Photo courtesy Mountain Rail Adventures
I'm a fan of author Pearl Buck, and my husband, Tom, is a steam-railroad aficionado. That pointed to an anniversary trip to Pocahontas County, West Virginia.
Our three-and-a-half-hour drive west took us first to a place we hadn’t intended to stop, Green Bank Observatory, the world’s largest, fully steerable telescope. Yes, steerable. Imagine a telescope in which you can walk inside. This attraction devoted to radio astronomy is truly off the grid: its U.S. National Radio Quiet Zone designation means no cell-phone service. Admission is free unless you want a telescope tour ($6 for adults); regrettably, we hadn’t allowed time — but everyone has to eat, and the Starlight Cafe here made a good lunch stop. Lobby seating offered a beautiful view of the telescope and surrounding mountains while enjoying a scoop of moose-tracks ice cream.
A traveler who had visited previously recommended we not use a GPS device if we had one: “You might get routed over some interesting secondary roads.” On the other hand, West Virginia’s Monongahela National Forest, next to the Green Bank Observatory, could be a great place to get lost enjoying rugged mountain scenery with gently flowing streams and glimpses of the many flora and fauna that inhabit the area.
After learning so much about the basic element of carbon — “foundation of the complex molecules that make up life” — at Green Bank, it seemed apropos that we were headed to Cass Scenic Railroad State Park, about a 15-minute drive west, for a railroad trip the next day that would send a bit of carbon from coal — soot — down on us. Staying in the state park facilities overnight was not only economical but also ensured that we didn’t have far to travel before boarding our train.
Riding the rails is more than nostalgia; it’s the romance of travel itself, the romance of feeling the journey as we slow down and experience each moment before we arrive at our destination. Our 4.5-hour round-trip rail excursion up to Bald Knob — in an open car to get the full feel and smell of the “carbon” — is one of our favorite travel memories, along with visiting the 1900 lumber mill town of Cass, which became part of the railroad boon sweeping America in the second half of the 19th century.
Tom was among the travelers impressed by Cass’ carefully restored Shay locomotives, some of which used to haul lumber to the town mill. Check out the various excursion packages available (some, diesel), ranging from $31 to $151 per person, including two-hour trips and themes of fall foliage, dinner trains and the Polar Express for the holidays.
Signed books on my office shelf speak volumes about our visit to the Pearl S. Buck Birthplace outside the town of Hillsboro, an hour’s drive southwest of Cass. The concern that the dying author demonstrated for her foundation’s continuing financial support left an indelible impression on me. One of only two American women to win the Nobel Prize for Literature (1938) and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (1932), she made a point of signing thousands of copies of her works before her death in 1973, and those books continue to be sold in the gift shop.
Like many other Pearl Buck fans, I had felt an emotional pull to visit the 1875 farmhouse serving as a museum with original family furniture and other personal belongings. A Buck family Bible and a christening photograph of baby Pearl taken before her mother took her to China reflect the lives her missionary parents, the Sydenstrickers.
Pearl, informed by growing up in China and living there with her husband, John Buck, helped open up China to many English-speaking readers through her more than 70 books.
