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Our century of conservation dates back to the building of the Biltmore Estate and the reforestation of abused and farmed over land. Forestry education began in 1889 when George W. Vanderbilt began to purchase land in Asheville as a site for his Biltmore House. Vanderbilt hired a man by the name of Gifford Pinchot to restore the forest. Subsequently, in 1895, German forester Dr. Carl A. Schenck accepted George Vanderbilt's offer to come to North Carolina to succeed Gifford Pinchot as manager of his vast forest properties. For the next 14 years, Dr. Schenck focused all of his forestry skills on transforming these woodlands that we know today as Pisgah National Forest.
In 1898, Dr. Schenck began the first forestry school in America., the Biltmore Forest School. Winter classes were held at the Biltmore Estate near Asheville and summer sessions in Pisgah Forest. The "Campus" at The Biltmore Forest School consisted of mountaineer cabins and farm homes which once had been part of the old "Pink Beds" community. The one room community school and church became the forestry school's classroom. The Biltmore Forest School graduated it's last class in 1913.
Today the Cradle of Forestry is a 6,500 acre National Historic Site within the Pisgah National Forest, set aside by Congress to commemorate the beginning of forestry conservation in the United States. The Forest Discovery Center commemorates conservation history with an 18 minute movie on Vanderbilt, Pinchot, Schenck and the beginning of forestry in America. Also in the Center is an interactive exhibit hall, The Giving Tree Gift Shop and the Forest Bounty Cafe. Outdoor activities include two guided trails which lead you back in time to seven historical buildings, a 1915 Climax logging locomotive and the old sawmill. Thursdays through Sundays you may find a toy maker, a weaver, a quilter, a wood carver and a basket maker.
With special programs and events throughout the season, The Cradle of Forestry is a must do attraction in the Pisgah National Forest. A National Historic Site Celebrating 100 years of forestry education 1898-1998.
The Cradle of Forestry Celebrates a century of conservation with an exciting array of educational activities for family and friends. You make the selections for your day of discovery; join a guided tour or set the pace for your own adventure.
Inside the Visitor Center is the place to begin your journey through time. A short movie gives insight to the important people that lived here - George Vanderbilt, Giford Pinchot, and Dr. Carl Schenck - pioneers
in forestry conservation. The Exhibit Hall begins with the Biltmore Forest legacy. The history area opens onto the "Great Tree and Burrow" and "Water in the Forest" exhibits. In this area you can explore a cold water stream and then explore the dynamic world of a living forest from below ground in the Burrow at ground level or even
from the tip-top of the tree. Other exhibits include the "Dynamic Forest" the "Forest Market Place" and our "Flying Forest Fire Fighting Helicopter Experience."
The Cradle of Forestry transports you to the turn of the 20th century for an experience of life in the Appalachain mountains. Local crafters recreate the skills needed for survival by the mountaineers who used the gifts of nature to carve out their homesteads in the great forest. On the one mile long Biltmore Campus Trail, you can talk with spinners, weavers, quilters, woodsmen and blacksmiths while they work their magic. Vanderbilt's dream was to create a vast estate where forest resources could be conserved for the continual supply of goods. It was a meeting of the Industrial Revolution and the great forest of the southern Appalachains. On the one mile long Forest Festival Trail, you can hear the clang of the logging locomotive's bell ringing through the trees, feel the clear cool mountain air flowing down a shady cove and step inside an old sawmill shed to smell the sharp odor of fresh sawn wood.
Mountain Heritage
Award Winner 1997
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