Pennsylvania Vacation and Travel Ideas for Literary Tours
The Franklin Institute Science Museum
222 N. 20th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19103
Website: http://www.fi.edu/
Email: webteam@www.fi.edu
Phone: (215) 448-1200
Benjamin Franklin (1706 - 1790) was a leading author, diplomat, inventor, politician, printer, and political theorist. One of the best-known Founding Fathers and a skilled diplomat, he was highly instrumental in securing aid from France that would eventually help the American colonies to win independence from England. As a writer, he supported the idea of an American nation and helped to popularize this concept. Franklin is also remembered for his groundbreaking experiments with physics and electricity.
Philadelphia's Franklin Institute is the country's oldest science and technology institution, and includes the Franklin Institute Science Museum, with extensive collections and exhibits. Franklin is remembered at the Institute with the Benjamin Franklin National Memorial, which features a 20-foot-high marble statue of Franklin in a hall that is modeled after Rome's Pantheon. The memorial includes many of Franklin's original publications and his composing table. The museum's Franklin Gallery has his original mystery clock and his electrostatic machine, which he used in his experiments. Other sections of the museum include Fels Planetarium, an Imax theater, and a walk-through "Giant Heart."
Visitors to Philadelphia can also visit the site of Franklin's house on High Street, now Franklin Court. For more information go to: http://www.nps.gov/archive/inde/Franklin_Court/Pages/franklinhouse.html. The only surviving Franklin residence is in London, England.
The Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology in Boston was established after Franklin's death with funds from a trust that he established to educate technical apprentices in the town of Boston, where Franklin was born. For more information visit: http://www.bfit.edu/.
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Green Hills Farm
Pearl S. Buck International
520 Dublin Road
Perkasie, PA 18944
Website: http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/delaware/gre.htm or http://www.psbi.org/site/PageServer?pagename=PSBH_Visitor_Information
Email: webmaster@pearlsbuck.org
Phone: (215) 249-0100
Pearl S. Buck (1892 - 1973) was the first American woman to win the Nobel Prize for literature. She made her debut as a writer in 1930 with the publication of East Wind: West Wind, which she quickly followed with her most famous novel, The Good Earth, in 1931. The Good Earth, which tells the story of the fictional Chinese farmer Wang Lung and his rise from poverty during years of great political and social unrest in China, won Buck the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel in 1932. She was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1938
Buck spent much of her early life in China, but returned to the U.S. in the mid 1930s as political tensions in China grew. Upon her return, she purchased a one hundred-year-old farmhouse on 60 acres in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and she moved there with her second husband, Richard Walsh, and their large family. She called the homestead Green Hills Farm. She lived here for the rest of her life, raising her family, writing, and assisting with humanitarian efforts. She wrote many of her books while living here, including This Proud Heart (1938), The Patriot (1939), and The Child Who Never Grew (1950).
Green Hills Farm's
12-room main house showcases nineteenth century architecture. On display are Buck's collection of Chinese artwork and carpets, and the hand-carved writing desk at which she penned The Good. Buck's many literary and humanitarian awards are also on view. In addition to the main house, the grounds also include a pre-Revolutionary War summer kitchen, a barn built in 1927, and beautiful gardens.
Note: Per website, house is under renovation and scheduled to reopen in April of 2007.
The Pearl S. Buck Birthplace in Hillsboro, West Virginia, is also open to the public. For more information, see , visit: http://www.pearlsbuckbirthplace.com/, or call: (304) 653-4430.
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Zane Grey Museum
Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River
274 River Road
Beach Lake, PA 18405
Website: http://www.nps.gov/upde/zgmuseum.htm
Email: - none listed
Phone: (570) 685-4871
The novels of Zane Grey (1872 - 1939) created in the American popular imagination an idealized vision of the rugged Old West that persists to this day. Grey wrote 57 novels about pioneers, and respectfully wrote about the lives of Native Americans as well. His works include Under the Tonto Rim, Code of the West, and To the Last Man. From those works, 130 movies were made, often featuring well-known actors such as John Wayne, Shirley Temple, Roy Rogers, George Montgomery, and Jack Holt.
The Zane Grey Museum is located in the home that Grey occupied from 1914 - 1918. Tours of the home include Grey's study and office, with displays of memorabilia and photographs. The house is attractively situated on the banks of the Delaware. Grey is buried in nearby Union Cemetery in Lackawaxen, Pennsylvania.
Other sites of interest to Zane Grey fans include:
The Zane Grey Museum in Beach Lake, Pennsylvania: For more information go to , visit: http://www.nps.gov/upde/zgmuseum.htm, or call: (570) 685-4871
The Zane Grey Exhibit WHERE?: For more information go to: , visit: http://www.rimcountrymuseums.com/zanegreycabin.html, or call: (928) 474-3483
Edgar Allan Poe National Historic Site
530-532 North 7th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19123
Website: http://www.nps.gov/edal/
Email: Go to "Contact Us" section of website
Phone: (215) 597-8780
Edgar Allan Poe (1809 - 1849), widely known for his macabre stories, is considered the father of today's detective fiction. Born in Boston, Poe lived in Baltimore, Richmond, New York, and in Philadelphia during a tumultuous and troubled life. He died and was buried in Baltimore at the age of 40.
Edgar Allan Poe lived here for six years from 1838-1844. While in residence, he wrote classics such as The Tell-Tale Heart and The Fall of the House of Usher, and he began work on The Raven. An eight-minute introductory film about Poe provides background for tours of the house, which may be either self-guided or ranger-led. The unrefurbished house, complete with peeling paint and empty rooms, offers a fitting ambiance for annual Halloween-week activities.
Other noteworthy Poe sites include:
The Edgar Allan Poe Museum in Richmond, Virginia. For more information, see: , visit: http://www.poemuseum.org/, or call: (804) 648-5523.
Edgar Allan Poe in Baltimore. For more information, see , visit: http://www.eapoe.org/ or call: (410) 821-1285 (no calls after 10pm)
The Edgar Allan Poe Cottage in the Bronx, New York. For more information, see
visit: http://www.bronxhistoricalsociety.org/about/poecottage.html, or call:: (718) 881-8900. Additional information about Poe in Baltimore is available at: http://www.eapoe.org/, or by calling: (410) 821-1285.
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James A. Michener Art Museum
138 South Pine Street
Doylestown, PA 18901
Website: http://www.michenermuseum.org/
Email: jamam1@michenerartmuseum.org
Phone: (215) 340-9800
James A. Michener (1907 - 1997) was known for writing sweeping, epic, historical novels which often take place over many generations. He has over forty titles to his credit including The Source, The Drifters, Centennial, Chesapeake, Alaska, and Tales of the South Pacific, for which he won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1948. His books were very popular during his lifetime, selling an estimated 75 million copies.
Michener was a native of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and had dreamed of founding an art museum as early as the 1960s. The James A. Michener Art Museum, which opened its doors in 1988, is the fulfillment of that dream. The museum is committed to recognizing the art and cultural life of the Bucks County area, but also features many exhibits which are much broader in scope.
The Michener museum features a busy calendar of changing exhibits, as well as classes and many special events and programs. An outdoor sculpture garden also features revolving displays.
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