This article was written by Roy Barnes
As a writer myself, I found it a refreshing experience to take some time to visit a place that was once the grand home and farmland of a writer from an era so long passed. Malabar Farm State Park is the place I speak of. It's located in Lucas, Ohio, roughly 70 miles northeast of Columbus.
In 1935, author Louis Bromfield's novel, called 'The Man Who Had Everything', was published. It focused on a successful and popular playwright named Tom Ashford, who seemed to have it all, but whose soul was empty. He makes a trek back to his former home in France, where his first love and the large farm left to her offer a re-ignited sense of purpose for Ashford's life. In reality, Bromfield was much in the same situation as his protagonist. This writer had everything most aspiring authors wished to have: a successful career with a myriad of best-selling books, and a Pulitzer Prize bestowed upon him for his 1926 novel 'Early Autumn: A Story of a Lady'. He had a lovely wife and three daughters, a sprawling estate in Senlis, France, where his garden included some 350 varieties of flowers alone, as well as a fine selection of vegetables.
Advertisement:
