There’s something magical about finding a restaurant that feels like it was plucked straight from a novel – and in the case of The Yearling Restaurant in Hawthorne, Florida, that’s literally what happened.
Nestled among the moss-draped oaks and cypress trees of rural North Central Florida, this culinary time capsule isn’t just serving meals; it’s preserving a slice of Florida’s cultural heritage that’s becoming as rare as the Florida panther.
The restaurant takes its name from Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings’ Pulitzer Prize-winning novel “The Yearling,” set in the very same Cross Creek area where you’ll find this rustic eatery today.
Driving up to The Yearling feels like you’ve somehow taken a wrong turn and ended up in 1950s Florida – which, let’s be honest, is a refreshing change from ending up in a strip mall parking lot that looks identical to every other strip mall parking lot in America…