Pearl S. Buck was the first American woman to receive both the Nobel and Pulitzer Prizes for literature. Beyond her literary achievements, she was passionately committed to social justice, human rights, humanitarian causes, cross-cultural understanding, and racial harmony as a path to world peace. Born in West Virginia to Presbyterian missionaries, she spent the first 40 years of her life in China and the second 40 years at Green Hills Farm, a property purchased in 1934 that originally comprised 48 acres and is now 67 acres. The grounds include her expanded stone farmhouse built in 1825, the original 1735 homestead known as the Cottage, the barn now known as the Cultural Center, a Welcome Center and office building built in 1987, a maintenance building, a milk house later used as a play house, and a water garden and two working greenhouses built during her lifetime, while the sculptures were added after her death. She raised one birth daughter and seven adopted children along with countless foster children, and her home and barn served as active community spaces for scout meetings, basketball, square dancing, movie nights, and more. She died on March 6, 1973, at age 80 and was buried on the grounds, where her gravesite near the entrance is etched with Chinese characters of her birth name. She devoted her life to opening doors of understanding between Asian and Western cultures and to helping children facing discrimination, poverty, and disabilities, and her legacy continues on this property and around the world.

Photo: Don Morfe

Photo: Don Morfe

Photo: Don Morfe

Photo: Don Morfe

Photo: Don Morfe

Photo: Don Morfe

Photo: Don Morfe

Photo: Don Morfe

Hilltown, Pennsylvania · USA