One of the most wonderful and inspirational trips we take our students to is at the Pearl Buck Homestead at Stratton Mountain in Vermont.

Pearl Buck spent much of her last twenty (20) years in Vermont. She died in Danby in 1973 having finally found what she needed most - a haven for her restless soul. In her years here, she wrote, she walked in the woods, and meditated on the mountains.

The Bucks had one biological child, Carol, born in 1920 Carol was diagnosed with phenylketonuria, a genetic disease that affects metabolism and can cause severe retardation.

Her books and articles credits over the next 40 years are astounding. She produced at least one book a year nearly every year, for the rest of her life. Most years she published several. Buck thought of herself first as a writer but she was dedicated to many humanitarian causes.

In 1964 she founded the Pearl Buck Foundation (now Pearl S. Buck International) to provide education and support for non-orphan Asian-American children in Asia.

Buck cut an imposing figure in Danby and her vision was to restore the town center. Dressed in Chinese robes and wearing lots of jewelry, she commanded the respect of the Danbyites. Youngsters in the village, looking for something to do, enlisted Pearl's support and started their own teen center.

On March 6, 1973, Pearl Buck died of lung cancer in Danby. Her funeral, a non-religious ceremony took place at Green Hills Farm, her home in Pennsylvania (now home to the foundation). A large stone, relocated from Stratton Mountain sits to the side of her grave.

Buck loved Vermont and considered it to be"the good earth".

C.J. King - writes frequently for Stratton Magazine

Rutland Herald / Monday Sept. 25, 1972

In his welcome Dr. Harold Abel, Castleton College president, noted he first came to know the literary genius through her moving interest in the welfare of the mentally retarded and her other pioneering human efforts.

He explained he had begun his educational career teaching mentally retarded.

Manchester Journal, March 8, 1973

In 1928 Pearl Buck discovered that her daughter was the victim of hopeless mental retardation. In 1929 the daughter was placed in The Training School in Vineland, N.J. , where she still lives.

Aware of the need for costly care for her daughter, Mrs. Buck with what was to become a noted sense of self-sufficiency, borrowed $2,000 and set out to write her most famous novel "The Good Earth".

The book was her second effort it was an instant success after its publication in 1930 and remained on the best seller lists for 21 months and being made into a Broadway play and a highly successful motion picture starring Paul Muni and Luise Rainer. In 1931 it was awarded the Pulitzer Prize.

Always interested in humanitarian causes and especially the plight of the mentally retarded and Eurasian children, she was active in fund raising for these causes.

In 1963 she founded the Pearl Buck Foundation whose commitment (which was devoted to) was the adoption of Amer-asian children. She also supplied centers in Korea and Japan.