Cracker Gothic

I am a seventh-generation Florida Cracker, a product of Green Cove Springs, a small town in Florida that P. T. Barnum called "this salubrious and almost enchanted" place.

"Salubrious" means health-giving, pleasant, delightful, and Green Cove Springs is all of those things. However, I must part ways with Mr. Barnum, and contend that the place is most certainly enchanted, with no "almost" about it.



I ended the Cracker legacy of my family by moving out of state as a young woman.

When my mother was diagnosed with dementia in 2008, I came back more frequently to be with and care for her. Three years later, my husband committed suicide. As a way to heal, I returned to my hometown for extended stays, and immersed myself in a life I had left decades ago.

This memoir is my heart song, a tribute to the beautiful, quirky place from where I came, the place that embraced and sheltered me when I needed a safe haven for a while.