Limberlost

At the turn of the century, the Limberlost Swamp was described as a “treacherous swamp and quagmire, filled with every plant, animal and human danger known — in the worst of such locations in the central states.” Stretching for 13,000 acres across Indiana's southern Adams County and northern Jay County, the vast forest and swampland was a legend for its quicksand and unsavory characters.

The swamp received its name from the fate of Limber Jim Corbus, who went hunting in the swamp and never returned. When the locals asked where Jim Corbus was, the familiar cry was “Limber’s lost!”

To the famed Indiana author, Gene Stratton-Porter, the swamp was her playground, laboratory and inspiration. The swamp was the subject of her acclaimed books and photographs. Observations of its nature enriched Porter’s fiction.

Geneva (Gene) Grace Stratton was born on Aug. 17, 1863, on the Hopewell Farm near Wabash. Her parents were avid nature enthusiasts who passed along a love of the unspoiled outdoors to their daughter — a love she kept close to her throughout her life as a respected author, naturalist, photographer and illustrator.

In 1886, Gene married Charles Dorwin Porter, owner of a drug store in Geneva. The couple lived for a short time in Decatur. After the birth of their daughter, Jeannette, they moved to Geneva, Indiana, near the Limberlost Swamp in 1888. The Limberlost Cabin was completed in 1895. Architects describe the home, which Stratton-Porter designed, as a 14-room Queen Anne, rustic log cabin. The interior is finished in both Victorian and Arts and Crafts style. The Porters lived in this home until the swamp was drained in 1913.

At that time, she moved to a new home in a beautiful wooded area on the shores of Sylvan Lake near Rome City. It is also a state historic site called the Gene Stratton-Porter State Historic Site.

In the 18 years that she lived at Limberlost, Mrs. Porter wrote six of her 12 novels and five of her seven nature books, including the best-selling Freckles and A Girl of the Limberlost. During her life she also wrote two books of poetry, children’s books and numerous magazine articles.

An estimated 50 million people have read works by Gene Stratton-Porter. Her books have been translated into several foreign languages as well as Braille. Many of her novels were produced as motion pictures.