World-renowned writer, biologist, and considered by some as the "Mother of the Modern Environmental Movement," Rachel Carson lived her adult life in Maryland, residing in Silver Spring, Maryland from 1937 until her death in 1964.* It was here, steps from the banks of the Northwest Branch of the Anacostia River, that Carson penned her most critical work, Silent Spring.  

We will create Springsong Museum through the transformation of a vacant historic building, including a modern addition that complements the natural landscape while enhancing the museum’s accessibility, while also creating and nurturing native public gardens. The public transit-accessible property, which sits along both a state highway and a 21-mile bi-county hiking trail, is adjacent to the neighborhood where Carson wrote Under the Sea-Wind and the National Book Award-winning The Sea Around Us and 2.5 miles downstream from where she lived and wrote Silent Spring.

No place consistently open to the public exists with the explicit intention to share Carson's story and ideas, which are perhaps relevant now more than ever. At Springsong Museum, children and adults, locals and tourists alike, will engage with Carson's ecological philosophy and powerful sense of wonder.

As Rachel Carson's work centered on connections between living things and their environment, in addition to sharing her life and legacy, the museum will connect visitors to place and to the history of the land through the diverse communities that have lived here, including the Nacotchtank/Anacostan peoples, mill owners and workers, and the Black community of Stewart Lane Chapel/Burnt Mills.

* From 1943-1945 Carson lived in Takoma Park, Maryland, a stone's throw from Silver Spring. Before moving to Silver Spring, Carson lived in Baltimore, Maryland from 1929-1937.