Home Again LbNA #44163
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Add Location| Owner: | Lone Star Quilter  |
|---|---|
| Plant date: | Oct 21, 2008 |
| Location: | |
| City: | Brownwood |
| County: | Brown |
| State: | Texas |
| Boxes: | 1 |
| Found by: | Silver Eagle |
|---|---|
| Last found: | Feb 16, 2012 |
| Status: | FFFFFFFF |
| Last edited: | Oct 21, 2008 |
When Katherine Anne Porter left her home state of Texas for New York, she brought with her the hard edge of a Western pioneer. Passionate and intelligent, it was this edge more than anything that made her name as a writer. Despite her self-imposed exile from her home and Southern background, Porter used this distance as a means of coming to terms with the memories she sought to escape.
Born in Indian Creek, Texas in 1890, Katherine Anne Porter lost her mother at the age of two. Raised primarily by her paternal grandmother, Porter became strong and self-reliant at an early age. Both the loss of her mother and her father’s subsequent neglect had a lasting effect on Porter—making her incredibly attentive to the harsh realities of the human endeavor. At age fifteen she married John Henry Koontz, the first of four husbands. Throughout her entire life she would continue to have passionate affairs marked by dramatic and vicious break-ups. She spent her early twenties moving from Texas to Chicago and back, working as an actress, a singer, and, later, a secretary. In 1917, after a battle with tuberculosis, Porter took a job as a society columnist for the Fort Worth CRITIC. Two years later she moved to Greenwich Village, where she began to work seriously as a fiction writer. Supporting herself with journalism and "hack" writing, Porter published her first story in CENTURY magazine. Though CENTURY provided her with a good sum for the story, Porter was rarely to return to popular magazine publishing, choosing instead the freedom of little magazines. A perfectionist concerned with controlling every word of her stories, Porter gained a name for her flawless prose. Often concerned with the themes of justice, betrayal, and the unforgiving nature of the human race, Porter’s writings occupied the space where the personal and political meet. In 1930 her first book, FLOWERING JUDAS, was published by Harcourt Brace. Though a masterly collection of short stories, it met with only modest sales. It was not until almost ten years later that she published her second book, a collection of three short novels, PALE HORSE, PALE RIDER. She followed this in 1944 with THE LEANING TOWER AND OTHER STORIES. Concerning herself overtly with the rise of Nazism, Porter was able to further investigate the dark side of the average person. It was not, however, until nearly twenty years later that she was able to address the topic in greater depth. SHIP OF FOOLS (1962), was Porter’s first and only novel. Dealing with the lives of a group of various and international travelers, the book became an instant success. Based partially on a trip to Germany thirty years earlier, SHIP OF FOOLS, attacked the weakness of a society that could allow for the Second World War. After 1962, Porter did very little writing, though she won a Pulitzer Prize for her COLLECTED STORIES four years later. In 1977, fifty years after her protest of the Sacco and Vanzetti trial, Porter wrote an account of the event entitled THE NEVER-ENDING WRONG. Three years later she died at the age of ninety. She died in Baltimore, Maryland. Her body was cremated and the ashes were buried next to her mother’s grave in Indian Creek, Texas. At last, she was Home Again.
Directions:
Indian Creek is a small rural area southwest of Brownwood, Texas. Brownwood is located about 135 miles southwest of Fort Worth at the intersection of Texas Hwy. 377 and US 84. From that intersection, continue on Hwy. 377 about 8 miles and look for a historical marker on the right side of the road. Pull over and read the marker.
To the box:
Across the highway from the marker is County Road 233. Carefully turn left across the highway and onto that road and drive about 3 miles to where it dead-ends into County Road 237 (unmarked). Turn right and go another 4 miles to Indian Creek Cemetery on the right. Pull in close to the gate and park. Go through the walk-gate and walk straight toward the large mesquite tree near the first grave stones. Continue back to the oak tree that stands in the middle of the cemetery. Turn right and notice the concrete square art work on the ground. At the seventh square, turn to face it and look up. You will see the grave marker for Katherine Anne Porter in front of you. Walk to it, then look to the left across the cemetery for a lone mesquite tree near the fence line. In that tree, at about five and a half feet from the ground, you’ll find the box that celebrates Katherine’s return to Texas. It will be behind a piece of concrete paving stone. Please be sure the box is replaced properly in the tree and covered with the stone.
Born in Indian Creek, Texas in 1890, Katherine Anne Porter lost her mother at the age of two. Raised primarily by her paternal grandmother, Porter became strong and self-reliant at an early age. Both the loss of her mother and her father’s subsequent neglect had a lasting effect on Porter—making her incredibly attentive to the harsh realities of the human endeavor. At age fifteen she married John Henry Koontz, the first of four husbands. Throughout her entire life she would continue to have passionate affairs marked by dramatic and vicious break-ups. She spent her early twenties moving from Texas to Chicago and back, working as an actress, a singer, and, later, a secretary. In 1917, after a battle with tuberculosis, Porter took a job as a society columnist for the Fort Worth CRITIC. Two years later she moved to Greenwich Village, where she began to work seriously as a fiction writer. Supporting herself with journalism and "hack" writing, Porter published her first story in CENTURY magazine. Though CENTURY provided her with a good sum for the story, Porter was rarely to return to popular magazine publishing, choosing instead the freedom of little magazines. A perfectionist concerned with controlling every word of her stories, Porter gained a name for her flawless prose. Often concerned with the themes of justice, betrayal, and the unforgiving nature of the human race, Porter’s writings occupied the space where the personal and political meet. In 1930 her first book, FLOWERING JUDAS, was published by Harcourt Brace. Though a masterly collection of short stories, it met with only modest sales. It was not until almost ten years later that she published her second book, a collection of three short novels, PALE HORSE, PALE RIDER. She followed this in 1944 with THE LEANING TOWER AND OTHER STORIES. Concerning herself overtly with the rise of Nazism, Porter was able to further investigate the dark side of the average person. It was not, however, until nearly twenty years later that she was able to address the topic in greater depth. SHIP OF FOOLS (1962), was Porter’s first and only novel. Dealing with the lives of a group of various and international travelers, the book became an instant success. Based partially on a trip to Germany thirty years earlier, SHIP OF FOOLS, attacked the weakness of a society that could allow for the Second World War. After 1962, Porter did very little writing, though she won a Pulitzer Prize for her COLLECTED STORIES four years later. In 1977, fifty years after her protest of the Sacco and Vanzetti trial, Porter wrote an account of the event entitled THE NEVER-ENDING WRONG. Three years later she died at the age of ninety. She died in Baltimore, Maryland. Her body was cremated and the ashes were buried next to her mother’s grave in Indian Creek, Texas. At last, she was Home Again.
Directions:
Indian Creek is a small rural area southwest of Brownwood, Texas. Brownwood is located about 135 miles southwest of Fort Worth at the intersection of Texas Hwy. 377 and US 84. From that intersection, continue on Hwy. 377 about 8 miles and look for a historical marker on the right side of the road. Pull over and read the marker.
To the box:
Across the highway from the marker is County Road 233. Carefully turn left across the highway and onto that road and drive about 3 miles to where it dead-ends into County Road 237 (unmarked). Turn right and go another 4 miles to Indian Creek Cemetery on the right. Pull in close to the gate and park. Go through the walk-gate and walk straight toward the large mesquite tree near the first grave stones. Continue back to the oak tree that stands in the middle of the cemetery. Turn right and notice the concrete square art work on the ground. At the seventh square, turn to face it and look up. You will see the grave marker for Katherine Anne Porter in front of you. Walk to it, then look to the left across the cemetery for a lone mesquite tree near the fence line. In that tree, at about five and a half feet from the ground, you’ll find the box that celebrates Katherine’s return to Texas. It will be behind a piece of concrete paving stone. Please be sure the box is replaced properly in the tree and covered with the stone.