First stop along his cross-country journey, the Literary
traveler explores the homes and haunts of Francis Scott Key
Fitzgerald in St. Paul, Minnesota. Scott’s wife, Zelda,
and daughter, Scottie, would be so proud.
Born in 1896, Fitzgerald’s birthplace on Cathedral Hill
is now a National Literary Landmark. The number 54 bus
carries the Literary traveler downtown to Rice Park
on West Fifth and Market streets near the Source.
Just a stone’s throw away from the Ordway,
stands an erect Fitzgerald made of bronze.
The Literary traveler knows the city paid a pretty Price
to commemorate the great American novelist.
The Literary traveler is chilled to the bone, as he stands
looking up at the sculpture of the young Fitzgerald holding
his brown hat and coat. On this very cold, 30-degree day,
the smiling face is covered with a fresh March snow.
A voracious reader and lover of literature, the
Literary traveler searches for the latest find:
“Temperature,” the lost tale of Scott’s, published
in the summer issue of the Strand Magazine.
Less than ten minutes from Scott’s boyhood home,
The Literary traveler visits the F. Scott Fitzgerald
Reading alcove at the George Latimer Central Library,
where the masterpieces of the Jazz Age reside.
Next stop: Montgomery, Alabama.
By Denise Fletcher
© 2021