{"id":22149,"date":"2026-06-15T10:00:22","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T14:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/?p=22149"},"modified":"2026-05-11T16:26:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T20:26:17","slug":"adventurous-liberation-h-p-lovecraft-in-florida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/2026\/06\/15\/adventurous-liberation-h-p-lovecraft-in-florida\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Adventurous Liberation: H.P. Lovecraft in Florida’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Recently, Bold Venture Press<\/a> put out David Goudsward<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s work Adventurous Liberation: H.P. Lovecraft in Florida<\/em>, which focuses on the several trips of H.P. Lovecraft<\/a><\/strong> (1890\u20131937) to Florida.<\/p>\n

\"Adventurous<\/a>I have been looking forward to this work since it was mentioned in L\u2019Affaire Barlow<\/em>. Being from Florida, I was always interested in learning more about Lovecraft\u2019s time in the state, in particular, details on where he went and what he did.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve never been to the Barlow house near DeLand, Fla., though I\u2019ve seen pictures of it. However, I\u2019ve visited St. Augustine several times, as my ancestors came from there; I visited the Florida Keys every year for many years as a kid; I visited the Greater Miami area; and I now live in the Fort Lauderdale area. And as someone with a longtime love of Florida history, I have been visiting the many national and state parks in Florida.<\/p>\n

While very readable, this is a scholarly work, with over 40 pages of notes and a 15-page bibliography, along with an index. A third of the book has six biographies of various people relevant to this work.<\/p>\n

Goudsward is a researcher and former librarian now living in South Florida. He has written works on ancient sites in New England, and, as to Lovecraft, has done a similar work in H.P. Lovecraft in the Merrimack Valley<\/em> from Hippocampus Press. He has also been involved with amateur journalism, has been a member of NAPA for several years, was briefly in PEAPS<\/a> around 2020, and recently took over leadership of The Fossils from Ken Faig Jr.<\/a><\/strong>, himself a well-respected Lovecraft scholar.<\/p>\n

The main part of the book is broken into three sections, one for each of the times Lovecraft traveled to Florida: 1931, 1934, and 1935. I knew of his two trips to Florida that involved staying with Robert Barlow<\/a><\/strong>, but I had somehow forgotten his earlier visit, probably conflating that one with his first visit with Barlow.<\/p>\n

Before we get into the three trips, Goudsward sets the stage by showing how Lovecraft\u2019s connections with various people, many of whom he met through his involvement in amateur journalism, would lead him to Florida.<\/p>\n

In regard to amateur journalism, Lovecraft was recruited for the United Amateur Press Association in 1914. This would have an impact on his writing, and he was soon publishing his own journal and would quickly become chair of UAPA\u2019s Department of Public Criticism and later the UAPA’s national president. We also learn of Lovecraft\u2019s frugality in both travel and food, which would affect him in several ways.<\/p>\n

Lovecraft\u2019s first trip to Florida occurred in 1931. Thanks to a correspondent in St. Augustine, he knew of a place he could stay for a reasonable cost. Once there, he toured the old city. This included going to the Castillo de San Marcos, visiting the Oldest House (still run today by the St. Augustine Historical Society), and even heading over to Anastasia Island to visit the alligator farm (still there). He also visited the Fountain of Youth Park, which is one place I have not visited.<\/p>\n

Henry S. Whitehead<\/a><\/strong> (1882\u20131932), a fellow writer who was also an Episcopal minister then living in Dunedin in the Tampa Bay area, was able to have him travel there, where he hosted him. While there, Lovecraft visited several places, including Ybor City, an area in Tampa known for its Cuban influences; Tarpon Springs; and other locales. Though Lovecraft clearly enjoyed the weather in Florida, and staying with Whitehead probably meant he ate a lot better, the Tampa Bay area didn\u2019t provide him with the antiquarian atmosphere that he found in St. Augustine.<\/p>\n

Instead of heading home via St. Augustine and Charleston, Lovecraft headed to Miami and Key West. At the time, Henry Flagler<\/strong>\u2019s Overseas Railroad served Key West. Lovecraft went via bus, but at the time, motor traffic had to do two ferry crossings in the Keys, as the road didn\u2019t go all the way to Key West. This wouldn\u2019t change until after the 1935 Labor Day Hurricane destroyed the railroad, and it would be replaced by the Overseas Highway, using the old railroad bridges until new ones would be built in the 1970s and \u201980s.<\/p>\n

In Key West, we know Lovecraft passed by the Hemingway House (which I\u2019ve never visited) and the Key West Lighthouse (which I have). In Miami, it\u2019s not too clear where he visited, but he did visit one of two Seminole villages, most likely Musa Isle. He didn\u2019t like it. Oh, well. He also did a glass-bottom boat tour in Biscayne Bay. These are still available from Biscayne National Park.<\/p>\n

Returning home, while he wanted to return to Florida, he wasn\u2019t able to. The passing of Whitehead in 1932 didn\u2019t help. We get an overview of this period until his next trip in 1934, this time to stay with Robert Barlow in DeLand \u2014 actually Cassia.<\/p>\n

Barlow was a young correspondent of Lovecraft, whose family had recently moved to Florida and now lived in a new home. His father would actually be leaving for D.C. for health reasons, and Lovecraft would stay with Barlow and his mother.<\/p>\n

While there, he took side trips to nearby areas such as Daytona Beach and New Smyrna Beach. The latter has a personal connection for me, as my ancestors were part of the Minorcans brought to work at the New Smyrna Settlement.<\/p>\n

While he wanted to travel to Key West again, and possibly Havana, this didn\u2019t happen. They also visited Silver Springs, now a state park. What was intended to be a two-week stay lasted for two months.<\/p>\n

Lovecraft returned to St. Augustine and visited several places. Mentioned again are the Fountain of Youth Park as well as the then-new Oldest Schoolhouse, which is still open, though I\u2019ve never visited that one. After a few days, he headed home via Charleston and D.C. We again get information on what he was doing before he was able to return to Florida for another visit with Barlow.<\/p>\n

In 1935, Lovecraft made his final visit to Florida and Barlow. A difference this time is that Barlow\u2019s father was in residence. After his stay with the Barlows, Lovecraft then headed to St. Augustine for his last visit to the city. After visiting many places in the city, he made his way homeward. He was lucky to miss the remnants of the 1935 Labor Day Hurricane that devastated the Keys, and then went across Georgia and the Carolinas.<\/p>\n

The next two chapters focus on Lovecraft in 1936 and 1937, when he died. We learn what he was doing, with a particular focus on Florida, and the impact of his death on his circle of friends.<\/p>\n

While he couldn\u2019t travel to Florida, Florida came to him in 1936 with a long visit by Barlow.<\/p>\n

The final chapter looks at the current state of many of the locations Lovecraft visited in Florida. Many of the historical sites he visited can still be visited as they are state or local parks, or tourist sites. Sadly, the current condition of Dunrovin\u2019, the Barlow house in Cassia, is unfortunate. I wish more had been done to preserve it.<\/p>\n

As noted, the appendices give more detailed bibliographies of six of the people in Florida who had an impact on Lovecraft. We get bios on John Russell<\/a><\/strong>, Dudley Newton<\/a><\/strong>, Henry S. Whitehead, Allan Grayson<\/a><\/strong>, Charles B. Johnston<\/a><\/strong>, and Robert Barlow.<\/p>\n

So who are these people? John Russell was an immigrant from the U.K. living in Florida. He got into a literary fight in The Argosy<\/a><\/em> started by Lovecraft over the writings of Fred Jackson<\/a><\/strong>, but became a correspondent with Lovecraft, who later recruited him into amateur journalism. He was one of the people who inspired Lovecraft to come to Florida. Dudley Newton was another correspondent, though it\u2019s unknown how this came about. He was the one who informed Lovecraft about cheap lodgings in St. Augustine and accompanied him on some of his wanderings in the city.<\/p>\n

As noted, Whitehead was a minister and writer. Due to his missionary work in the U.S. Virgin Islands, he learned about voodoo, which he used in his weird fiction in Weird Tales<\/a><\/em>, which is how he became a friend of Lovecraft and hosted him at his home in Dunedin. Allan Grayson was a young man who came to visit with Whitehead, who was also related to Frank Belknap Long<\/a><\/strong> and, through this, became a small part of the Lovecraft circle.<\/p>\n

Charles B. Johnston was the handyman for the Barlows, but was so much more. He also became a correspondent of Lovecraft and had an unusual life. And finally, Robert H. Barlow was the young man who hosted Lovecraft twice at his home, became Lovecraft\u2019s literary executor until certain people chased him away, and then had a new career in anthropology in Mexico before he took his life. Someone needs to do a complete biography of his life, and this appendix may be the closest so far.<\/p>\n

Overall, this is an excellent work. Readers interested in learning more about Lovecraft as a person, the people he interacted with, and what he did in Florida will find this book of interest.<\/p>\n

If I had any criticism, I would have liked to have seen some maps showing where Lovecraft traveled in Florida. At times, I had to go over to Google Maps to recall the locations he visited \u2014 many of which I\u2019ve visited \u2014 and some I haven\u2019t but hope to.<\/p>\n

I will have to check out the author\u2019s previous work on Lovecraft. I have some of his other works, including one looking at the locations of horror movies in Florida.<\/p>\n

Considering Lovecraft visited Charleston, S.C., several times, I wonder if a work focused on those visits might be of interest. Lovecraft wrote a travelogue and a walking tour of the city, which is in the fourth volume of the Collected Essays<\/em>. Someone could take and expand that into its own piece.<\/p>\n

What might also be interesting would be a \u201cLovecraft Tour of St. Augustine,\u201d highlighting the places he visited while there.<\/p>\n

I also have to wonder how much Lovecraft\u2019s diet affected his long-term health, and what might have happened had this not been the case. Also, due to the coldness of Providence, he wanted to move south, such as to St. Augustine. Again, had he been able to, how might this have affected his life and career?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Recently, Bold Venture Press put out David Goudsward\u2019s work Adventurous Liberation: H.P. Lovecraft in Florida, which focuses on the several trips of H.P. Lovecraft (1890\u20131937) to Florida. I have been looking forward to this work since it was mentioned in L\u2019Affaire Barlow. Being from Florida, I was always interested in learning more about Lovecraft\u2019s time […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":22220,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_has_post_settings":{"highlight_sharing":"default","image_sharing":"default","headline_sharing":"default"},"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"The Pulp Super-Fan looks at 'Adventurous Liberation: H.P. Lovecraft in Florida.'","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[39,1,38,14],"tags":[2528,1094,443,502,154,2529,469,2527,977,2530,201,420,2244,1821,295,1819,304],"hashtags":[],"class_list":["post-22149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-non-fiction","category-pulps","category-references","category-review","tag-allan-grayson","tag-amateur-press-association","tag-argosy","tag-august-derleth","tag-bold-venture-press","tag-charles-b-johnston","tag-david-goudsward","tag-dudley-newton","tag-frank-belknap-long","tag-fred-jackson","tag-h-p-lovecraft","tag-henry-s-whitehead","tag-john-russell","tag-ken-faig-jr","tag-peaps","tag-robert-barlow","tag-weird-tales"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/files\/2026\/01\/adventurous-liberations-featured.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3eLo8-5Lf","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22149"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22149\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23013,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22149\/revisions\/23013"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22149"},{"taxonomy":"hashtags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtags?post=22149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}