The Cradle of Forestry in America Heritage Site is the birthplace of forestry in America and the Biltmore Forest School. Established near Asheville in 1898, in the sprawling 500,000+ acres of Pisgah National Forest, the school was the first for the scientific study of forestry in the U.S. For 15 years the school staff educated more than 300 students who became some of the first American foresters. The forest is also home to the first tract of land purchased under the Weeks Act of 1911, credited for creating a national forest system in the U.S.
On May 22, 1914, Edith Vanderbilt sold 86,700 acres of the Pisgah Forest to the U.S. Government for $5 an acre.
But before that, in 1895, German forester Carl A. Schenck took charge of the Biltmore Estate forest, which totaled more than 100,000 acres that year, and established the Biltmore Forest School — the first of its kind.
Biltmore Estate, 1 Approach Rd, Asheville, NC 28803, USA
Schenck offered a three-month trip through European forests where students are pictured inspecting a portable forest railroad line in Darmstadt, Germany.
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The site in Pisgah National Forest, right off U.S. Route 276, offers a visitor center, gift shop, restrooms, a small cafe, a historic schoolhouse, and other structures.
