t recommend visiting both unless you’re a big fan.

This tiny, 15-seat diner in Fort Wayne was built in 1952. It has changed names and locations several times since then, but has remained an operating restaurant throughout. We arrived during the lunch hour and were fortunate to find stools next to each other. There were two local lawyers on one side of us, talking about personal injury lawsuits, and a steady string of construction workers on the other side, over from the site across the street. We were packed in pretty tightly. The food was good, not exceptional. My wife wasn’t crazy about the close quarters, but I enjoyed it because it gave me a very authentic look at the lunch counter experience of 60 years ago.

I’ve read two of Gene Stratton-Porter’s novels, A Girl of the Limberlost and Freckles. The setting for both was the Limberlost Swamp in east-central Indiana.

Gene was a novelist, naturalist, photographer and artist. She married George Porter, a businessman who lived in Geneva, Indiana. Gene designed their home, which was completed in 1895. The couple lived here until 1913 when the swamp was drained for farming. At that point, Gene moved about 75 miles north to Rome City and built a house on Sylvan Lake. George stayed in Geneva, near his businesses, but visited Gene and their daughter Jeannette on weekends. The house was loaned out to local schoolteachers for several years before being made into a museum.

The house was featured in a couple of the novels, as was Gene herself, as the “Bird Woman.” We had a private tour by a guy whose chief occupation is naturalist in the restored swamp area.

There was a tree service cutting down dead ash trees on the day of our visit. Some of the trees were there when the Porters owned the house.

The carriage house

The library, where Gene wrote. Most of the furnishings were period pieces but there were some original pieces in the house.

Our guide and a photo of the fireplace behind him. The mounted Golden Eagle in the photo is the one in the case.

The music room. The painting in the corner is an original by Gene.

The guest bedroom. the moths and butterflies are original. The drawing on the wall is Jennette, as drawn by Gene.

The downstairs bathroom, which Gene used as a darkroom

The dining room. The paneling is oak.

The atrium, which was mentioned in one of the novels.

We also saw the upstairs rooms, but they aren’t restored or furnished. We visited, not because we’re huge fans of Stratton-Porter — my wife hasn’t read any of her books — but because we like seeing how people lived in the past. Because her novels have gone out of vogue, Stratton-Porter isn’t well known these days. But for 20 years or so at the beginning of the 20th century, she was very popular and famous. J.K. Rowling, author the Harry Potter series, lists her as one of her favorite writers. But apart from all that, this was an enjoyable tour of a comfortable, practical, attractive house.