The mission of the Rachel Carson Homestead Association is to preserve, restore, and interpret Rachel Carson's birthplace and childhood home; and to design and implement education programs and resources in keeping with her environmental ethic.

The Rachel Carson Homestead is the birthplace and childhood home of ecologist Rachel Carson, whose 1962 book Silent Spring launched the modern environmental movement. Born in this five-room farmhouse, Carson's childhood in southwestern Pennsylvania nurtured a love and respect for nature and natural things which would guide her the rest of her life. Silent Spring warned of the dangers of indiscriminate pesticide use and is regarded as one of the most important books ever written.

The small structure that would become the Carson family homestead was constructed in approximately 1870, and definitely before 1892. It was one of the earlier buildings in the small Allegheny River town of Springdale, approximately 14 miles upstream from Pittsburgh, a burgeoning center of the industrial revolution at the time. Several outbuildings (outhouses, a barn, a chicken coop, and a springhouse) were added to the property by previous owners before the Carsons' arrival.