The site also includes a carpentry shop and barn with over 100 historic farm and woodworking tools, and the log home of Buck's father's family, the Sydenstrickers, which was moved from Greenbrier County.

Built around 1875, the three-story home was constructed by hand by a Dutch refugee family escaping religious persecution in the Netherlands.

Buck was born at the house in 1892 while her parents, Caroline Stulting and Absalom Sydenstricker, were on leave from Presbyterian missionary work in China.

A world-renowned author, she wrote over 100 books and hundreds of short stories and magazine articles.

For me it is a living heart in the country I knew was my own but which was strange to me until I returned to the house where I was born.

The party consisted of Cornelius Stulting (called "Mynheer" in Pearl Buck's books), his wife Arnolda, and their five married sons and their families—three generations.

It is located in the area commonly referred to as "Little Levels," surrounding the town of Hillsboro in Pocahontas County, West Virginia.

Pearl S. Buck's great grandfather, Cornelius "Mynheer" Stulting, had a yearning to build a house like the one they had in the Netherlands.

Since her childhood was spent in China, Pearl's visits here enlarged her love for this American home, which her mother had instilled in her with many stories.

The Stulting family enjoyed and taught music, practiced its fine craftsmanship, became school teachers, raised children, and shared joys and sorrows together in the house until 1922.

Although the Stulting family had not had any experience as farmers before coming to America, it managed to make a living on this small farm.

The barn as it existed in the early 1970s had "grown" with additions, so it was restored to its 1892 state with a grant from the U.S. Department of the Interior and was completed in 1977.

This house was a gift to the Birthplace Foundation from two sisters, Mrs. Lucille Spencer, of Richwood, and Mrs. Leona Bonin, who lived in it before building a new home on the Sydenstricker farm.

The house was built in 1834 by Andrew Sydenstricker, who married Frances Coffman on January 16, 1834, and became the father of nine children, including Absalom.

Philip Sydenstricker, great-great-grandfather of Pearl S. Buck, came to America from Bavaria (Germany) -- first to Pennsylvania, then on to West Virginia ("Virginia" at the time) after the Revolutionary War, settling on a farm near Ronceverte, Greenbrier County, in what is known as the Fort Springs area.

The Pearl Buck Birthplace Foundation seeks donated items for this house, especially Sydenstricker memorabilia and furniture.

The project was started by Greenbrier District, West Virginia Garden Clubs, when a fruit orchard was restored with old-fashioned trees of the period.