Pearl Buck home will inspire those who visit

Tour Pearl S. Buck's home in Bucks County, Pa., and you'll feel as if you've discovered a treasure as prized as an oyster's pearl.

Layer after layer of Buck's story will peel away and inspire you as you go room to room, walk the grounds and visit her grave.

A best-selling author, Buck was the first American woman to win both the Nobel and Pulitzer prizes for literature.

But her work went far beyond the printed page.

Buck counseled presidents, mothered a brood of children (one birth child, seven adopted children and at least 10 foster children), changed the lives of thousands more children and fought for racial harmony through cultural understanding.

The daughter of missionaries, she used her vast knowledge of China, where she lived for 40 years, to bridge major gaps in understanding between the East and the West.

Beloved and admired, she also accepted keys to more than 30 cities, collected 13 honorary degrees and was featured on a postage stamp.

She deserves as much admiration as other Bucks County luminaries, including Henry Chapman Mercer, James A. Michener and David Burpee.

"We worry young people will not know who she is because 'The Good Earth' is gone from most school reading lists," said Janet Mintzer, chief executive officer of Pearl S. Buck International, referring to Buck's famous novel about the lives of a Chinese peasant family.

Buck, who died in 1973, was born in West Virginia 122 years ago, grew up in China and lived for nearly 40 years at Green Hills Farm in Hilltown Township near Perkasie.

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Pearl Buck home will inspire those who visit