Zora at the 1937 New York Times Book Fair, soon after publishing her best-known novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God. She had arrived in New York 12 years earlier with $1.50 in her purse and “with the map of Florida on my tongue.”
The balmy breezes, warm climate and sea air of the Treasure Coast have nurtured many talents, but only a few with the creative force their peers label “genius.” A quiet walk into a modest and almost forgotten cemetery off Avenue D in Fort Pierce rewards the curious with an array of a few graves, one of which features assorted gifts of fruit, flowers, toys, notes and the feeling of recent loss. Here is the last resting place of Zora Neale Hurston – writer, folklorist, anthropologist, queen of the Harlem Renaissance, devoted daughter of Florida and “genius of the South.”
A few blocks further west reveals her last home across from Lincoln Park Academy. It’s a small, green bungalow where she lived rent free as her health declined. Dr. C.C. Benton, who owned the house, wrote: “I considered it an honor to help her, to sit and listen to her experiences and knowledge as a writer.”
Read the entire article in the Summer 2004 issue
True Tails is a series written by Amy Robinson for Vero Beach’s dog lovers. Ask Amy about your dog’s behavior by clicking below.
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