>> Getting out here would be just like it was for me or anyone else.

You get out here, and you can't dwell on your problems.

There's birds calling.

There's cicadas.

Oh, there goes a snake.

Look at that cool plant.

It all puts it in perspective for you.

>> Way out in the very northeastern corner of Indiana, near the tiny town of Geneva, lies an 1800-acre wetland preserve known as the Limberlost-Loblolly Watershed.

More than a century ago, these lands captured the imagination of Hoosier novelist and naturalist Gene Stratton-Porter.

>> This is the areas that Gene Stratton-Porter photographed, wrote about, studied, walked around in, set some of her novels in.

So this very much is a spiritual place for her.

She saw the forest as God's cathedral, one of God's cathedrals.

And so everywhere she went in nature, I mean, she definitely felt the spirituality of it and saw how it related to how she worshiped it.

>> Today, if you wander around this wilderness area, chances are pretty good you'll come across Curt Burnette, naturalist and historian, of the Limberlost State Historic Site.

Curt sees a strong relationship between himself and Gene Stratton-Porter, through their shared connection to these very same natural surroundings.

>> Her main source of knowledge was experience.

She'd go out and spend thousands of hours, from childhood on, observing birds, how they built their nests, their calls, what they fed their babies, how they acted with each other.

I've always loved animals and nature.

I grew up on a farm myself.

And then after a degree in wildlife science at Purdue University, I became interested in working in zoos.

And I did go down to south Louisiana and live for 22 years where I became a swamp and alligator expert.

So I have a very good understanding -- I can relate to Gene slogging through the swamps.

I did that myself so much.

>> Near the turn of the 20th century, Gene Stratton-Porter became one of Indiana's wealthiest and most famous Hoosiers through her novels, published nature studies and wildlife photography.

Likewise, Curt finds the same inspired glory in the trees and critters that inhabit this wetland oasis.

>> I definitely could relate to -- to the things she did, her appreciation of the things, her observations.

But as I spent more time, I started realizing that there was a feel to it.

I live in the modern world, and I've got all the modern things.

But when I'm out in nature, just walking around, then it's -- it's just where I feel like I most belong.

When I came and took this job as the naturalist here at Limberlost, I had -- was going through a very rough period in life, very rough.

And I came here and felt like I was starting to heal, that this was a healing place spiritually, because I was, you know, at the bottom, and come here and I just feel the place and I started feeling better and I felt like I fit and was contributing.

And so for me, the Limberlost truly was a place to heal and get back to a good place in life.

And I'm standing next to what we call one of the giants of Rainbow Bottom, this very large Sycamore tree, which could possibly be up to 300 years old, based on its size.

>> Like Stratton-Porter, more than a century ago, Curt sees himself as a fellow storyteller, promoting a sense of collective effervescence, a shared wonder and joy of our natural surrounding, by giving guided tours to help today's busy world better connect to nature.

>> One of the things I do is lead hikes out in the nature areas.

And it's so cool to see kids who, of course, their lives -- all of our lives are staring at screens now, computer screens, phones, televisions, whatever, and to get them out here, away from those things and start pointing things out, because once you do, and they realize there's a lot to see, they become excited.

To me, now, this is a place, you know, I'm older now and I'm semiretired and this is a great place to be.

I actually live in a rented house on the edge of the Limberlost Swamp Nature Preserve.

So I like to tell people, I have an 850-acre backyard.

Gene Stratton-Porter was one of the most famous and influential Hoosiers who ever lived, and not only just Hoosier, but an American citizen who took -- and took Indiana around the world through her novels.

And influenced people around the country and the world with her magazine articles and her stands on things like conservation.

I love it so much, and I'm excited.

And if I'm excited, I'm going to get you excited, and that's the goal.

Get excited about being out in nature so you want to come back.

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