Rachel Carson, a child of the Allegheny Valley, was a writer and an ecologist. There have been great writers whose descriptions of natural history and stories of the natural world charm and delight readers; and there have been scientists whose work excites the public attention. Rachel Carson rises to a heroic stature because her conscience called for action, not only words. (Painting by Minette Bickel) Read More >

Event Calendar

« Jan iCalendar Mar »
February 2012
M T W T F S S
 12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
272829EC



Stephen Colbert on Fracking

Stephen looks at an attempt to lift a ban on fracking.

Watch the video here



City Council Passes Clean Air Act

A special thanks to Bill Peduto, City Councilman and RCHA supporter, for sponsoring the Clean Air Act and helping to make our air cleaner.

To read the full story, click here

Please consider RCHA as a recipient of your planned giving.

Visiting the Rachel Carson Homestead

Hours & Tours of the Homestead

The Rachel Carson Homestead is currently undergoing renovations and cannot accommodate regular tours at this time. Although access to the house will be limited to special events, we can give some tours to groups. The three quarter acre property includes many plants, trees and wildlife, as well as, picnic tables and the quarter-mile Sense of Wonder Trail behind the house. Please inquire with Joy if your group would like to arrange a special on-site program. We invite you to enjoy the grounds at any time. If you do visit the grounds, we ask that you please leave nothing behind; take all belongings and trash with you.

On June 1, 2011 the homestead closed its doors and over the next 12 months will be renovated into a modern museum interpreting Rachel Carson’s legacy.  The RCHA will re-open in 2012 in time to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Silent Spring, which cried out against widespread use of pesticides and contributed to the eventual creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

You can stay in touch with the Rachel Carson Homestead and experience the transformation process by following us on Facebook and Twitter. Also, sign up for the RCHA mailing list and receive email updates and announcements.

You may also be interested in visiting our Environmental Community Center. Click here for more information.

We still have not become mature enough to see ourselves as a very tiny part of a vast and incredible universe, a universe that is distinguished above all else by a mysterious and wonderful unity that we flout at out own peril . . .

Instead of always trying to impose our will on Nature we should sometimes be quiet and listen to what she has to tell us . . .

[M]ankind is challenged, as it has never been challenged before, to prove its maturity and its mastery—not of nature, but of itself. Therein lies our hope and our destiny.

Rachel Carson, Of Man and the Stream of Time, 1962