BUCKS COUNTY, PA – Whether it was humorist Dorothy Parker writing witty screenplays from her Pipersville farmhouse, or painter Fern Coppedge diligently capturing snow-blanketed landscapes on canvas near her home in New Hope, outstanding women have long found the quaint villages and beautiful countryside of Bucks County, Pennsylvania to be an inspiring locale for their pursuits. Among the many striking individuals to call Bucks County home, there were two particularly notable women humanitarians who greatly impacted the global community. Celebrate National Women’s History Month in March by visiting the Pearl S. Buck House and the Saint Katharine Drexel Mission Center & National Shrine.

For information about attractions, lodging and dining options in Bucks County, Pennsylvania visit www.ExperienceBucksCounty.com. The Bucks County Conference & Visitors Bureau’s “Stay a Night on Us!” offer continues through March 31, 2005. Travelers booking a one-night stay at participating hotels will get a second night free, and those booking a two-night stay at participating bed & breakfasts and country inns will get a third night free.

Pearl S. Buck House & Historic Site, 520 Dublin Road, Perkasie, PA

215-249-0100 or www.pearl-s-buck.org

Discover the legacy of the first American woman to receive the Pulitzer and Nobel Prizes for literature. Learn about the life of author, activist and humanitarian Pearl S. Buck by visiting Green Hills Farm, her 68-acre Bucks County, Pennsylvania estate. The Pearl S. Buck House is one of only ten National Historic Landmarks in the United States that educates the public about a woman’s contribution to society through a house with an intact collection. The original contents reflect the multicultural life Buck lived first as a child in China and then as prolific author and mother of eight children. Visitors can see the desk where Buck wrote The Good Earth, which recently moved back to the top of the charts as an Oprah Book Club pick! House tours are available in March on a walk-in basis Tuesday through Saturday at 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. The estate features an International Gift Shop with a wide array of Asian handicrafts, ceramics and jewelry. Pearl S. Buck International, a not-for-profit organization, helps children around the world who have been marginalized due to mixed heredity, disease, hunger, poverty or other tragic circumstances.

Special Program at Pearl S. Buck International:

Remember the Ladies: Restoring Women’s History

Free Public Lecture by Dr. Cynthia Little, instrumental in activating Women’s History Month

6:30 p.m., Tuesday, March 8, 2005

Saint Katharine Drexel Mission Center & National Shrine, 1663 Bristol Pike, Bensalem, PA

215-244-9900 or www.katharinedrexel.org

Learn about the passionate life and work of an American heiress-turned-nun at the Saint Katharine Drexel Mission Center and National Shrine in Bensalem, Pennsylvania. Katharine Drexel walked among the Native and African American peoples of her time and heard their cry for justice, their hope for unity and their dream of peace. A wealthy, educated Philadelphia socialite, Drexel chose to commit her entire life to bringing the news of Christ to these oppressed peoples. After founding the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament in Bensalem in 1891, she and her Sisters established schools and social centers on reservations in the rural South and in large urban areas. Pope John Paul II canonized Drexel on October 1, 2000. Today, Drexel’s vision lives on in the work of the Sisters, reaching as far as Haiti, the western hemisphere’s poorest country. The shrine is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., no appointment needed. March 2005 marks the 50^th anniversary of the death of Saint Katharine Drexel.

Special Program for Saint Katharine Drexel Feastday:

Eagle Dancers and Drummers from Laguna Pueblo, New Mexico

10 a.m. & 2 p.m., Friday, March 4, 2005 and 11:30 a.m. & 2 p.m., Saturday, March 5, 2005