Cradle of Forestry in America - Part I - Biltmore Campus Trail

As we continued on a trip down to Charleston, South Carolina we took some time while in North Carolina to visit the Cradle of Forestry in America.

I'm always on the lookout for new places to visit and I'd read about this location when I'd been going through American Canopy by Eric Rutkow in 2018 and wanted to visit.  It is the location of the first forestry school in the United States, on what used to be the Vanderbilt estate.

Nestled in Pink Beds Valley is the Cradle of Forestry in America. This heritage site is the birthplace of science-based forest management. George and Edith Vanderbilt of the nearby Biltmore Estate are accredited for this living legacy. Some 87,000 aces of the Vanderbilt’s “Pisgah Forest” tract became the nucleus of the Pisgah National Forest, established in 1916.
--from Cradle of Forestry website

It was a wet and rainy day when we arrived.

But there were some beautiful flowers that we saw on the way in.

We headed inside first thing.

We had just gotten a new interagency pass so admission was free for us.

The building had a decent gift shop.

This display of different woods was really interesting to see.

We started into the main exhibits, but then we looked at the weather. We decided to go ahead and venture outside first, figuring that if the rain came back we could spend our time inside during the rain.  Thankfully they had some umbrellas that we could borrow as we hit the trails.

Our first walk was on the Biltmore Campus Trail.

The trail is 1.0 mile and winds through the Biltmore Forest School’s rustic campus. A one-room schoolhouse, general store, cabins, blacksmith shop, and a garden provide opportunities to discuss life in the early 1900’s and forest resources. Glimpse the lives of the first American forestry students and the families who lived here. If time is pressed a visit to the first three buildings only can be arranged and still be meaningful.
--from Cradle of Forestry website

The first building we came to was the schoolhouse.  Early forestry students rode up to the school house on their horses and after morning lessons they headed out into the field for "hands on" experiences.

Inside you can see tables and benches where people would have gathered.

One table had a button you could use to trigger an audio presentation.

As we continued on we walked under the a local road to continue along the trail.

Around another bend and we came across the next building.

This is the commissary building.  See a 360° view of the area at this link.
The open area around the store was a great place to play horseshoes, baseball or football while they waited for the mail to arrive with news from home.
--from exhibit signage

Each day before heading to the woods, Biltmore Forest School students stopped at the commissary for a quick lunch that might have included hoop cheese, pork and beans, or canned peaches.
--from exhibit signage

Old signs can be quite interesting to look at.  I really enjoy seeing snapshots of the past through actual artifacts from past time periods.

The next structure was the ranger's dwelling.

Beside the porch were some more flowers.

Constructed in 1882, by Hiram King this large, two-story home was purchased by George W. Vanderbilt to house his rangers.  Ranger George Gillespie and his family boarded eight forestry students in the rooms upstairs.  For two meals each day, Mrs. Gillespie fed the students along with her family.
--from exhibit signage

While not marked on the map I'm pretty sure this was the privy out back.

The ranger's dwelling definitely looks bigger from the other side.

We next came to Schenck's office, converted from an old barn.

Our girls were fascinated by the typewriter in the front room.

To the "mountaineers", or people who lived around the Pisgah Forest, these lands were theirs to log, pasture, hunt and moonshine as they had for years.  In an effort to convince them otherwise, Schenck installed rangers in lodges at fourteen strategic locations throughout the forest and paid them $50 a month to protect the forest from "thievery".
--from exhibit signage

It was interesting to see what the building would have looked like while in use.

I've always enjoyed seeing historical structures set up with furniture and other accessories.  It makes it so much easier to see how people used them versus the empty structures in the Smokies.

The restroom building while definitely modern did a decent job of fitting in with the historic structures.

While the blacksmiths didn't live nearby they worked out of this building to help the school--for example the many horses needed shoeing.

There were quite a few tools inside the structure.

Past the blacksmith shop we came to a building where students were housed.

Apparently the students liked to give their cabins (often left from former settlers) fun names such as "Gnat Hollow" or "Rest for the Wicked."  This particular one was named "Hell Hole."

The garden was used to grow food for the staff and students.

Students were responsible for doing their own laundry.  Everyone, including Mrs. Gillespie and Mrs. Case, came here on washday.  Clothes were boiled in a kettle over an open fire using "octagon" soap from the commissary or homemade soap if you were thrifty.  Clothing and bedding were hung over branches and fence rails to dry.
--from exhibit signage

After this we were back to the start of the trail and headed back to the main building.  You can read about the inside exhibits next time.

~Matt