Adventure and fantasy writer and creator of Conan Robert Ervin Howard (1906-1936) moved in 1919 to this homesite in Cross Plains with his parents, Dr. Isaac and Hester (Ervin) Howard. In his bedroom here, he wrote hundreds of stories spanning several genres and more than 700 poems. He began writing when he was about eight or nine years old, encouraged by his mother, who enjoyed reciting poetry to him. He started trying to publish his stories at age fifteen, and at eighteen sold his first story, "Spear and Fang," to Weird Tales for its July 1925 issue. After the Howards arrived in Cross Plains, an oil boom also came, and Howard observed its negative effects on townspeople, which contributed to his philosophies and many of his stories. His fiction often centered on the corruption of civilization and the rise from and plummet into barbarism, with one moral man against a multitude of immortal adversaries. In his last few years, his poetry and his plans in the event of his demise left clues to his suicidal mood. He had become the primary caretaker for his mother after she contracted tuberculosis. Three days after she slipped into a coma, Howard committed suicide on June 11, 1936; she died the next day, and a double funeral was held on June 14. An internationally known author and father of the sword and sorcery sub-genre, Howard influenced several generations; his works have been translated into 23 languages, and decades after his death, he and his characters continue to be studied, published, filmed, role-played, and enjoyed.