{"nrhp_refnum":"76001601","name":"Carson, Rachel, House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"613 Marion Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Springdale","county":"Allegheny County","state":"PA","lat":40.54660389400004,"lon":-79.78340569199997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1976-10-22","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Conservation","Science","Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"The birthplace of marine biologist and writer Rachel Carson, a two-story frame farmhouse on a stone basement at 613 Marion Avenue in Springdale, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. The original house dates from around 1870, with a later two-bay east addition and rear additions.","why_significant":"The nomination argues that the house is the only site directly associated with Carson's life and work, since her career was spent largely in government service. It stresses her childhood home as an influence on her outlook and her 1962 book Silent Spring, which it credits with starting a movement toward environmental safety. The house is also presented as a plain, well-preserved example of mid-19th-century farmhouse construction.","narrative":"Frame farmhouse on a stone basement in Springdale, overlooking the Allegheny River, built around 1870 and altered by later additions. Rachel Carson, the biologist and author, was born here in 1907 and lived here until she was 22, and the house is regarded as the formative setting of her early life. The original house is four bays wide with a double entrance, chimneys at each end and multipaned windows, and the interior keeps plain plaster walls, wood floors and simple trim. The nomination links the house to her later work, especially Silent Spring, published in 1962, which drew attention to the dangers of pesticides and pollutants. Because her career was mostly in federal government service, the house is the only site directly tied to her life and work. Its listing was intended to secure its recognition and protection, and the Rachel Carson Homestead Association planned to restore it as a memorial and ecology library.","period_of_significance":"1907-1929","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Vernacular, plain farm house","criteria":[],"status_note":"Purchased and being restored and operated by the Rachel Carson Homestead Association, with plans for use as an ecology library, land laboratory and memorabilia repository.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:29.978854-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/76001601.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76001601/4689f4793c-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76001601/4689f4793c-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Lee Paxton","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:RachelCarsonHomestead.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Lee Paxton</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:RachelCarsonHomestead.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71998231","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_Carson_Homestead","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7279187"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/allegheny-county/carson-rachel-house-76001601/"}