Crackers in the Glade: Life and Times in the Old Everglades

by Rob Storter, Betty Savidge Briggs (Editor)

Crackers in the Glade is a visually stunning account of bygone days in the Everglades. The largest remaining subtropical wilderness in the United States, the Everglades hold a unique place among all the world’s wetlands. Through his writings and illustrations, fisherman, guide, and self-taught artist Rob Storter transports us to the remote, half-wild frontier of southwest Florida in the early part of the twentieth century. There, the events of a day could range from a hurricane to a face-to-face encounter with a panther to the arrival of the latest packet from Key West.

As Storter recalls his travels through the great swamp and its estuaries, he imparts an old-timer’s grasp of the fantastic array of plant and animal life the Everglades once supported. Looking back over a life closely linked to the water, he chronicles how mechanized methods eclipsed the more sustainable approach of fishing as the livelihood of locals who were attuned to natural cycles and worked by necessity on a small scale.

Crackers in the Glade is also a story of family and community, of daily joys and setbacks. Here, Marilea Storter’s recollections, some of which are included in the book, add depth and detail. By turns the family doctor, cook, teacher, and moral anchor, Marilea held husband Rob and their children together through times when the best house they had was a tent and medical care consisted of castor oil and prayers.

Rob Storter knew the Everglades before commercial fishing, real estate development, drainage projects, and tourism changed the region forever. Through his illustrations we can celebrate its wonders; through his writings we can contemplate the mixed benefits of progress and the responsibilities of stewardship.

160 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2007

Reviews

[David Campbell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful and wild, Rob Storter lived and prospered near the west coast of Florida in and near the everglades. He began fishing for a living in 1910 and captured his world with journal notes and pictures. His granddaughter gathered and organized this wonderful narrative from these journals and it was a good story (one of Rob's favorite expressions it seems). The many inlets, islands and bays along Florida's southwest coast were a land of abundant fish, birds and other wildlife during Rob's days. He fished until close to his passing January 1, 1987. An eye opening adventure in nature and history, his recollections are a true telling of his unique lifestyle and a Florida treasure.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

The University of of Georgia Press did us all a great favour in recording the accounts of a Florida original, Rob Storter. In a region that saw rapid transformation, these kinds of original settler stories are so important to have, both as a record of settler stories, as well as for the ecological and environmental record they share from a time when little was recorded.

[Alicia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not amazing for a novel, but considering it's just the dairy of someone from the Everglades from the early 1900s it was good. Interesting to me to read. Probably not for everyone, though.