Hurricane Sandy blew through our PA property two weeks ago and left many
downed trees in its wake. Fallen trees mixed with electrical wires and
cables across our driveway forced the closure of The Pearl S. Buck House
for five days. Our offices were closed Monday and Tuesday. Fortunately,
staff was able to enter the building using a private driveway at the back of
the property. Telephone service was restored Thursday evening, but our
electric provider was not able to send out a crew to address the trees in the
driveway until mid morning Friday. Once the trees were removed from the
driveway, our Internet service was restored Friday evening. On Saturday
evening, the electric company established lighting along our driveway just in
time for the “Welcome Home,” the play we hosted from West Virginia the weekend after the storm.
Most importantly, all of our buildings on the property,
especially the Pearl S. Buck House, are safe and sound. Sadly, the gravesite
of Pearl S. Buck was devastated by the storm. A strong gust of wind
knocked out 8 or more trees in the area of the gravesite area, and the
headstone on the grave was flipped over along with movement in the
surrounding cement columns surrounding the grave when a tree behind the
headstone fell. There is a significant amount of cleanup work needed to bring
the area back to its original beauty. In addition to the losing a
number of trees along the drive way, what was once the wooded area next to
the gravesite, now looks like a clearing with fallen trees.
Given
all of the above, we are happy to be back to our daily
routine and look forward to our Festival of Trees Exhibit opening
tomorrow for our daily tours to conclude at the end of the year. Our 7th
annual members event, a holiday reception, and candlelight tour of the Pearl
Buck House, is also Tuesday 11/13 at 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm, and our
Juried Craft Show begins November 23rd for 10 days. You can
find more information about all of these events
on our website. The holidays are a family tradition at Pearl S. Buck
International, and I hope you will share them with us.
Warmest regards,
President & CEO
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| The Pearl S. Buck Grave Site After Hurricane Sandy (The headstone was flipped over by large tree behind it) |
