Three leading lights left an indelible mark on the Commonwealth’s landscapes and open spaces.
In the 20th century, the Commonwealth continued to have a profound impact on the nation’s horticulture thanks to three very different women: Rachel Carson, Pearl S. Buck, and Mira Lloyd Dock. You can connect with their stories at three locations around the state.
Carson’s Clarion Call
Rachel Carson isn’t known as a gardener, but she did deepen our understanding of how the natural world works. In one slim, carefully researched book, Carson sounded an alarm that has reverberated ever since.
The Rachel Carson Homestead, a farm in Springdale, Allegheny County, where she grew up, was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. Along with preserving Carson’s birthplace, the nonprofit Rachel Carson Homestead Association aims “to design and implement environmental education programs aligned with Rachel Carson’s environmental ethic and her sense of wonder.”
Born in 1907, Carson often spent her free time exploring the hills and fields surrounding her family’s property. Carson’s other passion was writing. At age 10, one of her stories was published in a children’s magazine. She later enrolled as an English major at Pennsylvania College for Women in Pittsburgh (now known as Chatham University), but soon shifted her focus to biology. Carson continued her studies at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Massachusetts and at Johns Hopkins University, earning a master’s degree in zoology in 1932.
The scientist then put her writing skills to work for the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries; in 1935, she was the second woman hired by the agency. For the next 15 years, Carson enlightened the public about the marine ecosystem through printed materials and a radio program titled “Romance Under the Water.” She was eventually promoted to editor-in-chief of all publications for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
During this time, Carson began publishing books. Her second, The Sea Around Us (1951), earned a National Book Award for non-fiction. Then she discovered the topic that would bring her to prominence and help launch a movement.
Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) is a powerful chemical that was used to control lice by the U.S. military during World War II. After the war, the manufacturer began marketing it as a pest control product for agriculture and horticulture. Carson realized that the insecticide was having a destructive impact on species all the way up the food chain, including bald eagles and humans. Silent Spring, her book about the damage caused by DDT and other pesticides, was published in 1962 and quickly became a bestseller. It sparked public outcry about the indiscriminate use of insecticides and inspired the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1970.
Today, the agency evaluates agricultural chemicals and sets standards for their application. At the same time, a growing number of organic farmers and gardeners are choosing to tend their crops without any insecticides, inspired by Carson’s insights into the dangers they pose to people and wildlife.
For more information and to plan a visit to Carson’s family home, head to the Rachel Carson Homestead website.