This building, is owned by the
Forest Home Chapel (at
224 Forest Home Dr) and is often referred to as the parsonage. It has sometimes been occupied by the minister and sometimes rented out.
The description in the 1991 Building-Structure Inventory form includes: "This two-story bungalow cottage has a broad gable roof with the ridge line parallel to Forest Home Drive. The main roof covers the front porch, which extends the width of the building. There are two-bay center dormers on both the front and rear elevations. Walls are sheathed in strip shingles, with asbestos shingles in the roof gables. There are one-over-one double hung windows with diamond-shaped Queen Anne panes in the upper sash. Rock-faced concrete blocks are used in the construction of the foundation and front porch. There is also a concrete porch floor, and porch posts are composed of square concrete blocks."
This house is historically significant as a former home of Pearl S. Buck, who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1932 for
The Good Earth and the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1938. She lived here with her first husband, J. Lossing Buck, in 1924-25, while both were studying at Cornell University. See sources below. Forest Home resident Amy Whetzel remembered typing short stories for Pearl Buck while she lived in this home. The parsonage has served as the home of many other ministers who have been missionaries in far-off lands, and have brought the flavor of the world to Forest Home residents.
In December 2024, a historic marker celebrating Pearl Buck was installed close to the Forest Home Chapel. See
https://www.fhia.org/historic-marker-for-pearl-buck/ and
https://alumni.cornell.edu/cornellians/pearl-buck-marker/.
Included in
Forest Home Historic District with USN 10906.000181. To access the Building-Structure Inventory Form (sometimes referred to as the "Blue Form"), from which many of the details above are drawn, including the estimated building date, follow these
Lookup Instructions.
Sources for occupancy of the parsonage by the Bucks:
-
The Church in Action, edited by Edward K. Campbell. Ithaca Journal, Dec 18 1931, top left of page.
- Reports on the Forest Home Chapel having a celebration to burn its mortgage. At bottom of col 4 in the article is "An interesting fact brought out during the evening was that while the Rev. O. M. Frazer was paster[sic] of the chapel he was also pastor of the Friends Church at Perry City and resided there. Hence he served both a Methodist and a Friends Church. During his pastorate the Forest Home parsonage at various times was occupied by J. Lossing and Mrs. Perl[sic] Buck, missionaries in China. Mrs. Buck is the author of 'This God Eearth[sic],' which has had a very large circulation."
- The Rev. Oliver M. Frazer was minister from 1923-25.
- News from Forest Home. Ithaca Journal, Dec 1, 1924, top left of page.
- Includes "Mr. and Mrs. J. L. Buck entertained Mrs. Buck's brother, Mr. Snidenstricker[sic], of the Bureau of Health at Washington, D.C., over the last weekend."
- News from Forest Home. Ithaca Journal, April 28 1925, top of col. 3
- Includes "Mr. and Mrs. J. L. Buck visited Watkins Glen last Friday. Rev. O. M. Frazer took them."