Biltmare Estate Archives Biltmore Estate HOUSE + GARDENS + WINERY December 7, 2005 Ronald H. Epp, Ph.D. University Library Director Southern New Hampshire University Manchester, NH 03106 Dear Dr. Epp: Enclosed is a copy of the letter Carl Schenck wrote to George Dorr in 1899. It doesn't appear that we have Dorr's letter that Schenck refers to. It sounds as if Dorr is looking for employment as a forester. Was he of European descent? There is no charge for these two pages. Please cite the Biltmore Estate Archives, Forestry Department Correspondence 2.1/2 Vol. III-2. We have extensive correspondence of Chauncey Beadle with Sargent, the Arnold Arboretum and plant collectors all over the country. Thanks for your interest. Sincerely, Surfame Suzanne K. Durham Special Collections Manager One North Pack Square . Asheville, North Carolina 28801-3400 . 828-255-1776 . Fax 828-255-1139 www.biltmore.com March 13, 1899. Mr. Dorr, My Dear Sir: Kmouse my answering your note of March the second, which has just reached rie, in the language which is not more handy tn me but the only one at the command of my stenographer. J. hope you will find some one to translate this letter. Forestry in America has been introduced on a few private estates. These private individuals do care for forestry only as far as it yields higher returns than any other method to which the land may be used, and as a rule, forest destruction or rapid lumbering in found more remunerative than conservative cutting; consequently these gentlemen do not employ any educated forestars, because they do not need them. What they need are thorough lunbernen, business men well acqueinted with the American lumber trade. Besides, forestry is beginning to be established in forests controlled by the Governments of the V. S. and of the various states of the union. All of thene states, as a matter of fact, cannot employ any one except native Americans; consequently there in no opening in state forestry for Europeans. on the other hand, as stated above, private individuals will not need educated forestons at the present time. Thus I am afraid there is no place for you open in the U. S. now. My personal position is unique, Mr. Vanderbilt differing in his views from the other owners of large forest estates. Ever since I have been in this country I have tried hard to forget what I had 466 2 - learned through hard study at German forent universities. European forestry is not directly annlicable to American forests unlean are introduce European economic conditions st the came time. Very truly, mail A. C.A. Schenck Biltnore, N. Co March 13, 1899. Mr. Chas. MoNames, Guide to the Biltmore Forestry Fair Collection, 1908 - 1909 Page 1 of 6 Guide to the Biltmore Forestry Fair Collection, 1908 - 1909 the FOREST HISTORY SOCIETY Forest History Society Library and Archives Collection Information Abstract: Collection of seven articles published in American Lumberman magazine Descriptive Summary from September 1908 to January 1909 reporting on the Forest Festival Information for Users held 26 - 29 November 1908 at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Historical Note Carolina. The festival was hosted by Estate forester and Biltmore Forest Scope and Content Note Organization of Collection School founder Carl Alwin Schenck (1868 - 1955), who invited industry Online Catalog Headings representatives, foresters, and lay persons interested in forestry from Detailed Description of across the southern United States to attend the festivities. Tours of Collection plantations, herbaria, experimental plots, and nurseries on the Estate highlighted thinning operations, reforestation and logging activities, and Finding Aids Home conservation measures in use by foresters on the Estate. Schenck Forest History Society explained scientific forestry techniques to guests on the tours and provided Home Page entertainment in the form of a possum hunt, luncheons, and dinners. An Printer-friendly PDF version event organized to celebrate twenty years of professional forest management and ten years of operating the Biltmore Forest School on George Vanderbilt's Biltmore Estate, the 1908 Forest Festival helped spread the notion of scientific forestry across the southern United States in the first decade of the twentieth century. Contact Information: Forest History Society Library and Archives 701 William Vickers Avenue Durham, North Carolina 27701-3162 USA Phone: (919) 682-9319 Fax: (919) 682-2349 Email: coakes@duke.edu URL: http://www.foresthistory.org Processed by Elizabeth Arnold Date Completed August, 2003 Encoded by Michele A. Justice Descriptive Summary http://www.lib.duke.edu/forest/Research/Biltmore_Project/BiltmoreForestryFair.html 2/7/2005 828-225-6338 dpcopore@biltnere.com ChiefCurator 17 February 2010 Darren Poupore One N. Pack Square Ashaville, NC 28801 Dear Darren, I very much appreciate your interest in our discussion of the evidence linking George W. Vanderbilt to George Bucknam Dorr (1853-1944). Enclosed are some materials that I was able to retrieve without much trouble. I regret that they are not more substantial. I've included a couple of references to Mr. Fabbri. I''ll email you a copy of a paper I recently published that refers to the Biltmore link to Edith Wharton and Mr. Dorr. While it is evident that Mr. Vanderbilt was a founding member of the Hancock County Trustees of Public Reservations (HCTPR), having been invited to the initial meeting by Mr. Dorr. I have no reason to suppose that GWV's membership lapsed before his death. I've also reviewed the extant minutes of the HCTPR for these fourteen years and do not find GWV's name as present at the meetings (though the record keeping was inconsistent and an unreliable guide to who was and was not present). I've included a handwritten letter from Mr. Dorr to Harvard President Charles William Eliot (term in office 1869-1909) dated November 18, 1902, referring to a trip with Professor William Morris Davis to Asheville (where Mr. Olmsted joined them) to see (and perhaps hike?) Mt. Mitchell. Lori Garst informed me that F.L. Olmsted Jr. signed the guest book November 27, 1902 but is there any evidence that Mr. Vanderbilt would have joined Dorr, Davis, and Olmsted on this planned outing? Does the guest book continue into the 1930's? I ask because Mr. Dorr refers to Summer 1937 and 1938 visits to the "Smokies" but gives no specifics other than a reference (see October 6, 1939 enclosure) to a "camping trip with Gifford Pinchot and George Vanderbilt." As an aside, I wonder whether the Harvard University Archives contains correspondence between Mr. Vanderbilt and Dr. Eliot (contact archivist Barbara Meloni at arbara_meloni@harvard.edu) In reviewing my manuscript I included the information Suzanne Durham provided me in October 2005 that Dorr had visited 21 December 1900. On the phone you corrected that date to 1901 and I want to make sure this is correct because I need to make some editorial and textual adjustments to reflect this error of chronology. I lack information about the "holiday bash" that you referred to and would appreciate any characterization of that affair that you could provide. Additional Mount Desert Island information on Mr. Vanderbilt could be provided through a time-consuming review of the microfilm relevant years of The Bar Harbor Times. I cannot recall if the Vanderbilts were involved in the Bar Harbor Village Improvement Association, their records available on microfilm as well. There are frequent social reports of Bar Harbor "comings and goings" in The New York Times Historical database available through many academic libraries. Finally, I seem to recall that Harvard psychologist-philosopher William James visited Biltmore on several occasions before his death in 1910. When I am next at Southern New Hampshire University library, I'll peruse the indexes in the 12 volumes of his published correspondence and let you know what I uncover. Obviously, I'm very interested in examining any Biltmore photographic evidence of the intersection of these personalities. I look forward to hearing from you. Most Cordially, Ronald H. Epp 47 Pond View Dr. Merrimack, NH 03054 Eppster2@myfairpoint.net 603-424-6149 Finding Aid for Biltmore Estate Forestry Department Manager's Records, Series B Page 1 of 82 Finding Aid for Biltmore Estate Forestry Department Manager's Records, Series B Bittmore Estate ASHEVILLE + NORTH CAROLINA The Biltmore Company, Museum Services Department, Archives Division Collection Information Abstract: Series B of The Biltmore Estate Forestry Department Manager's Records Descriptive Summary contains business and personal correspondence dated 1895 to 1909, Scope and Content Note predominately incoming correspondence collected and preserved by George Online Catalog Terms Vanderbilt's Biltmore Estate Forestry Department Office. Copies of outgoing Related Material correspondence, presumably letters written by Biltmore Estate Forest Manager, Container List Dr. Carl Alwin Schenck are included. Of great importance are a series of letters to Dr. Schenck, ranging in date from 1897 - 1906, written by his mentor, Sir Dietrich Brandis. (1824 - 1907). These letters were written in both English and German. An 1896 to 1909 range of letters to Dr. Schenck from Biltmore Estate Landscape Department Superintendent and Nursery Manager, Chauncey Beadle are also important. Letters from Dr. S. Westray Battle, a prominent Asheville physician and social figure, contain a great deal of local history information. In addition, Series B contains Biltmore Forest School newsletter and bulletin, "Biltmore Doings." Finally, Series B holds many letters from Federal and State foresters, Biltmore Forest School students and prospective students, vendors wishing to sell goods and services, lumber merchants and buyers, persons requesting Dr. Schenck's publications and landowners communicating about the sale of tracts adjoining or within the boundaries of George Vanderbilt's lands. Contact Information: The Biltmore Company, Museum Services Department, Archives Division 1 North Pack Square Asheville, North Carolina 28801 USA Phone: (828) 225-6300 Fax: (828) 277-3454 URL: http://www.biltmore.comeMail: archives@biltmore.com Processed by Stephanie S. Gardner Date Completed 2002 Encoded by Stephanie S. Gardner  2003 The Biltmore Company. All rights reserved. http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/specialcollections/forestry/biltmore/tbc2_b.html 11/15/2005 Finding Aid for Biltmore Estate Forestry Department Manager's Records, Series B Page 2 of 82 Descriptive Summary Creator Biltmore Estate Forestry Department Office Title Biltmore Estate Forestry Department Manager's Records, Series B, 1895 - 1909, 1895 - 1909, (Bulk) Call Number 2/B Extent 3 and 1/4 archival storage boxes Location For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the The Biltmore Company, Museum Services Department, Archives Division. Restrictions to Access The Biltmore Company Archives are made available to selected researchers. Use with permission from The Biltmore Company, Asheville, North Carolina. Acquisitions Information Correspondence received by Doctor Carl Alwin Schenck during his career as Biltmore Estate Forestry Department Manager. Preferred Citation Series B, 1895 - 1909, Biltmore Estate Forestry Department Manager's Records, The Biltmore Company, Museum Services Department, Archives Division, Asheville, North Carolina Copyright Notice The Biltmore Company retains copyright of these materials. Scope and Content Note Series B of the Biltmore Estate Forestry Department Manager's Records documents the formation of scientific forestry across the world in addition to containing a great deal of Biltmore Estate history. Of great importance are a series of letters to Doctor Schenck, ranging from 1897 - 1906, written by his mentor, Sir Dietrich Brandis (1824 - 1907). A noted forestry expert and teacher, Brandis composed lengthy letters to Schenck, advising him in his forestry conservation efforts at Biltmore. Brandis' letters also contain a great deal of commentary on the beginnings of scientific forestry in America. Brandis critiqued the three men who he believed were of the greatest importance in the development of American forestry: Gifford Pinchot, Bernhard Fernow and Charles S. Sargent. Brandis wrote that he agreeded with Schenck that forestry in the United States is only possible as a business. He also wrote of the ways politics were entering forestry in America. In addition to his advice on forestry, Brandiscommented on Schenck's personal life. He addressed Schenck's quarrels with Gifford Pinchot and his feelings of frustration in adjusting to the personalties of those he met in America. Series B contains correspondence from early foresters working for the United States Department of http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/specialcollections/forestry/biltmore/tbc2_b.html 11/15/2005 Finding Aid for Biltmore Estate Forestry Department Manager's Records, Series B Page 3 of 82 Agriculture, American Museum of Natural History, North Carolina State Museum, United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries and the International Society of Arboriculture. In addition, there is information on forestry efforts in North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Indiana. Letters from managers of the leading forestry publication, "The American Lumberman," also occur in Series B. The Biltmore Forest School is represented in Series B through newsletters and Bulletin Cards, "Biltmore Doings." These newsletters were designed to keep recent graduates informed about happenings at the School. They contain reports of monthly activities, lectures, field work, and sometimes gossip. Series B contains a great deal of Biltmore Estate History in an 1896 through 1909 range of letters to Dr. Schenck from Chauncey Delos Beadle, Biltmore Estate Landscape Department Superintendent. The correspondence records the work of the Landscape and Forestry Departments during the early years of Biltmore Estate. Beadle's letters also provide information on Estate management. They document the personal conflicts between Beadle and Schenck. History of Asheville, North Carolina is contained in Series B through the letters of prominent physician, Doctor S. Westray Battle. These letters tell of the personal friendships between Battle, Schenck and George Vanderbilt. They also give important information about Battle's role in the disputes concerning leasing George Vanderbilt's land as a private shooting and hunting club. Collection Organization Records are filed by correspondent's last name in the case of individual persons. They are filed by company's name for institutions and businesses. It also appears that some clerks preferred to file records by the names of company's managers or agents. Therefore, one organization may be represented in the filing system by several letters depending on the variety of individuals' names within that particular group. In addition, miscellaneous manuscripts are filed in folders carrying a description of the material as a title. Collection Arrangement The documents have been arranged alphabetically by correspondents' name, and then, chronologically by date. This organization follows the records' original provenance, in that they were first filed in alphabetical order. It appears the original filing system consisted of placing newer records to the front of older ones, thus keeping working material up-to-date. Online Catalog Terms Personal Names Battle, S. Westray Beadle, Chauncey Delos Burns, Edward M. Fernow, B. E. (Bernhard Eduard), 1851-1923. Pinchot, Gifford, 1865-1946. Schenck, Carl Alwin, 1868-1955. Vanderbilt, George Washington, 1862-1914. Corporate Names Ballard & Ballard Co. Biltmore Lumber Company http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/specialcollections/forestry/biltmore/tbc2_b.html 11/15/2005 Finding Aid for Biltmore Estate Forestry Department Manager's Records, Series B Page 4 of 82 Brevard Tannin Company C.A. Schenck and Company Geographical Terms District of Columbia North Carolina-Buncombe-Asheville North Carolina-Transylvania-Pi Forest Subjects Biltmore Forest School~History Foresters Forestry consultants Forestry schools and education-North Carolina-History Forestry schools and education-United States~History Forests and forestry-North Carolina-History Forests and forestry-United States-History Lumbermen Materials business letters fliers (printed matter) invoices notes personal correspondence purchase orders telegrams Related Material Biltmore Estate Forestry Department Manager's Records Collection | Series A I Series C I Series D | Series E Series F Series G Series H Series I Series J Series K I Series L I Series M I Series N | Series O | Series P I Series Q Series R Series S Series T Series U I Series V I Series W | Series XYZ I Series Additional Materials Container List Box.Folder 3.0001 Biltmore Forest School Inquiries and Applications, 1898 - 1900 (23 sheets) This file relates to the Biltmore Forest School, begun by Carl Schenck with the encouragement and support of George Vanderbilt in 1898. The school continued at Biltmore until Schenck's departure in 1909. The file contains letters of inquiry from prospective students and persons seeking general information on Biltmore Forest School. January 11, 1899- An 1897 graduate of North Carolina's Guilford College hears that the Biltmore Forest School is free to graduates of American Colleges. April 4, 1899- Father of a potential student questions the value of an education in forestry. He questions the ability to make a career in the new field of forestry. http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/specialcollections/forestry/biltmore/tbc2_b.html 11/15/2005 Guide to the Carl Alwin Schenck Papers, 1865 - 1959 Page 1 of 44 GUIDE TO THE CARL ALWIN SCHENCK PAPERS, 1865 - 1959 COLLECTION NUMBER MC 35 nvh NCSU Libraries' Special Collections Research Center Collection Information Abstract: Collection includes diaries, correspondence, field notes, manuscripts, articles, student records, photographs, negatives, photo albums, and Descriptive Summary artifacts, dating from 1865 - 1955. While the bulk of the material is in Information for Users English, a substantial number of items, including a portion of the Biographical Note correspondence, diaries, and writings, are in German. This collection Scope and Content documents the professional and personal activities of Dr. Carl Alwin Collection Organization Schenck. These activities include his work at the Biltmore Estate and Online Catalog Headings Forest and logging operations throughout Europe and the United Detailed Description of the States. In addition, this collection also provides significant information Collection on the Biltmore Forest School and its students. EAD/XML Finding Aid Contact Information: Finding Aids Home Processed by Special Collections Home Maurice Toler; Cilla Golas; Juliana Boucher E-mail Special Collections Reference Date Completed July, 2002 Encoded by Katherine M. Wisser Processing and Encoding Sponsor The processing and encoding of this collection is supported with federal Library Service and Technology Act (LSTA) funds made possible through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, administered by the State Library of North Carolina, a division of the Department of Cultural Resources through the North Carolina ECHO, 'Exploring Cultural Heritage Online' Digitization Grant Program. Descriptive Summary Creator Schenck, Carl Alwin, 1868 - 1955 Title Carl Alwin Schenck Papers 1890 - 1959 Call Number MC 35 http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/findingaids/mc00035/ 9/2/2008 Guide to the Carl Alwin Schenck Papers, 1865 - 1959 Page 2 of 44 Extent 102 archival box, 40 linear feet, Location For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Special Collections Research Center Reference Staff. Information for Users Restrictions to Access This collection is open for research; access requires at least 24 hours advance notice.. Acquisitions Information The Carl Alwin Schenck Papers was received in a number of accessions from 1959 - 1990, given by the Forest History Foundation, St. Paul, Minnesota, 1959. Additional items from various donors received in 1965, 1968-1969, 1971, 1982, 1987, 1989 and 1990. For additional information, please consult the Special Collections Research Center Reference Staff Preferred Citation [Identification of Item], Carl Alwin Schenck Papers, MC 35, Special Collections Research Center, North Carolina State University Libraries, Raleigh, North Carolina. Copyright Notice North Carolina State University does not own copyright to this collection. Individuals obtaining materials from the NCSU Libraries' Special Collections Research Center are responsible for using the works in conformance with United States copyright law as well as any donor restrictions accompanying the materials. Biographical Note Dr. Carl Alwin Schenck was born in 1868 in Darmstadt, Germany. The grandson of a chief forester, Schenck studied forestry at Tubingen and Giessen Universities and entered the state forest service in Hessen in 1890. Through his work experiences, Schenck became acquainted with Sir Dietrich Brandis, the foremost forester at the time. Between 1891 and 1894, Schenck spent his summers as an assistant to Brandis and Sir William Schlich during several European forestry tours. After receiving his Ph.D. in 1894, Schenck was recommended by Brandis and Gifford Pinchot to assume the role of chief forester of George Vanderbilt's Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina. Schenck's arrival in the United States was revolutionary in the world of forestry, as he was the first man in the country with thorough training in scientific forestry. In 1898, with Vanderbilt's permission, the Biltmore Forest School (BFS) opened. The first school of forestry in the United States, BFS graduated 400 students in its fifteen year history, many of whom went on to successful careers in the field of forestry. Although the school flourished for a short time, enthusiasm for training in scientific forestry began to wane in 1910, and Schenck eventually closed the school in 1913. With World War I dawning, Schenck returned to Germany in 1914. He served in the German army during the war as an officer on the Russian front, where he was severely wounded in combat. After the war, Schenck spent most of the 1920s and 1930s travelling across Europe and the United States. Between 1922 and 1924, he conducted forest tours in Germany and Switzerland for English and http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/findingaids/mc00035/ 9/2/2008 Guide to the Carl Alwin Schenck Papers, 1865 - 1959 Page 3 of 44 American students. In 1925, Schenck traveled back to the United States to lecture at several forestry schools, notably, the University of Montana in Missoula. For the next ten years, Schenck continued to give tours and lectures to forestry students around the world. The ease with which Schenck could travel ended in 1939 with the onset of World War II. Schenck spent the entire war in Germany in the small village of Lindenfels. After the war, Schenck was appointed by the United States military government as chief forester of the new American state of Hessen. Although his appointment demonstrates his loyalty to the United States, Schenck's German citizenship still caused several problems for him after the war. For the last ten years of his life, Schenck battled the United States government in an Alien Property Custody Suit in an attempt to reclaim property and money that was confiscated at the beginning of the war. Despite the efforts of his colleagues and former students to intervene on his behalf, Schenck's efforts were unsuccessful. In 1951, at the age of 83, Schenck returned to the United States for a nationwide tour. The trip included the dedication of several woodland groves and forests named in honor of Dr. Schenck and a reunion of the Biltmore Forest School students. Schenck would again be honored in 1952 by North Carolina State College, which awarded him an honorary Doctor of Forest Science degree. Schenck died on May 17, 1955 at the age of 87. The author of numerous textbooks and a founding member of several professional organizations in the field, Dr. Schenck is regarded as a pioneer in European and American forestry. Chronology 1868 Born, Darmstadt Germany 1886 - 1891 Studied forestry in Tubingen and Giessen Universities 1888 - 1894 Assistant to Sir Dietrich Brandis and Sir William Schlich, noted foresters, on European forest tours 1895 Received Ph.D., summa cum laude 1895 - 1909 Forester of George W. Vanderbilt's Biltmore Estate 1896 Married Adele Bopp 1898 - 1913 Founded Biltmore Forest School, the first forestry school in the United States 1899 Published "Forestry for Kentucky", one of many textbooks 1900 Elected member of Society of American Foresters -- one of eight members elected by the seven charter members 1913 Biltmore Forest School closed after graduating 400 students. 1914 - 1915 Served in German Army on Russian front -- wounded and incapacitated 1921 - 1922 Participated in the American Society of Friends in post-war child-feeding program in Germany 1922 - 1924 Conducted forest tours of forestry schools in the United States, notably in Missoula, Montana 1932 Married Marie-Louise Kulenkampff 1936 - 1937 An unsuccessful attempt to find a location for a cellulose factory in northwestern United States 1939 - 1945 Resided in Germany during World War II 1945 Appointed Chief Forester of the new state of Hessen by the American Military Government 1946 - 1948 President of the German Dendrological (Tree) Society 1951 Revisited United States, alumni honored at woodland dedications 1952 Awarded honorary Doctor of Forest Science degree by North Carolina State College 1955 Died at Lindenfels, Germany http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/findingaids/mc00035/ 9/2/2008 Guide to the Carl Alwin Schenck Papers, 1865 - 1959 Page 4 of 44 Scope and Content This collection provides a detailed look into the personal and professional life of Carl Alwin Schenck, the founder of the first American school of forestry. Information regarding Schenck's political and economic troubles with the United States government is provided, as is biographical information on Schenck. The collection contains diaries recording personal notes, schedules, and appointments made by Schenck between 1890 and 1954. Therefore, information pertaining to Schenck's tenure at the Biltmore Estate and Forest, his administration of the Biltmore Forest School, and his numerous personal and professional travels are included in these journals. In addition to Schenck's diaries, the collection includes letters addressed both to and from Schenck written between 1895 and 1955. The letters include professional correspondence, correspondence with former students from the Biltmore Forest School, and general correspondence. For most of his professional life, Schenck continued to correspond with many of his colleagues, many of whom are considered to be the founders of the profession of forestry. Writings, such as Schenck's field notes of logging operations throughout Europe and the United States, as well as several manuscripts of professional literature and poetry written by Schenck, are contained in this collection. Schenck's technical reports on European forests, his doctoral dissertation, miscellaneous publications, and a collection of legends and fairy tales that he compiled are included here as well. Throughout his life, Schenck traveled for both business and pleasure, and information on these journeys is provided. Documents pertaining to Schenck's term as head forester at George Vanderbilt's Biltmore Estate and Forest, which contain general information regarding the house and forest, are included, as are technical reports, budgets, and maps compiled by Schenck. These materials provide an in-depth, detailed look into the inner workings of one of America's largest private homes. The collection contains a wealth of archival information on the Biltmore Forest School, the first forestry school in the United States. In addition to general information on the history of the school, the collection contains several publications produced by the school, as well as describing the students' experiences at the school. Biographical information students for many students is also included, the majority of which were written by the students themselves for inclusion in "The Biltmore Immortals". Correspondence from students to their families and fellow classmates can be found in this series as well. Photographs, including black and white prints, negatives, and albums, cover many topics, ranging from personal to professional travel, the Biltmore Estate and Forest, and the Biltmore Forest School. Included among these photographs are pictures of Schenck, his wife, forestry colleagues, the Vanderbilts, and BFS students. Finally, the collection contains artifacts pertaining to Schenck's personal life and the Biltmore Forest School. Collection Organization The collection is divided into nine series. The first of these, Diaries, is comprised of journals kept by Schenck between 1890 and 1954. Schenck's personal Correspondence makes up the second series. The next series is comprised of Schenck's Writings in both English and German between 1890 and 1954. Next, the Personal and Professional series provides information on Schenck's life and achievements, his problems with the United States government in the Alien Property Custody suit, and his numerous travel experiences. The fifth series details Schenck's experiences as head forester at George Vanderbilt's Biltmore Estate and Forest. Information regarding the Biltmore Forest School and its students is provided in the sixth series of the collection. The seventh series of the collection is comprised of Photographs, including black and white prints, glass plate negatives, and numerous photo albums. Artifacts relating to Schenck's personal life as well as the Biltmore Forest School are included in the http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/findingaids/mc00035/ 9/2/2008 Epp, Ronald From: Epp, Ronald Sent: Monday, October 31, 2005 10:41 AM To: Suzanne Durham Cc: Epp, Ronald Subject: RE: George Dorr Dear Suzanne, I left a message for you before departing for Boston and will try again by phone on Thursday. First off, the Biltmore "guest book" may contain information about others who visits coincided with Mr. Dorr. Could those names be provided? Does the Guest Book indicate the length of the stay? Does it include any personal notations as is characteristics of many guestbooks? At Yale's Beinecke Library last week I was investigating the Edith Wharton Papers and she mentions to Mr. Dorr and others her requests from G.W. Vanderbilt and his wife to visit Biltmore. Can these dates be identified? The Harvard Philosopher William James also visited and I have indications that his visits coincided with those of Mr. Dorr. Can you verify? Is there any indication of the itineraries of these individuals regarding traveling around the estate, camping out, seeking forestry advice, etc? Do any documents survive that refer to the Vanderbilt's Bar Harbor estate and the social activities that took place therein? Quite a tall order, I know. I look forward to speaking with you later this week. With best regards! Ronald H. Epp, Ph.D. University Library Director Southern New Hampshire University Manchester, NH 03106 603-668-2211 ext. 2164 Original Message From: Suzanne Durham [mailto: sdurham@biltmore.com Sent: Tuesday, October 25, 2005 1:09 PM To: Epp, Ronald Subject: George Dorr Hi Dr. Epp, We received your application for research material and you're "cleared for takeoff. I checked the Biltmore guest book and found George Dorr listed as visiting three times: 21 Dec 1900 27 Nov 1902 and 18 Oct 1905. It's been some time since we talked SO please give me a call or send an email and review what kinds of documentation you're looking for. Suzanne Suzanne K Durham CA Special Collections Manager The Biltmore Company One North Pack Square Asheville NC 28801 1 erbilt Camping Trip and G - Sent - Verizon Yahoo! Mail Page 1 of 1 Verizon Yanoo Mail Venzon Central Yahoo! Search: Search Welcome, eppster2@verizon.. Mail Home All-New Mall Tutorials Help [Sign Out, Member Center MAIL Classic Mail Contacts Calendar Notepad What's New? Mobile Mail Options Check Mail Compose Search Mail Search the Web Previous I Next Back to Messages Mark as Unread Print Folders [Add Edit] Delete Reply Forward Move.. Inbox (1) Drafts (8) Vanderbilt Camping Trip and G Wednesday, September 3, 2008 9:00 AM Sent From: "ELIZABETH and RONALD EPP" Spam [Empty } To: "Lori Garst" Trash (Empty] My Folders [Hide] Dear Lori, DorrBio2008 (33) Thank you for the information provided earlier this summer. Might I pester you with what I hope is a straightforward matter. Despite the special relationship Eliz messages (6) enjoyed by Gifford Pinchot at Biltmore, are there indications in the guest book or elsewhere of when he actually was in residence? Horseshoe Pond I ask because George Dom speaks of a Great Smoky Mountains camping trip he took with George Vanderbilt and Gifford Pinchot. The only dates that seem Member Informa plausible are those provided me by Suzanne Durham for Dorr's visits: 21 December 1900, 27 November 1902, and 18 October 1905. It appears to me that Ron Archives (31) a camping trip in October would have been most likely. Could you see if Pinchot's name appears near that date in the guest book? Thank you for this professional courtesy ! Search Shortcuts Ronald Epp, Ph.D. My Photos 47 Pond View Drive My Attachments Merrimack, NH 03054 On Fri, 6/20/08, Lon Garst wrote: From: Lori Garst Subject: Biltmore Estate To: "eppster2@verizon.net" Date: Friday, June 20, 2008, 9:54 AM Dear Dr. Epp, Thank you for your recent request. I apologize that I have not returned your request sooner. Our records indicate that Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. (son of Biltmore's landscape architect) signed the guest book on November 27, 1902. William Morris Davis is not listed in the guest book or other records at any time. Other guests listed are Thomas Hastings (11/26/1902) and Charles McKim (11/26/1902) If you have any other questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. Sincerely, Lori M. Garst Curatorial Assistant Biltmore Estate 1 North Pack Square Asheville, NC 28801 828-225-6321 828-225-6383 Visit www.biltmore.com today. This e-mail, including attachments, may include confidential and/or proprietary information, and may be used only by the person or entity to which it is addressed. If the reader of this e-mail is not the intended recipient or his or her authorized agent, the reader is hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this e-mail is prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender by replying to this message and delete this e-mail immediately. Delete Reply Forward Move. Previous I Next Back to Messages Select Message Encoding Full Headers Check Mail Compose Search Mail Search the Web Copyright © 2008 Yahoo Inc. All rights reserved. Copyright/iP Policy Terms of Service Send Feedback Help NOTICE: We collect personal information on this site To learn more about how we use your information, see our Privacy Policy. 1200 YUROON http://us.mc842.mail.yahoo.com/mc/showMessage?fid=Sent&sort=date&order=down&start.... 9/3/2008 Page 1 of I G.W. Vanderbilt & Mr. Dorr From To " Date 02/21/2010 07:48:39 PM Hi Darren, I'm sending you a second packet of information. It includes articles that allude to the roles of Mr. Vanderbilt, Mr. Fabbri, and Mr. Dorr in the establishment and early development of the Bar Harbor Building of the Arts (please excuse my marginal notations and underlinings), a matter I neglected to mention when we talked earlier. The packet also includes a Dorr letter written to the NPS Editor in chief, Isabella Story, reacting to her critique of an early draft of his later published Acadia National Park. Dorr refers of a ten day camping trip with Mr. Vanderbilt. Is this a case of Dorr's exaggerated memory or would this have been consistent with what you know of Mr. Vanderbilt's behavior? I also include several pages from Don Lenahan's just published article on the Memorials of Acadia National Park which includes several pages on Mr. Fabbri that might interest you. All the Best, Ron Ronald H. Epp, Ph.D. 47 Pondview Drive Merrimack, NH 03054 (603) 424-6149 eppster2@myfairpoint.net https://webmail.myfairpoint.net/hwebmail/mail/message.php?index=874 2/21/2010 Page I of 1 G.W. Vanderbilt & Mr. Dorr From To " Date 02/17/2010 03:47:52 PM Attachments WildGardens(Epp-Rev0210).doc 111.00 KB ] Hi Darren, I've just put a lengthy letter and documentation in the mail about issues we discussed earlier in the week. I'll be anxious to hear your reaction. Attached is a copy of the article I published last year on the relationship between Mr. Dorr and Edith Wharton. If you refer to pages 7-9 there are references to Biltmore. Most Cordially, Ron Ronald H. Epp, Ph.D. 47 Pondview Drive Merrimack, NH 03054 (603) 424-6149 eppster2@myfairpoint.net https://webmail.myfairpoint.net/hwebmail/mail/message.php?index=857 2/17/2010 verizon anoo! Mail - eppsterz(@verizon.net Page I of 1 Verizon Yahoo! Mail Verizon Central Yahoo! Search: Web Search YAHOO! Welcome, eppster2@verizon Mail Home All-New Mail Tutorials Help verizon MAIL Classic [Sign Out, Member Center Mail Contacts Calendar Notepad Mail For Mobile - Options Check Mail Compose Search Mail Search the Web Folders [Add Edit] Previous Next I Back to Messages Inbox (5) Delete Reply Forward Spam Move. Draft This message is not flagged. [ Flag Message - Mark as Unread Printable View Sent Bulk Date: [Empty] Fri, 20 Jun 2008 09:54:14 -0400 Trash [Empty] From: "Lori Garst" C Add Mobile Alert My Folders [Hide] Subject: Biltmore Estate DorrBio2008 (10) To: "eppster2@verizon.net"" Eliz messages (5) Dear Dr. Epp, Horseshoe Pond Member Thank you for your recent request. I apologize that I have not Information returned your request sooner. Our records indicate that Frederick Law Ron Archives Olmsted, Jr. (son of Biltmore's landscape architect) signed the guest book on (31) November 27, 1902. William Morris Davis is not listed in the guest book or other records at any time. Other guests listed are Thomas Search Shortcuts Hastings (11/26/1902) and Charles McKim (11/26/1902) My Photos If you have any other questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. My Attachments Sincerely, Lori M. Garst Curatorial Assistant Biltmore Estate 1 North Pack Square Asheville, NC 28801 828-225-6321 828-225-6383 Visit www.biltmore.com today. This e-mail, including attachments, may include confidential and/or proprietary information, and may be used only by the person or entity to which it is addressed. If the reader of this e-mail is not the intended recipient or his or her authorized agent, the reader is hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this e-mail is prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender by replying to this message and delete this e-mail immediately. Delete Reply Forward Spam Move Previous Next I Back to Messages Save Message Text I Full Headers Check Mail Compose Search Mail Search the Web Copyright © 2008 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved. I Copyright/IP Policy I Terms of Service I Send Feedback Help NOTICE: We collect personal information on this site. To learn more about how we use your information, see our Privacy Policy. verizon http://us.f842.mail.yahoo.com/ym/ShowLetter?MsgId=5214_643243_101575_2253_700_... 6/20/2008 Epp, Ronald From: Suzanne Durham [sdurham@biltmore.com] Sent: Tuesday, October 25, 2005 1:09 PM To: Epp, Ronald Subject: George Dorr Hi Dr. Epp, We received your application for research material and you're "cleared for takeoff. " I checked the Biltmore guest book and found George Dorr listed as visiting three times: 21 Dec 1900, 27 Nov 1902 and 18 Oct 1905. It's been some time since we talked SO please give me a call or send an email and review what kinds of documentation you re looking for. Suzanne In 1900-1905 time franz: Suzanne K Durham CA Special Collections Manager The Biltmore Company (a) correspondance. betwee GWV +6BD. One North Pack Square Asheville NC 28801 (b) " 11 u CWE Phone 828.225.6346 Fax 828.225.6383 Visit www.Biltmore.com today! " 11 Edith (c) " Wharter . " Wm.James (d) 11 11 " 11 (e) " 11 G. Pinchot (€) Indications of length of sty. ? (g) Itinerary white at filtmen Bar Harbor (h) Reference Points d) Acadie - guest book ? 1 RE: Vanderbilt Camping Trip and G - Inbox - Verizon Yahoo! Mail Page 1 of 2 Verizon Yahoo Mail Venzon Central Yahoo! Search: Web-Search? Welcome, eppster2@verizon. Mail Home I All-New Mail Tutorials Help YAHOO! [Sign Out, Member Center MAIL Classic Mail Contacts Calendar Notepad What's New? Mobile Mail Options Check Mall Compose Search Mail Search the Web Previous I Next I Back to Messages Mark as Unread I Print Folders [Add Edit] Delete Reply Forward Spam Move.. Inbox (14) Drafts (8) RE: Vanderbilt Camping Trip and G Tuesday, September 16, 2008 11:15 AM Sent From: "Lort Garst" Spam (1) [Empty] To: "eppster2@verizon.net"" Trash (Empty] My Folders [Hide] Dear Dr. Epp, DorrBio2008 (33) Mr. Pinchot is listed in the Biltmore House guest book as the following: Pinchot, Gifford [New York]- 2/17/1897, 11/28/1897, 10/31/1898, [Washington, DC] Ellz messages (6) 10/28/1899, 10/4/1910. Horseshoe Pond If you have any other questions, please let me know. Member Informa Ron Archives (31) Sincerely, Lori M. Garst Curatorial Assistant Search Shortcuts Biltmore Estate North Pack Square My Photos Asheville, NC 28801 My Attachments 828-225-6321 828-225-6383 Visit www.biltmore.com today. This e-mail, including attachments, may include confidential and/or proprietary information, and may be used only by the person or entity to which it is addressed. If the reader of this e-mail is not the intended recipient or his or her authorized agent, the reader is hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this e-mail is prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender by replying to this message and delete this e-mail immediately. From: ELIZABETH and RONALD EPP [mailto:eppster2@verizon.net] Sent: Wednesday, September 03, 2008 9:01 AM To: Lori Garst Subject: Vanderbilt Camping Trip and G Dear Lori, Thank you for the information provided earlier this summer. Might I pester you with what I hope is a straightforward matter. Despite the special relationship enjoyed by Gifford Pinchot at Biltmore, are there indications in the guest book or elsewhere of when he actually was in residence? I ask because George Dorr speaks of a Great Smoky Mountains camping trip he took with George Vanderbilt and Gifford Pinchot. The only dates that seem plausible are those provided me by Suzanne Durham for Dorr's visits: 21 December 1900, 27 November 1902, and 18 October 1905. It appears to me that a camping trip in October would have been most likely. Could you see if Pinchot's name appears near that date in the guest book? Thank you for this professional courtesy ! Ronald Epp, Ph.D. 47 Pond View Drive Merrimack, NH 03054 --- On Frt, 6/20/08, Lori Garst wrote: From: Lon Garst Subject: Biltmore Estate To: "eppster2@verizon.net" Date: Friday, June 20, 2008, 9:54 AM Dear Dr. Epp, Thank you for your recent request. I apologize that I have not returned your request sooner. Our records indicate that Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. (son of Biltmore's landscape architect) signed the guest book on November 27, 1902. William Morris Davis is not listed in the guest book or other records at any time. Other guests listed are Thomas Hastings (11/26/1902) and Charles McKim (11/26/1902) If you have any other questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. Sincerely, Lori M. Garst Curatorial Assistant Biltmore Estate 1 North Pack Square Asheville, NC 28801 828-225-6321 828-225-6383 Visit www.biltmore.com today. This e-mail, including attachments, may include confidential and/or proprietary information, and may be used only by the person or entity to which it is addressed. If the reader of this e-mail is not the intended recipient or his or her authorized agent, the reader is hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this e-mail is prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender by replying to this message and delete http://us.mc842.mail.yahoo.com/mc/showMessage?fid=Inbox&sort=date&order=down&st... 9/16/2008 Epp, Ronald From: Suzanne Durham [sdurham@biltmore.com] Sent: Monday, October 31, 2005 1:26 PM To: Epp, Ronald Subject: RE: George Dorr Your phone message received and I looked at the actual guest book; all it has is a date next to the person's name, no length of stay or comments. William James does not appear. Edith Wharton made 2 visits, 11/26/02 and 12/23/05 She rented George Vanderbilt's Paris apartment for several years and we have a personally autographed copy of House of Mirth in the collection. I've done a word search on Dorr's name in our correspondence catalogue and find only one letter from Carl Schenck to Dorr in which he is explaining he cannot become a US forester due to his German nationality. Much of the outgoing correspondence from the estate is not catalogued, but is contained in letter press books with indexes of correspondents' names. There are too many for me or my staff to work through for you; however, they could be available for you to look through at some point in your research. It's my impression that George Vanderbilt was under financial constraints beginning in 1903-1904 and not long after he began leasing out his home, Pointe d'Acadie, in Bar Harbor during summers. Let me know what else we can do for you. Suzanne Suzanne K Durham CA Special Collections Manager The Biltmore Company One North Pack Square Asheville NC 28801 Phone 828. 225. 6346 Fax 828.225.6383 Visit www.Biltmore.com today! Original Message From: Epp, Ronald [mailto:r.epp@snhu.edu Sent: Monday, October 31, 2005 10:41 AM To: Suzanne Durham Cc: Epp, Ronald Subject: RE: George Dorr Dear Suzanne, I left a message for you before departing for Boston and will try again by phone on Thursday. First off, the Biltmore "guest book" may contain information about others who visits coincided with Mr. Dorr. Could those names be provided? Does the Guest Book indicate the length of the stay? Does it include any personal notations as is characteristics of many guestbooks? At Yale's Beinecke Library last week I was investigating the Edith Wharton Papers and she mentions to Mr. Dorr and others her requests from G.W. Vanderbilt and his wife to visit Biltmore. Can these dates be identified? The Harvard Philosopher William James also visited and I have indications that his visits coincided with those of Mr. Dorr. Can you verify? Is there any indication of the itineraries of these individuals regarding traveling around the estate, camping out, seeking forestry advice, etc? 1 Do any documents survive that refer to the Vanderbilt's Bar Harbor estate and the social activities that took place therein? Quite a tall order, I know. I look forward to speaking with you later this week. with best regards! Ronald H. Epp, Ph.D. University Library Director Southern New Hampshire University Manchester, NH 03106 603-668-2211 - ext. 2164 -Original Message From: Suzanne Durham [mailto:sdurham@biltmore.com Sent: Tuesday, October 25, 2005 1:09 PM To: Epp, Ronald Subject: George Dorr Hi Dr. Epp, We received your application for research material and you're "cleared for takeoff 11 I checked the Biltmore guest book and found George Dorr listed as visiting three times: 21 Dec 1900, 27 Nov 1902 and 18 Oct 1905. It's been some time since we talked SO please give me a call or send an email and review what kinds of documentation you're looking for. Suzanne Suzanne K Durham CA Special Collections Manager The Biltmore Company One North Pack Square Asheville NC 28801 Phone 828. 225.6346 Fax 828.225.6383 Visit www.Biltmore.com today! 2 Epp, Ronald From: Epp, Ronald Sent: Tuesday, December 06, 2005 4:19 PM To: 'Suzanne Durham' Subject: RE: George Dorr Dear Suzanne, In your e-mail of October 31st (see below) you mention a letter from Carl Schenck to Dorr in your possession. Might it be photocopied and sent to me at my expense? Should I refer to it in publications I will make the necessary requests for permission well enough in advance. Also, since you were kind enough to expand my knowledge about Chauncey Delos Beadle, I recently came across Beadle's name listed in an Harvard University online directory as a frequent correspondent (1906-1914) with Arnold Arboretum Director Charles Sprague Sargent (source is on the AA web page under Archival Collections, Correspondent Index) I thought you might have been unaware of this linkage and find it useful some day. Best wishes for the Holidays! Ron Ronald H. Epp Ph.D. University Library Director & Associate Professor of Philosophy Southern New Hampshire University Manchester, NH 03106 603-668-2211 x2164 r.epp@snhu.edu Original Message From: Suzanne Durham [mailto:sdurham@biltmore.com] Sent: Wednesday, November 09, 2005 2:04 PM To: Epp, Ronald Subject: RE: George Dorr Ronald - George Vanderbilt died in 1914 and the Biltmore House became a different place with his widow and daughter surviving. There was a period of mourning, of course, and Edith Vanderbilt spent a lot of time in Washington DC where their daughter attended a private school. In other words, this guest book ends with GWV's death, though there were other visitors over the years. Mrs. V remarried and moved away in 1925, daughter Cornelia married and had a family at Biltmore, but she divorced her husband in the early 1930s and she moved away. So the visit you write about would have been during a time when the new Biltmore Company was running the estate. Chauncey Delos Beadle is a name in horticulture circles, especially regarding azaleas. He came to Biltmore in the early 1890s as a young man and stayed 40-50 years. I believe he retired in 1950. The letter copy books of outgoing correspondence have name indexes, but this is correspondence from the superintendent's office or the forestry department, not from George Vanderbilt. Suzanne Suzanne K Durham CA Special Collections Manager The Biltmore Company One North Pack Square Asheville NC 28801 1 Phone 828.225.6 6346 Fax 828.225.6383 Visit www.Biltmore.com today! Original Message From: Epp, Ronald [mailto:r.epp@snhu.edu Sent: Tuesday, November 08, 2005 4:10 PM To: Suzanne Durham Subject: RE: George Dorr Dear Suzanne, This information has been very helpful. I appreciate your time and thoroughness and will make the appropriate acknowledgements in the published record when that day finally arrives. Oddly enough I came across another reference to Mr. Dorr's visit to Biltmore. In a letter dated 12/12/1936 from Charles Peterson (a National Park Service Landscape Architect) to Mr. Dorr he mentions that last week he (that is, Peterson) visited "the Biltmore estate at Asheville and was greatly impressed by the magnificence of the house and the beauty of the landscaping. Mr. Beadle (sp?) showed us through the place. He remembers your visiting Biltmore in the old days. What pleased me as much as anything else was to see the two brick arch bridges from Olmsted's office. Does the Guest Book confirm this visit? The handwritten date could also have been 1931. Does the name of "Mr. Beadle" have meaning for you? If so, what was his role and tenure at the estate? By the way, I'll see whether the Bar Harbor town records offer any evidence to support your most reasonable supposition that Mr. Vanderbilt was experiencing financial constraints that obliged him to lease Point d'Acadie. Nearly two decades later Mr. Dorr would find himself up the same tree and leased out his family cottage, Old Farm. Regarding the uncatalogued correspondence, it may be feasible for me to arrange a research visit at some point in 2006 and if you could describe the scope of the indexing-- or lack thereof--I would be in a better position to judge the magnitude of the task at hand. Once again, my thanks for you assistance. Ronald Epp Original Message From: Suzanne Durham [mailto: sdurham@biltmore.com] Sent: Monday, October 31, 2005 1:26 PM To: Epp, Ronald Subject: RE: George Dorr Your phone message received and I looked at the actual guest book; all it has is a date next to the person's name, no length of stay or comments. William James does not appear. Edith Wharton made 2 visits, 11/26/02 and 12/23/05. She rented George Vanderbilt's Paris apartment for several years and we have a personally autographed copy of House of Mirth in the collection. I've done a word search on Dorr's name in our correspondence catalogue and find only one letter from Carl Schenck to Dorr in which he is explaining he cannot become a US forester due to his German nationality. Much of the outgoing correspondence from the estate is not catalogued, but is contained in letter press books with indexes of correspondents' names. There are too many for me or my staff to work through for you; however, they could be available for you to look through at some point in your research. It's my impression that George Vanderbilt was under financial constraints beginning in 1903-1904 and not long after he began leasing out his home, Pointe d'Acadie, in Bar Harbor during summers. Let me know what else we can do for you. Suzanne 2 Suzanne K Durham CA Special Collections Manager The Biltmore Company One North Pack Square Asheville NC 28801 Phone 828.225. 6346 Fax 828.225.6383 Visit www.Biltmore.com today! Original Message From: Epp, Ronald [mailto:r.epp@snhu.edu Sent: Monday, October 31, 2005 10:41 AM TO: Suzanne Durham Cc: Epp, Ronald Subject: RE: George Dorr Dear Suzanne, I left a message for you before departing for Boston and will try again by phone on Thursday. First off, the Biltmore "guest book" may contain information about others who visits coincided with Mr. Dorr. Could those names be provided? Does the Guest Book indicate the length of the stay? Does it include any personal notations as is characteristics of many guestbooks? At Yale's Beinecke Library last week I was investigating the Edith Wharton Papers and she mentions to Mr. Dorr and others her requests from G.W. Vanderbilt and his wife to visit Biltmore. Can these dates be identified? The Harvard Philosopher William James also visited and I have indications that his visits coincided with those of Mr. Dorr. Can you verify? Is there any indication of the itineraries of these individuals regarding traveling around the estate, camping out, seeking forestry advice, etc? Do any documents survive that refer to the Vanderbilt's Bar Harbor estate and the social activities that took place therein? Quite a tall order, I know. I look forward to speaking with you later this week. With best regards! Ronald H. Epp, Ph.D. University Library Director Southern New Hampshire University Manchester, NH 03106 603-668-2211 ext. 2164 Original Message From: Suzanne Durham [mailto:sdurham@biltmore.com Sent: Tuesday, October 25, 2005 1:09 PM To: Epp, Ronald Subject: George Dorr Hi Dr. Epp, We received your application for research material and you're "cleared for takeoff. If I checked the Biltmore guest book and found George Dorr listed as visiting three times: 21 Dec 1900, 27 Nov 1902 and 18 Oct 1905. It's been some time since we talked SO please give me a call or send an email and review what kinds of documentation you're looking for. 3 Suzanne Suzanne K Durham CA Special Collections Manager The Biltmore Company One North Pack Square Asheville NC 28801 Phone 828.225.6346 Fax 828.225.6383 Visit www.Biltmore.com today! 4 verizon (anoo! Mail - eppsterz(@verizon.net Page I of 2 Verizon Yahoo! Mail Verizon Central Yahoo Search: Web Search Welcome, eppster2@verizon. Mail Home All-New Mail Tutorials Help [Sign Out, Member Center verizon MAIL Classic Mail Contacts Calendar Notepad Mail For Mobile - Options Check Mail Compose Search Mail Search the Web Previous I Next I Back to Messages Folders [Add Edit] Inbox (5) Delete Reply Forward Move Draft This message is not flagged. [ Flag Message - Mark as Unread Printable View Sent Date: Thu, 15 May 2008 12:34:47 -0700 (PDT) Bulk [Empty] "ELIZABETH and RONALD EPP" Add to Trash [Empty] From: Address Book Add Mobile Alert My Folders [Hide] Subject: Biltmore Company Archives: Guest Book DorrBio2008 (5) To: sdurham@biltmore.com Eliz messages (4) Dear Ms. Durham, Horseshoe Pond Member Information in late October 2005 we exchanged several emails regarding Biltmore visits by Edith Wharton, Acadia National Park Founder George Bucknam Dorr, and Ron Archives (31) William James. You were able to verify the visits of Wharton and Dorr from entries in the Guest Book. Search Shortcuts I have just received a letter from Mr. Dorr to Harvard University President My Photos Charles W. Eliot dated November 18, 1902 referring to Dorr being joined by My Attachments Harvard Professor William Morris Davis and Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. for a hike up Mt. Mitchell. Since you confirmed that Dorr was at Biltmore on November 27th, could you check to see if Davis and Olmsted were also Biltmore guests at at roughly the same time? I appreciate your prior assistance and hope that this will not be too troublesome audui a request. I look forward to hearing from you at your convenience, not Ronald H. Epp to appe. Ronald H. Epp, Ph.D. 47 Pond View Drive ingerize Merrimack, NH 03054 (603) 424-6149 eppster2@verizon.net or Delete Reply Forward Move Previous Next Back to Messages Save Message Text I Full Headers Check Mail Compose Search Mail Search the Web http://us.f842.mail.yahoo.com/ym/ShowLetter?MsgId=87_4067711_128367_650_823_0_ 5/15/2008 Message Page 1 of 2 Epp, Ronald From: Suzanne Durham [sdurham@biltmore.com] Sent: Tuesday, September 27, 2005 1:29 PM To: Epp, Ronald Subject: RE: G.W. Vanderbilt, Dorr & James Ronald: Attached is our application for research. Your letter just sent will suffice as to stating your research goals and needs. Please fill out the attached form and return it to me, along with a short letter or email from your dean where you work confirming your position there. I just read two 1903 letters from Wm. James asking special permission to tour Biltmore Estate with his friend, Joseph Warner, on a day when the estate was not normally open to visitors. Sincerely, Suzanne K Durham CA Special Collections Manager The Biltmore Company One North Pack Square Asheville NC 28801 Phone 828.225.6346 Fax 828.225.6383 Visit www.Biltmore.com today! Original Message From: Epp, Ronald [mailto:r.epp@snhu.edu] Sent: Tuesday, September 27, 2005 12:01 PM To: sdurham@biltmore.com Subject: G.W. Vanderbilt, Dorr & James Dear Suzanne, I appreciate your willingness to speak with me this morning regarding my efforts to locate within your archives corroboration of a visit--or visits--by George B. Dorr and his Harvard colleague Professor William James to Biltmore in 1903 (see below). Dorr was a close personal friend of Gifford Pinchot whose youthful efforts at Biltmore would later bear fruit when the U.S. Forest Service was organized in 1905. It comes as no surprise to find that much of the documentation in your possession is of a non-personal nature, focusing more on the finances of Biltmore than its residents or guests. It may well be that your archives contain no documentation relative to Mr. Vanderbilt's life in Bar Harbor (see attachment). As you likely know, the Bar Harbor architectural experience is discussed in John M. Bryan's definitive "Biltmore Estate." Professor Bryan and I have ongoing discussions on Mount Desert landscape design, especially given the proximity of Mr. Dorr's Old Farm property to Vanderbilt's Pointe d'Acadie. I will be thankful for any documentation that you can uncover. As I assured you verbally, I will conform to all Biltmore Estate restrictions. Sincerely, Ronald H. Epp, Ph.D. 47 Pond View Dr. 9/28/2005 Message Page 1 of 2 Epp, Ronald From: Epp, Ronald Sent: Tuesday, September 27, 2005 12:01 PM To: "sdurham@biltmore.com Subject: G.W. Vanderbilt, Dorr & James Dear Suzanne, I appreciate your willingness to speak with me this morning regarding my efforts to locate within your archives corroboration of a visit--or visits--by George B. Dorr and his Harvard colleague Professor William James to Biltmore in 1903 (see below). Dorr was a close personal friend of Gifford Pinchot whose youthful efforts at Biltmore would later bear fruit when the U.S. Forest Service was organized in 1905. It comes as no surprise to find that much of the documentation in your possession is of a non-personal nature, focusing more on the finances of Biltmore than its residents or guests. It may well be that your archives contain no documentation relative to Mr. Vanderbilt's life in Bar Harbor (see attachment). As you likely know, the Bar Harbor architectural experience is discussed in John M. Bryan's definitive "Biltmore Estate." Professor Bryan and I have ongoing discussions on Mount Desert landscape design, especially given the proximity of Mr. Dorr's Old Farm property to Vanderbilt's Pointe d'Acadie. I will be thankful for any documentation that you can uncover. As I assured you verbally, I will conform to all Biltmore Estate restrictions. Sincerely, Ronald H. Epp, Ph.D. 47 Pond View Dr. Merrimack, NH 03054 -Original Message From: Epp, Ronald Sent: Monday, September 26, 2005 11:02 AM To: 'MaryJackA@aol.com" Subject: RE: Vanderbilt archives Dear Mary, Thanks for the update. I appreciate this effort and since I sent off my letter to you I've located some additional information regarding the possible timeframe. Mr. Dorr speaks of a camping trip to the Smokey Mountains with George Vanderbilt and William James but nowhere indicates the date. In the recently completed 12 volume "Correspondence of William James" (Ed. I.K. Skrupskelis), James writes to his brother Henry James and other family members and friends several lengthy letters (from Kenilworth Inn, Biltmore N.C. and the Victoria Inn dated between 28 March and 11 April 1903) of interactions with the Vanderbilts and the character of the Biltmore property. While no mention is made of Mr. Dorr, I can't help wonder whether he was party to this visit. But more importantly, is there any documentation supporting ongoing communication between the two, including those years when they interacted in Bar Harbor. I have been unable to locate through research libraries any archival repository of doicuments relative to G.W. or Edith Vanderbilt and would appreciate any assistance available from Biltmore professional staff. Most appreciatively, 9/27/2005 Message Page 2 of 2 Ron Original Message From: MaryJackA@aol.com [mailto:MaryJackA@aol.com] Sent: Sunday, September 25, 2005 10:39 PM To: Epp, Ronald Subject: Vanderbilt archives Hi Ronald - I know that I am being slow, but am not sure how to get the right person to handle your request. I think it is going to be Darin Poupore (Darren Poupor?) but I need to get in touch with him to be sure he is the right contact. We have been swamped with various projects lately and I haven't been at Biltmore for quite a while. You will hear from me SOON! Mary 9/27/2005 13 September 2005 Dear Mary, Following up on a point raised when you and Elizabeth spoke two weeks ago, I am writing to see whether you can link me with a Biltmore Estate archivist/curator. For the past five years I have been engaged in archival-based research for a biography of George Bucknam Dorr (1853-1944), a Boston Brahmin, conservation pioneer, and friend of George Washington Vanderbilt. Dorr and Vanderbilt both had estates in Bar Harbor, Maine where they lived within four blocks of one another overlooking Frenchman Bay. There most notable collaboration was in being original founders of the Hancock County Trustees of Public Reservations, a land trust established in 1901 through the vision of Harvard President Charles W. Eliot to protect the scenic beauty of the Island against the encroachments of development. The efforts of Dorr, Eliot, Vanderbilt and others over the next decade led to the donation to the Federal government of over 5,000 acres of land that became first a National Monument and then in 1919 a National Park (in 1929 renamed Acadia National Park). Mr. Dorr became its first Superintendent, a position her held until his death. There is a notation in Mr. Dorr's memoirs that he intended to write more fully of this relationship with Vanderbilt ( including forestry advice that he likely offered) and describe his visit to the Biltmore Estate as Vanderbilt's guest (likely in 1903-1906). If Mr. Dorr documented these matters the evidence has not survived the destruction of his Old Farm Estate by the National Park Service. Furthermore, I have uncovered no corroborative evidence of such correspondence and of a visit. I am hopeful that Vanderbilt Family documentation preserved at the Estate might shed light on this most vexing matter. Mary, if you would share this correspondence with those at the Biltmore Estate who might be able to provide assistance I would be very appreciative. For additional information and clarification I can be reached via email (r.epp@snhu.edu) or at my office or home phone (603-424-6149). Ronald H. Epp, Ph.D. Director of University Library Fortune's Children: the fall of the house of Vandebilt NY: Quill, 263 BILTMORE their T.Vanderhilt 1989. greater sums of money in the pursuit of ever new amusements. At the 7 same time, rapid economic expansion was creating new manufacturing, banking, railroad, oil, and mining millionaires, each trying to make his mark and break into society by increasingly lavish expenditures. A newspaper reporter who had written that the millionaires of Newport "devoted themselves to pleasure regardless of expense" was corrected by one of the Four Hundred who explained that what they really did was "to devote themselves to expense regardless of pleasure."2 "It is doubtful," another member of the Four Hundred complained, "whether there are more useless and empty ways of spending money in the world than can be found at Newport."3 Bessie Lehr remembered Mrs. Pembroke Jones telling her "that she always set aside $300,000 at the beginning of every Newport season for entertaining. Some hostesses must have spent even more. A single ball could cost $100,000, even $200,000. No one considered money except for what it could buy."4 Mamie Fish was right; society had gone mad. At a millionaire's dinner party in the ballroom at Sherry's all the BILTMORE guests atc on horseback, the horses' hooves covered with rubber pads to protect the floors. One hostess hid a perfect black pearl in each of the oysters served to her guests, and a host handed out cigarettes rolled in 1895-1933 $100 bills. Another party featured a pile of sand in the middle of the table, and toy shovels at the guests' seats; upon command, the guests dug into the sand, searching for buried gems. A millionaire thought nothing of buying a $15,000 diamond dog collar, a pair of opera glasses encrusted with diamonds and sapphires for $75,000, a bed inlaid with ivory and ebony and gold for $200,000, a necklace for his true love for $500,000.5 In 1895, a visitor from France, viewing the two-mile stretch of 1. "T Fifth Avenue that faced Central Park-Millionaires' Row as it was hey say, sweet Lamb," Mrs. Fish wrote to her friend called (thirty years before, this part of the city had been nothing but Harry Lehr, who was staying in Europe, suffering from flimsy wooden shacks and scrub growth)-was dumbfounded. "It is too a nervous breakdown, "that you have lost your mind. If evident that money cannot have much value here. There is too much of it. The interminable succession of luxurious mansions which line Fifth you have, come back to New York for I can assure that the loss won't interfere with your popularity. You know quite well you Avenue proclaim its mad abundance. No shops, unless of articles of that you won't need any mind to go with the people in our set." luxury-a few dressmakers, a few picture dealers only independent flight Mamie of Fish and Harry Lehr had sensed it coming: the mindless dwellings each one of which, including the ground on which it stands, 1 implies a revenue which one dares not calculate. The absence of unity FirstSearch: WorldCat Detailed Record Page 1 of 2 OC LC FirstSearch SOUTHERN NEW HAMPSHIRE UNIV WorldCat Detailed Record Click on a checkbox to mark a record to be e-mailed or printed in Marked Records. Staff View My Account Resource Home Databases Searching Results Options Comments Exit Sharing Hide tips List of Records Detailed Record Marked Records Go to page IIII WorldCat results for: au: beadle and au: WorldCat chauncey. Record 3 of 3. Subjects Libraries ILL E-mail Print Export Help 3 Mark: Prev Next Biltmore Herbarium. Chauncey Delos Beadle 1896 English Book 29 p. 21 cm. Biltmore, N.C., GET THIS ITEM Availability: Check the catalogs in your library. Libraries worldwide that own item: 6 in Connect to Southern New Hampshire University Library Borrow this item from another library (Interlibrary Loan) FIND RELATED More Like This: Search for versions with same title and author | Advanced options Find Items About: Biltmore Herbarium. (2) Title: Biltmore Herbarium. Author(s): Beadle, Chauncey Delos. Publication: Biltmore, N.C., Year: 1896 Description: 29 p. 21 cm. Language: English SUBJECT(S) Descriptor: Herbaria. Botany MM Catalogs and collections. Botany ww North Carolina. Note(s): "Alphabetical catalogue of the duplicate specimens contained in the collection."/ Title page wanting. Class Descriptors: LC: QK77; Dewey: 580.773 Responsibility: [C.D. Beadle, Curator. Document Type: Book http://firstsearch.oclc.org/WebZ/FSFETCH?fetchtype=fullrecord:sessionid=sp01sw11-56...11/15/2005 William Henry Vanderbilt: Information From Answers.com Page 1 of 3 Answers.com TM Answers Web I William Henry Vanderbilt Business Entertainment Games Health People Places Reference Science Shopping W On this page: Wikipedia William Henry Vanderbilt Wikipedia William Henry Vanderbilt William Henry Vanderbilt (May 8 1821 - December 8 William Henry Vanderbilt 1885) was a businessman and a member of the prominent United States Vanderbilt family. William Henry Vanderbilt was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey. He inherited nearly $100 million from his father Cornelius Vanderbilt and had increased it to about $200 million at his death less than nine years later. At the time, he was the richest man America had ever seen, and by some measures is perhaps still the richest man in American history. In 1841 he married Maria Louisa (Louise) Kissam (1821- 1896), the daughter of a Presbyterian minister. His father carefully oversaw his business training, at age 18 starting him out as a clerk in a New York banking house. After joining the executive of the Staten Island railway, he was made its president in 1862 then three years later he was appointed vice-president of the Hudson River railway. In 1869, he was made vice-president of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad Company, becoming its president in 1877. As well, he took over from his father as president of New York Central Railroad, the Lake Shore and Michigan May 8 1821 Born Southern Railroad, the Canada Southern Railway Co., and the New Brunswick, New Jersey Michigan Central Railroad Company. Died December 8 1885 He had worked with his father and following his death, actively expanded the family's railroad empire. In 1883, his elder sons assumed key positions. It was in his time that the Vanderbilt women demanded recognition from the older but less moneyed leaders of New York City society, centered on the Astor family, whom the Vanderbilts had by then far outstripped in wealth. William Henry Vanderbilt was involved in a number of philanthropic causes including the YMCA, funding to help establish the Metropolitan Opera and an endowment for the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University. In 1880, he provided the money for Vanderbilt University to construct the Wesley Hall building for use as the Biblical Department and library and included 160 dormitory rooms for students and professors, lecture halls, as well as a cafeteria. The building was destroyed by fire in 1932 and his son Frederick made another donation to help cover the insurance shortfall and allow a new building to be erected. An art enthusiast, William Henry Vanderbilt's collection included some of the most valuable works of the Old Masters and over his lifetime, Vanderbilt acquired more than 200 paintings. http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery;jsessionid=oyxfhw0hjxgr?method=4&dsid=2222.. 10/25/2005 William Henry Vanderbilt: Information From Answers.com Page 2 of 3 Among his holdings were: Chicago Burlington & Quincy Railroad Co. Chicago & Canada Southern Railway Co. Detroit & Bay City Railroad Co. Hudson River Railroad Co. Hudson River Bridge Co. Joliet & Northern Indiana Railroad Co. Michigan Midland & Canada Railroad Co. New York Central & Hudson River Railroad Co. New York Central Sleeping Car Co. New York & Harlem Rail Road Co. Spuyten Duyvil & Port Morris Railroad Co. Staten Island Rail-Road Co. In 1883, he resigned all his company presidencies and had his sons appointed as chairmen but left the day-to-day running of the businesses to experienced men appointed president. William Henry Vanderbilt is perhaps most remembered for snapping "the public be damned" at an interviewer. in context, an irritated reaction to the other's suggestion that the New York Central Railroad system, which Vanderbilt controlled, ought to be operated as if it were a public trust. He was an active philanthropist as well as builder of opulent Fifth Avenue mansions. On his passing, he was interred in the Vanderbilt family mausoleum at the Moravian Cemetery in New Dorp on Staten Island, New York. William Henry Vanderbilt's estate was divided among his eight children, the bulk of which went to his four sons. Children of William Henry Vanderbilt and Maria Louisa (Louise) Kissam: 1. Cornelius Vanderbilt II (1843-1899) 2. Margaret Louisa Vanderbilt-Shepherd (1845-1924) 3. William Kissam Vanderbilt (1849-1920) 4. Emily Thorn Vanderbilt-Sloane (1852-1956) 5. Florence Adele Vanderbilt - Twombly (1854-1952) 6. Frederick William Vanderbilt (1856-1938) 7. Eliza Osgood Vanderbilt-Webb (1860-1936) 8. George Washington Vanderbilt II (1862-1914) His last home is on the left in the image linked at the St. Thomas Episcopal Church, New York article. This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer) William Horwood Find William Horwood Info, Products, & More! www.SkinnyLlama.com William Horwood Compare Prices on William Horwood and Save Money! Kadazzle.com ( Mentioned In http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery;jsessionid=oyxfhw0hjxgr?method=4&dsid=2222 10/25/2005 William Henry Vanderbilt: Information From Answers.com Page 3 of 3 William Henry Vanderbilt is mentioned in the following topics: George W. Vanderbilt 1821 in rail transport Frederick William Vanderbilt Cornelius Vanderbilt II Moravian Cemetery 1885 in rail transport William Henry Vanderbilt III Vanderbilt family William Kissam Vanderbilt 1877 in rail transport More> William Danforth Profile Read his Marquis Who's Who Official Biography www.marquiswhoswho.com Copyrights: Wikipedia information about William Henry Vanderbilt " Cite " This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "William Henry Vanderbilt". More from Wikipedia Get the FREE Answers.com IE Toolbar! Download Now More Info Answers.com - brilliant Go 6 Today's Highlights Top Searches Jump to: Select Item Send this page Print this page Link to this page Answers Web Tell me about: William Henry Vanderbilt Shop Home Webmasters Site Map About Legal Help Advertise http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery;jsessionid=oyxfhw0hjxgr?method=4&dsid=2222. 10/25/2005 New England Historic Genealogical Society Page 1 of 4 My Membership NewEnglandAncestors.org Log Out Welcome Epp Site Search New England Historic Genealogical Society - Founded 1845 Help Printer Friendly Page Home Research Libraries Store Education Center Main I Articles and Publications I Calendar Getting Started Kids Corner Shortcut to: Royal Descents, Notable Kin, and Printed Sources #69 Notable Descendants of Robert Livingston the elder and/or Robert Livingston the younger, of New York by Gary Boyd Roberts Posted February 28, 2003 Among the great manorial and mercantile families of colonial New York - Van Rensselaer, Van Cortlandt, Schuyler, De Peyster, Beekman, Stuyvesant, Ten Broeck, etc., mostly Dutch - the Livingstons of Livingston Manor stand tallest. Scottish, and of royal descent (see The Royal Descents of 500 Immigrants (hereafter RD500) [1993], pp. 92-93, Ancestors of American Presidents [AAP] [1995], pp. 210-11), the family was founded, like the Winthrops and Dudleys in Massachusetts, the Lloyds and Logans of Philadelphia, and the Randolphs and Lees in Virginia, by an immigrant forebear in the Dictionary of American Biography (and in the case of Robert Livingston, first lord of Livingston Manor, also by a namesake nephew known as Robert Livingston "the younger"). Throughout the colonial and Federal periods, the Livingstons "ran" New York. The Declaration of Independence was signed by Philip Livingston, Jr. Robert R. Livingston, Jr. was chancellor of New York State and the diplomat most responsible for the Louisiana Purchase. A secretary of state under Jackson was Edward Livingston. The wife of diplomat and statesman John Jay, the first U.S. Chief Justice, was New York society leader Sarah Van Brugh Livingston; Alexander Hamilton, the first secretary of the treasury, married Elizabeth Schuyler, granddaughter of Angelica (Livingston) Van Rensselaer; and the second wife of New York Governor DeWitt Clinton, promoter of the Erie Canal, was Catherine Livingston Jones, granddaughter of the "signer." Hamilton Fish, secretary of state under Grant, was the son of a Stuyvesant and grandson of Margaret Livingston; Fish's wife Julia Kean was the daughter of a Morris of Morrisania and the granddaughter of Susan Livingston (Stuyvesant Fish, son of Hamilton and Julia, was a noted railroad tycoon and banker whose wife was society leader Mrs. Marion Graves Anthon Fish; Edith Stuvvesant Dresser, a great-niece of Hamilton Fish, married George Washington Vanderbilt, the builder of Biltmore - see NEXUS 13 [1996]: 79-81). Robert Charles Winthrop, speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and senator from Massachusetts, married thirdly Mrs. Adele Granger Thayer, daughter of a Van Rensselaer and great- great-granddaughter of the Angelica (Livingston) Van Rensselaer mentioned above. The Livingston line of Mrs. Levi Parsons Morton (Anna Livingston Reade Street) is treated in Internet column #53, (#16). Among artists, inventors, explorers, and scientists, Robert Fulton, "inventor" of the steamboat, married Harriet Livingston, a great-niece of the "signer." Artist Samuel Finley Breese Morse, inventor of the telegraph, married secondly Sarah Elizabeth Griswold, granddaughter of Catherine (Livingston) Breese. Arctic http://www.newenglandancestors.org/education/articles/research/special_guests/gary_boy...11/17/2005 New England Historic Genealogical Society Page 2 of 4 explorer Elisha Kent Kane was the grandson of a Van Rensselaer and a great- great-grandson of the above Angelica (Livingston) Van Rensselaer. The astrophysicist Louis Morris Rutherfurd married Margaret Stuyvesant Chanler, daughter of a Winthrop, granddaughter of a Stuyvesant, and great- granddaughter of the above Margaret (Livingston) Stuyvesant. Alida Livingston, sister of Robert R. Livingston, Jr., married soldier and diplomat John Armstrong. Their daughter, Margaret Rebecca Armstrong, was the wife of William Backhouse Astor, son of the first John Jacob. "Society" leader Mrs. Caroline Webster Schermerhorn Astor was their daughter-in-law, and the wife of William B. Astor, Jr. John Jacob Astor III, Margaret Rebecca's son, and John Jacob Astor IV, son of W.B., Jr. and Caroline, are both treated in the Dictionary of American Biography, as is [William] Vincent Astor, son of John Jacob IV. Vincent's third wife is the well-known philanthropist and "Society" leader Brooke Astor (formerly Mrs. Roberta Brooke Russell Kuser Marshall). Listed below are also a few notable husbands of American Astors or their descendants - William Phillips, Samuel Ward IV, John Jay Chapman, and Richard Aldrich. The British Astors are descended from John Jacob III, son of Margaret Rebecca Armstrong and father of William Waldorf Astor, 1st Viscount Astor, noted capitalist and diplomat. His elder son, William Waldorf Astor, Jr., 2nd Viscount Astor, British M.P., and owner of The Observer, married the well-known Nancy Witcher (Langhorne) Shaw, known as Lady Nancy Astor, the first female British M.P. Of the 2nd Viscount's sons, the 3rd Viscount, Michael, and John Jacob VII were also M.P.s. David Astor inherited The Observer. The 4th Viscount, son of the 3rd, has been an opposition spokesman in the House of Lords. John Jacob Astor V, 1st Baron Astor of Hever and younger son of the 1st Viscount, was the principal owner of The [London] Times. Of his sons, the 2nd Baron and Hugh Waldorf Astor were also connected with The Times, and John Astor was an M.P. Husbands of English Astors have included the 3rd Earl of Ancaster, M.P. and Lord Great Chamberlain; television producer Nicholas Ward; M.P. Herbert Henry Spender-Clay; diplomat Sir Philip B.B. Nichols, and company director Sir David Bowes-Lyon (brother of the late Queen Mother). In the twentieth century, Livingston descendants have included a wide variety of cultural figures. Charles Eliot Norton, the art historian and editor who died in 1908, married Susan Ridley Sedgwick, great-granddaughter of Catherine (Livingston) Ridley. Columbia University president Nicholas Murray Butler (d. 1947) married Susanna Edwards Schuyler, great-great-granddaughter of Angelica (Livingston) Van Rensselaer. The novelist Louis Stanton Auchincloss married Vanderbilt descendant Adele Lawrence, whose great-great-grandfather John Thorp Lawrence married a daughter of Sarah (Livingston) Ricketts. The first wife of architect Eero Saarinen (in one of whose two Yale colleges I lived one summer) was Lilian Louise Swann, daughter of a second Susan Ridley Sedgwick, niece of Mrs. Norton. The Livingston lines of poet Robert [Traill Spence] Lowell (IV) and Yale president Alfred Whitney Griswold are outlined in NK2: 210-11 and New England Ancestors 1 [2000]: 5:41-42. Among figures in popular culture, the composer Irving Berlin married Ellen Travers Mackay (who coined the term "café society"), daughter of Catherine Alexander Duer and great-great-granddaughter of Columbia College president William Alexander Duer. W.A. Duer was the son of Catherine Alexander, whose mother was Sarah Livingston. Rock singer David [Van Cortland] Crosby (b. 1941) is the grandson of Julia Floyd Delafield, daughter of Catharine Van Rensselaer, herself a granddaughter of Stephen Van Rensselaer, Jr., the founder of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. This last, the son of Catherine (Livingston) Van Rensselaer, himself married Margaret Schuyler, a sister of Mrs. Alexander Hamilton above. Dancer and actor Fred Astaire married Mrs. Phyllis Livingston http://www.newenglandancestors.org/education/articles/research/special_guests 11/17/2005 New England Historic Genealogical Society Page 3 of 4 Baker Potter, daughter of Harold Woods Baker and Caroline E. Livingston. The actor and movie producer Kirk Douglas married firstly the actress Diana Dill of Bermuda, daughter of Ruth Rapalje Neilsen, herself the granddaughter of Catherine Bayard Rutgers. The parents of this last, Anthony Rutgers and Sarah Alexander Johnson, were first cousins, grandchildren of Nicholas Bayard and Catherine Livingston. Diana Dill and Kirk Douglas are the parents of actor, producer, and director Michael Douglas, now married to the actress Catherine Zeta-Jones. The Livingston descent of actor [Edward] Montgomery Clift, as noted below, is covered in Notable Kin, Volume Two [NK2] (1999), pp. 160-61. Returning to business and political figures, twentieth-century Livingston descendants included Edward "Ned" Crosby 3rd and the wives of radio engineer and inventor Lee DeForest, Joseph Wright Alsop V, Russell Errol Train, McGeorge Bundy, and Elliot Lee Richardson. The Livingston descents of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and of the two Presidents Bush, are covered in Notable Kin, Volume One [NK1] (1998): 109-10, 117-20. Lee DeForest married secondly Mrs. Nora Stanton Blatch [DeForest Barney], granddaughter of suffragette and feminist leader Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, whose Livingston descent (her mother was Margaret Chinn Livingston) is outlined in NK1:204-5. "Ned" Johnson of Fidelity is descended from Catherine Ann (Livingston) Cleveland via Waterbury, Edwards, and his mother Elsie Livingston (Johnson) Johnson. Newspaper columnist Joseph Wright Alsop V married Mrs. Susan Mary Jay Patten (the author Susan Mary Alsop), a great-great-granddaughter of John Jay and Sarah Van Brugh Livingston above (and an Astor but not an Armstrong descendant). Environmentalist Russell Errol Train married Aileen Ligon Bowdoin, whose great-grandfather, George Richard James Bowdoin, married Frances Hamilton, granddaughter of Alexander Hamilton above and Elizabeth Schuyler. Presidential advisor McGeorge Bundy married Mary Buckminster Lothrop, a descendant of Alida (Livingston) Lloyd via Borland, Tiffany, Abbott, and Lothrop. Cabinet official and diplomat Elliot Lee Richardson married Anne Francis Hazard, great-granddaughter of Robert Patterson Kane, brother of Elisha Kent Kane above. This clan, then, is extraordinary. The Livingstons not only "ran" colonial New York; they also contributed Astors, Fishes, and a Mrs. Vanderbilt to the post-Civil War "tycoon" culture, and continued to figure prominently in the governance of New York and the evolution of its "Society." Modern figures of Livingston descent include actors, a rock singer, and the wives of an art historian, a novelist, an architect, a composer, and a dancer. The 41st and 43rd presidents, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and the wife of Levi Parsons Morton belong to the clan, as do the wives of several lesser modern political figures. The Livingstons compose, I am certain, the largest notable progeny of an immigrant to New York of royal descent. Very possibly they constitute the largest such progeny of any immigrant to New York or New Amsterdam. Listed below, in the usual format for this column, are the thirteen figures of Livingston descent whom I have already treated, plus twenty-seven figures for whom not only their Livingston lines, but also all lines to other immigrants of royal descent now known, are traced. My next column, much shorter, will cover the major notable descendants of William Randolph and Henry Isham of Virginia. From Notable Kin, Volumes 1 and 2 (NK1, NK2): 1. Mrs. [Anna] Eleanor (Roosevelt) Roosevelt - NK1:109-10 2. Franklin Delano Roosevelt (wife, #1 above) - NK1:109-10 3. George Herbert Walker Bush - NK1:117-20 http://www.newenglandancestors.org/education/articles/research/special_guests 11/17/2005 New England Historic Genealogical Society Page 4 of 4 4. George Walker Bush, son of #3 above and Barbara Pierce - NK1:117-20 5. [Mrs.] Elizabeth [Smith] (Cady) Stanton - NK1:204-5. 6. Philip Livingston, Jr. - NK1:107, 110 7. Robert R. Livingston, Jr. - NK1:107, 110 8. Edward Livingston - NK1:107, 110 9. [Edward] Montgomery Clift - NK2:160-61 10. Robert [Traill Spence] Lowell (IV) - NK2:210-11 From NEHGS NEXUS, New England Ancestors (NEA), Internet: 11. Mrs. George Washington Vanderbilt - NEXUS 13 (1996): 79-81 12. Alfred Whitney Griswold - NEA 1 (2000): 5:41-42 13. Mrs. Levi Parsons Morton - Internet column 53, #16 Next Page Join NEHGS : About NEHGS : Site Map : Contact Us : Library Hours Privacy Statement : Terms of Use/License set Copyright 2001-2005, New England Historic Genealogical Society. Do not reproduce without permission. DEPARTMENT New England Historic Genealogical Society 101 Newbury Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02116 USA (617) 536-5740. http://www.newenglandancestors.org/education/articles/research/special_guests/gary_boy.. 11/17/2005 BILTMORE ESTATE The Most Distinguished Private Place JOHN M. BRYAN 1994,ny. THE OCTAGON THE MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN ARCHITECTURAL FOUNDATION RIZZOLI NEW YORK n June 1, 1888, at the age of twenty-five, George Washington Vanderbilt CHAPTER ONE O (fig. 2) purchased the first of 661 parcels of land that would ultimately become Biltmore.¹ Details of Vanderbilt's life before that purchase are sketchy. He was the youngest of eight children of Maria Kissam and William Henry The Creators: Vanderbilt, reputed to be the richest man in the world (fig. 3). W. H. Vanderbilt controlled railroads stretching from New York to St. Louis and to Chicago; in 1881, George Washington Vanderbi the New York Times reported that Vanderbilt interests employed 15,000 men and Richard Morris Hunt, and used 638 locomotives, 800 passenger cars, and 23,000 freight cars. On trunk lines as Frederick Law Olmsted many as sixty Vanderbilt-owned trains passed one another daily.2 The Vanderbilt rail empire was created by George Washington Vanderbilt's grandfather, Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt, who died in 1877 and left his son William Henry in control. William Henry Vanderbilt doubled the value of the Vanderbilt lines, to approximately two hundred million dollars, and brought his three older sons into the business. Cornelius (1843-1899), the eldest, became trea- surer of the Harlem Railroad at the age of twenty-four, first vice-president of the New York Central Railroad at the age of thirty-four, and chairman of the New York Central board when his father retired in 1883. William Kissam (1849-1920), the sec- ond son, was second vice-president of the New York Central and became chairman of the board of the Lake Shore and Nickel Plate and the New York, Chicago, and St. Louis lines when his father retired. Frederick (1856-1938) was a director of numer- ous lines, including the West Shore and the Canadian Southern. William Henry Vanderbilt also placed several of his sons-in-law in managerial positions. William Seward Webb, husband of Eliza Osgood Vanderbilt, became president of the Wagner Palace Car Company in Buffalo. Elliott Fitch Shepard, husband of Margaret Louisa Vanderbilt, was an attorney for the New York Central Railroad; he also founded the New York Bar Association and several banks and was publisher of a daily newspaper, The Mail and Express. Hamilton McKown Twombly, husband of Florence Adele Vanderbilt, participated in the management of the New York Central and Hudson River railroads and served on the executive committees of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern and the Michigan Central; he was a director of at least eight other railroads and sat on the boards of several banks and utilities. Of the Vanderbilt males of his generation, only George Washington took no part in railroad management. He was much younger than his brothers, nineteen years younger than Cornelius and six years younger than Frederick. The age differ- ence between George and his brothers-in-law was even greater: he was twenty-nine years younger than Elliott F. Shepard, eighteen years younger than William D. Sloane (husband of Emily Thorn Vanderbilt), thirteen years younger than Hamilton Twombly, and eleven years younger than William Seward Webb. As a boy, George Vanderbilt stayed close to home with his aging parents. He was educated by tutors and said to be bookish; one of his first public acts of benefi- cence, in 1886, was to commission Richard Morris Hunt to design the Jackson Square branch of the New York Free Circulating Library and to give the land, books, and building to the City of New York. Earl Shinn (1837-1886), art critic for The Nation, described George's study on the second floor of his father's house at 640 Fifth Avenue in New York City (fig. 4): a room the perfection of coziness and snugness. Every accessory invites to intelli- gent thought and study. The walls are lined with a large selection of books. Besides the evidence of a literary taste manifested in this study are the signs of a musical propensity, shown in the large piano and the other instruments sporting tastes are encouraged too, and it is not unusual to find a light rowing boat on the floor. The other apartments, whose linings of silk and damask, of mosaic and leather and ebony, have been cheerfully praised, must yield to the room which is lined with brains.4 George Vanderbilt went on to assemble a personal library of just over twenty-three thousand volumes at Biltmore. George's interest in the arts appears to reflect the avocations of his father's old 13 age. The engraver Samuel Putnam Avery (1822-1890), a successful art dealer and a founder and trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, helped William Henry assemble his collection of European paintings and apparently nurtured George's literary interests. As a Christmas present in 1883, Avery gave George a copy of Marius-Michel's On Book Binding "bound by the author expressly for me."5 The focal point of the William Henry Vanderbilt mansion was its gallery (fig. 5), the largest room (32 by 48 feet and two stories high). Here hung four paintings by Rosa Bonheur, three by J. L. E. Meissonier, three by Alma-Tadema, and two each by J. M. W. Turner and J. L. Gérôme. In his description of eighty-seven paintings in the collection, Shinn noted not a single work by an American; William Henry believed he was performing a public service by importing art that otherwise might be unavailable to American viewers. To this end he lent paintings to the new Metro- politan Museum and opened his gallery to the public one afternoon each week, as had collectors John Taylor Johnston and August Belmont before him. That Vanderbilt left his art collection to his son George probably attests to George's inter- est in it. Shortly after his father's death, George commissioned Hunt to improve the lighting and Karl Bitter to create a series of bas-relief panels for the gallery walls. Acquiring paintings was a focus of the Vanderbilts' annual European tour, an important part of George's upbringing. Between 1880, when he was seventeen, and his father's death in 1885, they made five trips to Europe together, usually leaving in early May and remaining abroad for one to three months. Avery, who met them in London and Paris in 1880, 1881, and 1882, described several of these trips in his diaries. In 1880, Avery arrived in London before the Vanderbilt party, purchased a painting by Jean-François Millet for William Henry Vanderbilt, and dined with them on May 10, the day they arrived. For the next six days he and William Henry visited galleries and studios together; at the end of the month they took a similar tour in Paris, and then Avery went on alone to Berlin, Munich, Milan, Turin, Dresden, Düsseldorf, and Amsterdam. The following year they spent the second week of May in London touring galleries; in 1882, Avery and his wife sailed from New York on May 6 with William Henry, George, and George's uncle, Jacob Vanderbilt. 6. Henry J. Hardenbergh. American Fine Ar. They shopped in London and purchased a painting by J. M. W. Turner. Then Society (now the Art Students League), New York, 1891. Avery traveled to Paris and used credit William Henry had established to purchase additional works.7 George Vanderbilt demonstrated his early interest in the arts in his gift to the American Fine Arts Society (fig. 6), which made possible a gallery owned by and operated for artists in New York. Howard Russell Butler, a founder of the society, recalled that in the 1880s artists in New York were divided into two camps- a group of elderly painters and sculptors, who generally went under the name of the Hudson River School, and whose citadel was the National Academy Building on the corner of Fourth Avenue and Twenty-third Street, with its classes in the basement" and a "younger school, composed of Americans who had returned from their studios in the ateliers of Europe, especially those of Paris and Munich." The younger group had no quarters but, Butler noted, were "domiciled in two groups, one having its centre in the Tenth Street Studio Building and the other up town in and around the Sherwood Studio Building." Loosely organized, the younger group came together periodically as the Architectural League (in which Richard Morris Hunt was active), the Art Students League, and the Society of American Artists. In the spring of 1889, Butler, William Merritt Chase, and others meeting at the Tenth Street building (which Hunt had designed), decided to raise money to erect and maintain an exhi- bition hall. They began by soliciting support from the artists themselves, but this proved a discouragingly shallow well. Butler turned elsewhere. "One day, walking up Fifth Avenue, I saw George Vanderbilt, whom I barely knew, and joining him, explained our project," he later wrote. "He seemed interested and on separating he said, 'I will be one of eight to give $5000.' Vanderbilt's pledge helped the artists secure seven more founders. They cre- ated the American Fine Arts Society with a board headed by Henry G. Marquand, then president of the Metropolitan Museum; George Vanderbilt was a board 15 for and built their estate, Shelburne Farms, on the shore of Lake Champlain below Burlington, Vermont (fig. 11). They moved into the initial building, Oakledge, in 1884. The Webbs' architect was Robert Henderson Robertson, who had briefly worked with George B. Post and whose work was described as "inveterately Roman- tic." Robertson favored the Richardsonian Romanesque style and designed a series of stations for the New York Central Railroad that were similar to those H. H. Richardson had designed in Boston and its environs. Two other Vanderbilt seasonal estates predate Biltmore. Peabody and Stearns designed Frederick Vanderbilt's Rough Point in Newport (1887) and Emily and William Sloane's Elm Court in Lenox, Massachusetts (1887). Frederick Law Olmsted did the landscape plans for Elm Court and Rough Point and consulted on a plan for Shelburne. It may have been inevitable that he and Hunt would work with George Washington Vanderbilt, both on Biltmore and other projects. The country and seaside estates created by George's siblings were large, opu- lent examples of a building type that reflected prosperity and optimism. George W. Sheldon, whose Artistic Country Seats (1886-87) displayed ninety such homes, believed that the development of country estates was a positive phenomenon that reflected not only the affluence but the wisdom of their creators, who clearly sub- scribed to the view that contact with nature promotes moral development. Two- thirds of the estates featured in Sheldon's book were built between 1884 and 1887, one-third cost less than thirty thousand dollars, and only one cost more than two hundred thousand dollars. Most were built by financiers, merchants, and manufac- turers and were near centers of commerce and industry-Newport, Philadelphia's Main Line, northern New Jersey, and the suburban fringes of Boston, Cleveland, 11. Robert Henderson Robertson. Shelburne and Minneapolis-St. Paul. Farms (William Seward Webb House), Sheldon illustrated the designs of forty-four architects. Sixteen houses had Shelburne, Vermont, 1884. been designed by McKim, Mead and White, eight by Bruce Price, and five by 12. Charles C. Haight. Pointe d'Acadie, Peabody and Stearns. The work of Richard Morris Hunt was not represented, prob- Bar Harbor, Maine, 1869. ably because Sheldon disapproved of the practice of relying on European proto- types. Houses SO designed, he argued, were "pretentious and heavy academic machines that announced SO clearly the frantic search of new wealth for historical and cultural trappings." George Vanderbilt was only nineteen and living at home with his parents when he first acted as a patron. In 1883, he used a portion of his inheritance from his grandfather to commission Nathaniel G. Herreshoff of Bristol, Rhode Island, to design and build the sixty-nine-foot steam yacht Lucille, probably named after a favorite aunt, Lucille Kissam Bromley, his mother's sister. 13 Herreshoff was widely acknowledged to be America's most accomplished naval architect. Yachts he designed, built by his Herreshoff Manufacturing Company, won the America's Cup six times. His clients included Charles Kellogg, Harry Payne Whitney, Henry M. Sears, H. H. Westinghouse, August Belmont, and J. P. Morgan. As a social symbol, a yacht like the Lucille fulfilled all the requirements of conspicuous consumption: it was expensive to create and to maintain; it represented the conversion of a utilitar- ian activity into a means of pleasure; it placed its owner in command of a circum- scribed, seemingly perfectible world. George, unlike his married siblings, had no need for a house; besides, a yacht served many of the same social functions. It was, in effect, a floating mansion, a movable estate. Yachting, like building, was a family tradition. Before he turned his attention to railroads, the Commodore dominated American shipping and had commissioned the construction of forty-five steamships between 1818 and 1853. The first Vanderbilt yacht, the North Star, was built in 1853 for the Commodore by Charles Simonson. The vessel was 270 feet long and was driven by four boilers, which also heated its living quarters. Its salons were finished in marble, rosewood, and satinwood and furnished with Louis XV reproductions made by the New York cabinetmakers J. & J. W. Meeks. George's father was among the party that visited London, St. Petersburg, Stockholm, and the Mediterranean ports of Naples, Malta, Athens, Constantinople, and Alexandria, traveling 15,025 miles in 125 days 14 21 In the summer of 1885, after his father's death, George Vanderbilt took the Lucille to Maine. Bar Harbor, the principal town on Mount Desert Island, was then reaching its peak as a summer resort. This mountainous outcropping with its con- voluted coastline carved by glacial advances emerged as a summer retreat in the early nineteenth century. Following the pattern described by E. L. Godkin in his discus- sion of the evolution of American resorts, the early visitors were artists (including Thomas Doughty and his protégé Thomas Cole), professors, and preachers whose paintings and writings drew the more prosperous doctors, lawyers, and industrialists to its rugged shores. By 1888, Bar Harbor's eighteen hotels could accommodate twenty-five hundred guests. Bar Harbor was more informal than Newport, a character reflected in its archi- tecture as well as in the activities its visitors preferred. 15 Walking, talking, and boating were the chief public activities in Bar Harbor (fig. 13); boating was institutionalized in 1887 when the private Mount Desert Canoe Club was formed for the purpose of "perpetuating birch bark canoeing."1" No marble palaces loomed over Frenchmans Bay; architecturally, it was a shingle-style cottage community. William Ralph Emerson (1833-1917), a founder and master of shingle style, designed ten houses built in Bar Harbor between 1881 and 1886; these were characterized by bays, entries, porches, and verandas asymmetrically splayed around their plans like contented piglets around a SOW. Five of the major hotels that opened during the 1880s were in the shingle style, as was the private Bar Harbor Reading Room, which Emerson also designed, and the private Kebo Valley Club. In 1889 George Vanderbilt purchased the Gouverneur Morris Ogden House (fig. 12) for two hundred thousand dollars. It was his second major acquisition and, in several respects, a prelude to Biltmore. One of the town's earlier seaside "cot- tages," it was designed by New York architect Charles C. Haight (1841-1917) and built in 1868-69 for Ogden, who called it Watersmeet. The house itself was an asym- metrical wood frame, two-story structure with clapboard siding and restrained stick- style detail. But for its porches, it would have been at home in a prosperous inland 13. George Washington Vanderbilt boating party, suburb. Watersmeet was situated on Ogden Point, a rocky promontory with deep- Mount Desert, Maine, C. 1890. water frontage and dramatic views to the north, east, and south. George Vanderbilt changed the name to Pointe d'Acadie (a reference to the Acadians, the seventeenth- century French settlers of the area) and asked Olmsted (fig. 14) to develop and implement a plan for the grounds. Olmsted's project records provide a glimpse of his working methods and his relationship with George Vanderbilt before he began the larger, more complex project at Biltmore. No contract is mentioned: as on other projects, Olmsted and Vanderbilt worked as gentlemen, on a handshake and a verbal agreement. But Olmsted did negotiate contracts on Vanderbilt's behalf for construction; he inter- viewed and hired laborers, and he or a member of his firm visited the site periodi- cally to lay out and supervise the work. The firm ordered materials, advanced money for labor and supplies, maintained meticulous records, and billed Vanderbilt a fixed fee annually. "Consultation and advice, working drawings, auditing and paying bills and general supervision" for Pointe d'Acadie cost Vanderbilt six hundred dollars in 1890 and five hundred dollars in 1891. Olmsted did not charge-as architects did-a percentage of project costs, nor does he seem to have been systematic about request- ing reimbursement for interest on money advanced to contractors and suppliers. 17 The Pointe d'Acadie lot was approximately ten acres; irregularly shaped, it was longer than it was wide, and the boundaries, drives, and building sites (excepting the stable) were already fixed. Olmsted had gates and a dry stone wall erected along the edge of the property bordering Main Street and low stone walls built along the entry drive. He planted "plantations" of trees to frame the vistas, to screen out neighbors, and to create a "general rural character" by obscuring from view surrounding struc- tures. Adjacent to the drives and house Olmsted altered the contours of the lot to improve drainage and create a terrace. Planting involved extensive sodding and the introduction of rhododendrons. The major construction consisted of a seawall to create a saltwater swimming area, the first pool in Bar Harbor. Though Pointe a patticularly complex project, it was ninderea by local shortages of materials and labor and the vagaries of the weather, as Olmsted reported to Vanderbilt, in July 1891: Every Winter seems to be in some way a trying one at Mt. Desert. The special trial of the last was a fall of snow, followed by a warm rain, and then by intense cold, the result being that while the surface of the ground was thoroughly soaked, ice formed all through it and it was overlaid with a thick coat of ice instead of the usual blanket of snow. It seems to have resulted that all late sodding, all grass sowed late and all trees and shrubs planted late, were killed. 18 Olmsted also found it difficult to retain skilled craftsmen at what he considered rea- sonable rates. As a head gardener he selected Edward Kirk of Brookline, Massachu- setts, the fifth man he interviewed for the position. Kirk received twenty-one dollars a week for moving to Bar Harbor and taking charge of the planting. Much of the plant material was purchased from Brookline nurseryman J. W. Manning, whose son Olmsted consulted at Biltmore. Olmsted established a nursery on the site and propagated twelve thousand plants to be set out in the spring of 1891. A. E. Haskell, who had worked with Olmsted before and was later transferred to Biltmore, was paid twenty-four dollars per week to supervise the construction of the walls, grading, and drainage. Consulting engineer E. C. Jordan of Portland, Maine, was called in for advice on building the seawall. The work at Pointe d'Acadie cost $22,183.56 in 1890 and another $14,000 in 1891.¹9 Before Biltmore, Olmsted also landscaped the family mausoleum at New Dorp, 14. Frederick Law Olmsted, C. 1880. Staten Island (1886-92, fig. 15), for George Washington Vanderbilt. The mau- soleum records reveal Olmsted's tendency to delay the discussion of bad news, a habit his Biltmore work also revealed, and the degree of engineering ultimately involved in creating an Olmsted landscape. As at Biltmore, irrigation was a concern at the mausoleum, for neither site had a municipal water system. In both cases Olmsted was determined to create a lush effect that local precipitation could not support. On Olmsted's advice, Vanderbilt employed the consulting engineer J. J. R. Croes to design and install a water system based upon a reservoir and an elevated tank filled by a windmill-driven pump.20 This system proved inadequate, and for six years-until the problem was solved-Olmsted did not submit a bill. "It seemed to me that at the end of every year the progress and condition of the work must be dis- appointing to you," he wrote Vanderbilt, "and I preferred not to ask payment for ser- vices until results showed them to have been more valuable than for the time being they appeared."2 Croes's solution to the water problem was to drill a well to supplement the criffier 15. Richard Morris Hunt. Vanderbilt Mausoleum, New Dorp, Staten Island, 1886-92. up in inconclusive on me mouning UI vera 11, 1017, CHAPTER 1 WU D workmen tunneling from the west heard the scrabbling and tapping of the team boring to meet them from the east. Carefully both groups chipped away the rock face until they broke through-elated to find that the grades and The Plans: centers of the tunnel met. James H. Wilson, president, superintendent, and chief Ideas and Ambition engineer of the Western North Carolina Railroad, sent a telegram to Zebulon B. Vance, governor of North Carolina: "Daylight entered Western North Carolina this morning through the Swannanoa Tunnel. This burst of light signaled a new day for the town of Asheville. An ornamen- tal heading in one of the volumes describing William Henry Vanderbilt's mansion shows a locomotive accompanied by a cheerful flock of cherubim emerging from a tunnel (fig. 1). Just as Vanderbilt-owned railroads had linked the nation, trains steaming through the Swannanqa Tunnel at a stroke transformed the historic liabil- ities of the region-rugged terrain and consequent isolation-into assets. Asheville is located on a plateau bordered by the Blue Ridge Mountains on the east and the Great Smoky Mountains on the west. The plateau's elevation, about 21. Mount Pisgah, western North Carolina. 2,300 feet above sea level, insures cool weather in the summer; the rim of mountains shields the plateau from the warmer winds of lower elevations, and the resulting mean temperature is seventy-one degrees. The plateau's southern latitude moder- ates the winter cold. Temperatures average thirty-nine degrees in winter, and the range of temperatures in the region is said to exhibit the smallest variation of any place in the United States.2 The cool summer climate had drawn planters from the coastal plain since the early nineteenth century, but with the coming of the railroad Asheville blossomed, as one book on the South's resorts put it, into "a safe retreat from the bleak northern winter and the sultry miasmatic summer of the low country." Its population increased from 2,500 in 1882 to 12,000 in 1892, and its development followed a pat- tern common in resort towns. By 1889 Asheville offered thirty boarding houses and eight hotels accommodating a population that swelled in summer to 40,000. "Imme- diately after the southern visitors leave Health Resorts of the South observed in 1892, "in the autumn the northern guests arrive for the winter." Winter and summer visitors were convinced Asheville was good for their health. According to Dr. Samuel Westray Battle (1854-1937), who established him- self in Asheville in 1885, the town's "ozoniferous atmosphere" was reputed not to support "low forms of organic existence." The altitude, Battle asserted, caused "the pressure of the atmosphere and blood to be most beautifully balanced, enabling the heart and lungs to perfectly perform their duty at the least possible expense to the system. The "soft and balmy" air offered a "happy combination of stimula- tion with sedation" and was said to help cure consumption, asthma, constipation, diarrhea, liver afflictions, and "children at the period of identition.' Among the patients who placed themselves under Dr. Battle's care in Asheville was Mrs. W. H. Vanderbilt, who suffered from chronic malaria.7 George Vanderbilt and his mother first visited Asheville in the winter or early spring of 1888. They stayed at the Battery Park Hotel (fig. 22), then in its second season. The first elaborate hotel to open after the railroad reached Asheville, the Battery Park represented a wave of optimistic investment by northern capitalists: it was developed by Frank Coxe, president of the the Charleston, Cincinnati and Chicago Railroad, and designed by Hazlehurst and Huckel of Philadelphia. Its five stories contained 125 rooms accommodating 250 guests, and its large dining room, elevator, and Edison electric lights set a new local standard. The hotel was sited on a bluff above the city; from its extensive piazzas visitors overlooked the valley of the French Broad River, Sunset Mountain, the Beaumont and Pisgah ranges, and, four miles away, Lone Pine Mountain, the future site of Biltmore Estate. Battery Park guests compared "the sun rise and sunset effects to those in the world-famed val- leys of Switzerland."8 George Vanderbilt never explained what prompted him to settle in Asheville, but, like Bar Harbor, the town offered dramatic topography, distant views, and a 29 noted that well known rendezvous of fashion," for "in Asheville, no exactions exist as to this or that method of personal adormment, morning, noon or night." Charles Dudley Warner described Asheville as "the 14th cousin of Saratoga" where "the enterprise of taste and money-making struggle with the laissez faire of the South."9 When George Washington Vanderbilt and his mother arrived, the town was growing: in 1886, one local guide stated that 137 new houses were under construc- tion. "Asheville is without doubt a conspicuous instance of development in what is termed the New South," the guide noted. "Its advance has been rapid and striking. The ideas and marks of progress are everywhere and the Northern element of population which has made its home there has been taken by the hand and encour- aged in its work of building and reconstructing."20 Still, there was ample room for growth. At Bar Harbor, George Vanderbilt had paid a premium for an existing house on a site surrounded by others jostling for the view; in Asheville, within sight of the piazzas of the Battery Park, subsistence farms and undeveloped, cheap land ranged along the banks of the Swannanoa and French Broad rivers. When he decided to create an estate, Vanderbilt had no fixed idea of its scale or nature. Olmsted later recounted what Vanderbilt told him: I came to Asheville with my mother. We found the air mild and invigorating and I thought well of the climate. I enjoyed the distant scenery. I took long rambles and found pleasure in doing so. In one of them I came to this spot under favorable cir- cumstances and thought the prospect finer than any other I had seen. It occurred to me that I would like to have a house here. The land was beyond the field of spec- ulation and I bought a piece of it at a low rate. Then when I began to consider the matter more seriously I saw that if I built upon it I should not have pleasant neigh- bors, SO I sent Mr. McNamee down here to buy some of them out, and step by step, without any very definite end in view, I have acquired about 2000 acres. 11 Mr. McNamee was Charles McNamee, a New York attorney whom Vanderbilt had 24. George Washington Vanderbilt, Dr. Sami invited to join him in Asheville in May 1888. McNamee's brother James, also an Westray Battle, and Edith Vanderbilt at Look attorney, was married to George Vanderbilt's cousin Clara. McNamee later recalled Glass Falls, North Carolina, C. 1905. in the Asheville newspaper that as they rode together along the side of Lone Pine Mountain they drew rein "where the Esplanade of Biltmore House now stands. To the north lay Asheville and the bluffs of the French Broad, to the east was Mount Craggy and cloud capped Mount Mitchell, to the south the long main range of the Blue Ridge stretching from Virginia to Georgia. To the west was the pyramid shaped Mount Pisgah" (fig. 21),. Vanderbilt instructed McNamee to buy "this land and all around it."12 McNamee began acquiring small farms in his own name to avoid spec- ulation, and soon he had assembled approximately two thousand acres at prices ranging between five dollars and twenty dollars per acre. Then, in the late summer or early fall of the same year, Vanderbilt asked Olmsted to come to Asheville and assess the property. Standing on land the house would later occupy, Vanderbilt said to Olmsted, "Now I have brought you here to examine it and tell me if I have been doing anything very foolish." Olmsted agreed that the site had a "good distant outlook," but told Vanderbilt that because it had been abused by subsistence farming the soil was poor, "the woods are miserable," and the eroded hillsides were "unsuitable for anything that can properly be called park scenery."14 Olmsted noted that the land on which the house and its immediate grounds now stand had been occupied for generations "by a succession of campers, squat- ters and transient settlers" who culled the forest "for their cabins, fences and fuel." Settlers in the area often exchanged firewood for goods, he told Vanderbilt; "You may often see distant settlers, even now, drawing jags of hickory cordwood with a runty bull before a creaking cart in Asheville for the same purpose." Olmsted found evidence of four saw mills on the property. Moreover, settlers had customarily burned the litter on the forest floor to encourage the growth of grasses in the spring 31 social and physical climate different from New York or Newport. In 1886 one visitor noted that Asheville offered "more of the unexpected than is to be found at other well known rendezvous of fashion," for "in Asheville, no exactions exist as to this or that method of personal adornment, morning, noon or night." Charles Dudley Warner described Asheville as "the 14th cousin of Saratoga" where "the enterprise of taste and money-making struggle with the laissez faire of the South."9 When George Washington Vanderbilt and his mother arrived, the town was growing: in 1886, one local guide stated that 137 new houses were under construc- tion. "Asheville is without doubt a conspicuous instance of development in what is termed the New South," the guide noted. "Its advance has been rapid and striking. The ideas and marks of progress are everywhere and the Northern element of population which has made its home there has been taken by the hand and encour- aged in its work of building and reconstructing.' Still, there was ample room for growth. At Bar Harbor, George Vanderbilt had paid a premium for an existing house on a site surrounded by others jostling for the view; in Asheville, within sight of the piazzas of the Battery Park, subsistence farms and undeveloped, cheap land ranged along the banks of the Swannanoa and French Broad rivers. When he decided to create an estate, Vanderbilt had no fixed idea of its scale or nature. Olmsted later recounted what Vanderbilt told him: I came to Asheville with my mother. We found the air mild and invigorating and I thought well of the climate. I enjoyed the distant scenery. I took long rambles and found pleasure in doing SO. In one of them I came to this spot under favorable cir- cumstances and thought the prospect finer than any other I had seen. It occurred to me that I would like to have a house here. The land was beyond the field of spec- ulation and I bought a piece of it at a low rate. "Then when I began to consider the matter more seriously I saw that if I built upon it I should not have pleasant neigh- bors, SO I sent Mr. McNamee down here to buy some of them out, and step by step, without any very definite end in view, I have acquired about 2000 acres. 11 Mr. McNamee was Charles McNamee, a New York attorney whom Vanderbilt had 24. George Washington Vanderbilt, Dr. Samuel invited to join him in Asheville in May 1888. McNamee's brother James, also an Westray Battle, and Edith Vanderbilt at Looking attorney, was married to George Vanderbilt's cousin Clara. McNamee later recalled Glass Falls, North Carolina, C. 1905. in the Asheville newspaper that as they rode together along the side of Lone Pine Mountain they drew rein "where the Esplanade of Biltmore House now stands. To the north lay Asheville and the bluffs of the French Broad, to the east was Mount Craggy and cloud capped Mount Mitchell, to the south the long main range of the Blue Ridge stretching from Virginia to Georgia. To the west was the pyramid shaped Mount Pisgah" (fig. 21). Vanderbilt instructed McNamee to buy "this land and all around it." McNamee began acquiring small farms in his own name to avoid spec- ulation, and soon he had assembled approximately two thousand acres at prices ranging between five dollars and twenty dollars per acre. Then, in the late summer or early fall of the same year, Vanderbilt asked Olmsted to come to Asheville and assess the property. Standing on land the house would later occupy, Vanderbilt said to Olmsted, "Now I have brought you here to examine it and tell me if I have been doing anything very foolish. Olmsted agreed that the site had a "good distant outlook," but told Vanderbilt that because it had been abused by subsistence farming the soil was poor, "the woods are miserable," and the eroded hillsides were "unsuitable for anything that can properly be called park scenery."14 Olmsted noted that the land on which the house and its immediate grounds now stand had been occupied for generations "by a succession of campers, squat- ters and transient settlers" who culled the forest "for their cabins, fences and fuel." Settlers in the area often exchanged firewood for goods, he told Vanderbilt; "You may often see distant settlers, even now, drawing jags of hickory cordwood with a runty bull before a creaking cart in Asheville for the same purpose." Olmsted found evidence of four saw mills on the property. Moreover, settlers had customarily burned the litter on the forest floor to encourage the growth of grasses in the spring OTES INTRODUCTION George Vanderbilt Exhibited at The American Fine Art Society (New York: De Vinne Press, 1. Andrew Carnegie, The Gospel of Wealth and 1892), listed 251 etchings by Rembrandt, 173 Other Timely Essays (New York: Century, 1900), woodcuts, engravings, and etchings by Dürer, and 88-89. 122 engravings from paintings by Joshua 2. Catharine Howland Hunt 34, 36 (cited hereafter Reynolds. as CHH), typescript biography of Richard Morris 9. New York Times, December 9-12, 1885. Hunt, Prints and Drawings Collection, The Octa- 10. Ibid., December 13, 1885. gon, the museum of The American Architectural 11. See David Chase, "Superb Privacies: The Foundation. Quoted by Paul R. Baker, Richard Later Domestic Commissions of Richard Morris Morris Hunt (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, Hunt, 1878-1895," in The Architecture of Richard 1986), 62. Morris Hunt, ed. Susan R. Stein (Chicago: Univer- 3. Henry Van Brunt, "Richard Morris Hunt," Pro- sity of Chicago Press, 1986), 151-71. ceedings of the Twenty-Ninth Annual Convention of 12. Arnold Lewis, American Country Houses of the the American Institute of Architects (Providence: E. Gilded Age (New York: Dover, 1982), ix [intro- H. Johnson, 1895), 73-74; CHH, 36, and Baker, duction to a new edition of George W. Sheldon, Hunt, 63. Artistic Country Seats (New York, 1886-87)]. 4. Richard Morris Hunt (hereafter cited as RMH), 13. L. Francis Herreshoff, Captain Nat Herreshoff, "Presidential Address," Proceedings of the Twenty- The Wizard of Bristol (White Plains, N.Y.: Sheri- fifth Annual Convention of the American Institute of dan House, 1953), 332. Architects (Chicago: Inland Architect Press, 1892), 14. "The Steam-Yacht 'North Star," Knickerbock- 16. er Magazine 42 (July 1853): 32-35. 5. Edith Wharton and Ogden Codman, Jr., The 15. On Bar Harbor, see Cleveland Amory, The Decoration of Houses (New York: Charles Scribner Last Resorts (New York: Grosset and Dunlap, and Sons, 1897), 196. 1952), 276; Edwin L. Godkin, Reflections and 6. Wharton and Codman, Decoration of Houses, 5. Comments, 1865-1895 (New York: Charles Scrib- 7. Bernard Berenson, The Venetian Painters (New ner's Sons, 1895); and G. W. Helfrich and Gladys York: G. P. Putnam's Sons 1894), reprinted in O'Neil, Lost Bar Harbor (Camden, Maine: Down The Italian Painters of the Renaissance (Cleveland: East Books, 1982). 1957), iii, quoted in Richard Guy Wilson, The 16. Amory, Last Resorts, 305. American Renaissance: 1876-1917 (Brooklyn, 17. Frederick Law Olmsted (hereafter cited as N.Y.: The Brooklyn Museum, 1979), 12. For a FLO) to GWV, Statement of Account, December thoughtful review of the cultural context sur- 17, 1890; December 17, 1890, to July 1, 1891; Jan- rounding the Vanderbilt projects, see Wilson, uary 1, 1891; January 1, 1892; January 5, 1892. American Renaissance; Wilson, "American Archi- Biltmore Estate Archives. tecture and the Search for a National Style in the 18. FLO to GWV, July 6, 1891. Biltmore Estate 1870s," Nineteenth Century 3, 3 (1977): 74-80; and Archives. Wilson, "Architecture and the Reinterpretation of 19. FLO to GWV, December 17, 1890; FLO to the Past in the American Renaissance, Winterthur GWV, June 6, 1891. Biltmore Estate Archives. Portfolio 18, 1 (1983): 69-87. 20. FLO to GWV, December 18, 1890. Biltmore Estate Archives. 21. FLO to GWV, January 25, 1892. Biltmore CHAPTER ONE Estate Archives. The Creators: George Washington Vanderbilt, 22. J. J. R. Croes to FLO, August 26, 1891. Bilt- Richard Morris Hunt, and Frederick Law more Estate Archives. Olmsted 23. CHH, quoting the Duc d'Aumale's descrip- tion of Hunt at Chantilly (1889), 338. 1. Vertical files, Biltmore Estate Archives. 24. Francis R. Kowsky, "The Central Park Gate- 2. New York Times, December 9, 1885. ways: Harbingers of French Urbanism Confront 3. For more on the Vanderbilt family, see Louis the American Landscape Tradition," in Architec- Auchincloss, The Vanderbilt Era: Profiles of a Gild- ture of Richard Morris Hunt, 79-89. ed Age (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 25. FLO to Charles Eliot, April 29, 1895, Olmsted 1989); John Foreman and Robbe P. Stimson, The Papers, Library of Congress; Montgomery Vanderbilts and the Gilded Age: Architectural Aspi- Schuyler, "The Works of the Late Richard Morris rations, 1879-1901 (New York: St. Martin's Press, Hunt," Architectural Record 5, (October-Decem- 1991); Robert B. King with Charles O. McLean, ber 1895): 180. The Vanderbilt Homes (New York: Rizzoli Interna- 26. CHH, 353-55. tional Publications, 1989); and Jerry E. Patterson, 27. Quoted from CHH in Baker, Hunt, 102. The Vanderbilts (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1989). 4. Earl Shinn [Edward Strahan], Mr. Vanderbilt's CHAPTER TWO House and Collection (New York: George Barrie, The Plans: Ideas and Ambition 1884) 1: 113-14. 5. Samuel Putnam Avery (hereafter cited as SPA) 1. Lou Harshaw, Trains, Trestles and Tunnels to George Washington Vanderbilt (hereafter cited (Asheville, N.C.: Hexagon, 1977), 12. as GWV), December 24, 1883. Biltmore Estate 2. Asheville Lyceum 2, 10 (June-July 1892), 21. Archives. Jean Marius-Michel, Essai sur la decora- 3. Health Resorts of the South (Boston: G. H. tion exterieure des livres (Paris: Morgand and Chapin, 1892), 258. Fatout, 1878). 4. Ibid. 6. Calvin Tomkins, Merchants and Masterpieces 5. Ibid., 270, 276. (New York: E. P. Dutton, 1970), 34-35. 6. Ibid., 248-49. 7. Samuel Putnam Avery Diaries, 1871-82, Euro- 7. J. H. Caine, "Today and Yesterday," clipping pean Business Travels, Archives of American Art, file, Pack Memorial Library, Asheville, N.C. I. Washington, D.C. Stephens, "Asheville: The Tuberculosis Era," 8. Howard Russell Butler, typescript, May 24, North Carolina Medical Journal 46, 9 (September 1924, collection of the Art Students League, New 1985): 455-63, notes that Mrs. Vanderbilt suf- York, New York. In December 1892, an exhibi- fered from chronic malaria. tion catalogue, Prints from the Collection of Mr. 8. Charleston and Asheville (Charleston, N.C.: man, The French Broad (New York: Rinehart and Architect," 38th Annual Washington Antiques Show Company, 1955), 192. (January 1993): 59-68; see figs. 7, 8, 13, and 14. 10. Charleston and Asheville, 19. 33. Mark Girouard, The Victorian Country House 11. FLO to Frederick Kingsbury, January 20, (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1891, Olmsted Papers. 1985), 291-302. 12. Asbeville Citizen, March 5, 1904. 34. Ibid., 292, 293. 13. Ibid. 35. Mrs. James de Rothschild, The Rothschilds at 14. Ibid. Waddesdon Manor (London: William Collins, 15. FLO to GWV, July 12, 1889, Biltmore Estate 1979). Archives. 36. CHH, 336-47. 16. Ibid. 37. Hunt Collection, AAF, S79.10 (1852). 17. FLO to Charles McNamee (hereafter cited as 38. Warrington G. Lawrence (hereafter cited as CM), May 17, 1889, Biltmore Estate Archives. WGL) to RMH, September 15, 1889, Hunt Col- The towers were to accommodate a party of six lection. and have handrails and stairs to be accessible to 39. New York Times, November 2, 1888, 1, 6; ladies. FLO to CM, March 31, 1889, Olmsted November 11, 1889, 4, 7; December 24, 1889, 3, Papers. 6. 18. FLO to GWV, July 12, 1889, Biltmore Estate 40. New York Sun, October 20, 1889; New York Archives. We cannot demonstrate that Hunt visit- Tribune, October 20, 1889; reprinted in the ed the site prior to July 1889. Paul Baker, Hunt's Asbeville Daily Citizen, October 27, 1889. biographer, says that his first visit to the site was 41. New York Tribune, October 20, 1889. "early in 1890." Baker, Hunt, 415. A phrase in Olmsted's report-"you will be pleased to find how much is to be gained by setting out the build- ing well over the hillside as advised by Mr. CHAPTER THREE Hunt"-suggests that he may have done so. Hunt, The Organization: Precision and Control of course, could have made this suggestion in New York in response to Olmsted's preliminary work; 1. Asheville Daily Citizen, October 17, 1889. in any event, Olmsted's familiarity, based upon 2. See GWV to Edward Burnett (hereafter cited as several on-site inspections and the topographical EB), October 11, 1889, Biltmore Estate Archives. surveys, provided a firm basis for his influence 3. GWV to EB, January 22, 1890, Biltmore Estate over the basic elements of the design. Archives. 19. Ibid. Castle Blair Athol, Perthsire, Scotland, is 4. GWV to EB, January 20, 1890; see also GWV famous for its forests and its setting by the River to EB, May 15, 1890, Biltmore Estate Archives. Garry and Killicrankie Pass. 6. GWV to EB, November 4, 1890, Biltmore 20. Ibid. Estate Archives. 21. Charles E. Beveridge, "Frederick Law Olmst- 5. Gifford Pinchot Journal, Pinchot Papers, Micro- ed's Theory of Landscape Architecture," Nine- film F, A106, Reel 1, December 31, 1891, Library teenth Century 3 (Summer 1977): 38-43; see also of Congress. Laura Wood Roper, FLO: A Biography of Frederick 7. Gifford Pinchot (hereafter cited as GP) to EB, Law Olmsted (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Universi- March 25, 1892. ty Press, 1973) and the theses and dissertations in 8. Warren H. Manning, "Olmsted Office Employ- the bibliography. ment, Jan. 1888-Dec. 1895," typescript autobiog- 22. Charles E. Beveridge, "Moraine Farm: A Fred- raphy, 34-40, University of Massachusetts, Low- erick Law Olmsted Landscape," typescript. ell, Center for Lowell History, Warren H. 23. Garden and Forest, March 30, 1892, 146. Manning Collection. 24. Ibid. 9. Thomas Morch (hereafter cited as TM) to CM, 25. FLO to RMH, March 2, 1889, Olmsted May 25, June 2, and July 29, 1893, Biltmore Estate Papers. Archives. Morch had trained in the legal office of 26. Ibid. James McNamee, Charles's brother, before 27. Baker, Hunt, 414; see also King, Vanderbilt becoming Vanderbilt's secretary. James McNamee Homes, 113; Patterson, The Vanderbilts, 166; Fore- to To Whom it May Concern, October 20, 1894. man and Stimson, Vanderbilts and the Gilded Age, 10. EB to CM, November 20 and December 15, 278. 1889; September 9, 1890, Biltmore Estate 28. Foreman and Simson, Vanderbilts and the Gild- Archives. ed Age, 30; see also Baker, Hunt, 286, and Chase, 11. GWV to EB, January 21, 1892, Biltmore Estate "Superb Privacies," 153. Archives. 29. On the William Edgar House see Sheldon's 12. James Gall to FLO, November 14 and 22, description in Lewis, American Country Houses, 1889, Olmsted Papers; see also FLO to James 58; see also Antoinette F. Downing and Vincent J. Gall, May 6, 1890, Biltmore Estate Archives. Scully, Jr., The Architectural Heritage of Newport, 13. GWV to EB, January 21, 1892, Biltmore Rhode Island, 1640-1915 (New York: Clarkson N. Estate Archives. Potter, 1967), 168. For similar plans see the Pierre 14. Roper, FLO, 418. Lorillard, Jr., House (1886) in Tuxedo Park, 15. R. S. Smith (hereafter cited as RS) to W. H. N.Y., by Bruce Price, and the John H. Cheever Rhett, March 6, 1899, Letterbook 3, Pack Memo- House, Far Rockaway, N.Y. (1886), by McKim, rial Library. Mead and White in Lewis, American Country 16. G. E. Waring to FLO, July 24, 1889, Biltmore Houses, numbers 65 and 83. Estate Archives. 30. New York Times, August 2, 1938, 19. 17. FLO to GWV, November 6, 1889, Biltmore 31. E. Wallis, Old Colonial Architecture and Fur- Estate Archives. niture (Boston: G. H. Polley, 1887). Wallis subse- 18. FLO to Gall, March 31, 1890, Biltmore Estate quently wrote American Architecture, Decoration Archives. and Furniture of the 18th Century (New York: P. 19. FLO, "George W. Vanderbilt's Nursery," Wenzel, 1896), How to Know Architecture (New Asheville Lyceum 2, 6 (December 1891): 5-7. York: Harper, 1910), and Houses of the Southern 20. FLO to CM, December 3, 1889, Biltmore Colonies (St. Paul, Minn.: White Pine, 1916). Estate Archives. Chauncey Beadle Page 1 of 2 Beadle Home CHAUNCEY BEADLE LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT Born in St. Catherine, Ontario, Canada, Chauncey Beadle studied botany at the Ontario Agricultural College and continued later in the United States at Cornell University. In 1890 he joined Frederick Law Olmsted in Asheville, North Carolina as head nurseryman at Vanderbilt's Biltmore Estate. In time. Beadle served as the superintendent (60 years) and treasurer of the Estate. He's credited for the care of over 1,000 azaleas residing in the Azalea Garden and for becoming the leading authority on native azaleas in the United States. In 1908 Beadle began working with E.W. Grove to design the 1908-1913 and 1914 phase of Grove Park, a fine example of early 20th century planned suburban development. The Grove Park neighborhood features curving streets lined with grand trees, sidewalks and stone retaining walls. The park on Charlotte Street signifies the entrance of the neighborhood and is reminiscent of Olmsted's naturalistic landscape philosophy stemming from 18th century English landscapes in Europe. The park gives home to deciduous and evergreen trees, open spaces and stone shelters. Beadle designed the grounds for St. Mary's Episcopal Church in 1915-1916. In 1918, Beadle turned his focus to Biltmore Forest, a community being developed on what had originally been part of the Biltmore Estate. Again, he followed the natural topography of the land when designing roads and paths. He planted a variety of native plants including pine and hardwood trees, mountain laurel, azalea, rhododendron, and dogwood. He incorporated wood and stone into structures such as benches and bus shelter's. Beadle was an asset to the developers who wanted to carry on Vanderbilt's vision of the Estate and the surrounding land. He lived at the Biltmore Estate until his death in 1950. At the All Souls Church in Biltmore, where he was a senior warden, there is a cloister dedicated to him: "Uniting the Church and her children in Worship and Work and Play, the gift of his sons and of his friends is in the memory of Chauncey Delos Beadle." 42 letters HJ 2005 Note: listed Letters of are in the Seni Historic of Biographical Information Sources the Library at The Designs the Herberium - Related Oral Interviews for Chauncey beadle Haward gray University http://www.heritagewnc.org/architects/beadle/beadle.htm 11/15/2005 10/9/2018 Cradle of Forestry in America: The Biltmore Forest School 1898-1913 - Forest History Society Cradle of Forestry in America: The Biltmore Forest School 1898- 1913 By Carl A. Schenck (Edited by Ovid Butler; Introduction by Steven Anderson) Dr. Carl Alwin Schenck, a forester born and educated in Germany, arrived in America in April 1895 to manage the 125,000-acre forest on George W. Vanderbilt's famed Biltmore Estate in North Carolina, celebrated today as the "Cradle of Forestry in America." To train men to assist him in the woods, in 1898 Schenck started the Biltmore Forest School, America's first forestry school. As Schenck noted with pride, "My boys worked continuously in the woods, while those at other schools saw wood only on their desks." Many of the school's more than 300 graduates became influential leaders in both government and industrial forestry. Cradle of Forestry in America is Schenck's own story of his beloved school. But it's also the story of the birth of forest conservation in America. Clashes with men like Gifford Pinchot-his predecessor, friend, and rival-helped shape the very movement inspired and spurred by Schenck's Biltmore work. Today Schenck's philosophy remains controversial: "That forestry is best which pays best." Forest History Society, 2011. XV + 224 pp., 34 illustrations, index. Order Form (PDF) Order Online How the Biltmore CRADLE OF FORESTRY Forestry School B&F became the Cradle of Forestry in America AMERICA BY: Robert Beanblossom design his 255-room mansion and the equally famous land- scape architect, Frederick Law Olmsted, to design the grounds of the estate. Olmsted, known for designing New York's Central Park, the U.S. Capitol grounds and other notable venues, suggested to Vanderbilt that a forester be hired to manage his newly acquired holdings The Bilmore Forest School~ on a sustainable basis, in part to show Americans they Nestled in a mountainous valley known as the Pink Beds could cut timber and preserve is the Cradle of Forestry in America, a national heritage the forest at the same time. There was one problem, site. In addition to a profusion of understory wildflowers, however-only two foresters were practicing in America this spot in the heart of the Pisgah National Forest in at the time. One was a German forester, Bernhard western North Carolina is renowned as the birthplace of Fernow, who happened to be already working with the scientific forestry in the United States. Department of the Agriculture as chief of the Division of This intriguing story begins in early 1888. That year a Forestry in Washington, DC. The other was a 27-year-old wealthy young man, George Washington Vanderbilt, trav- Pennsylvanian named Gifford Pinchot. eled to the nearby town of Asheville along with his mother, Pinchot, who came from a wealthy family himself, had who sought relief from malarial-like symptoms. Dr. S. graduated from Yale and, because there was no forestry Westray Battle, a retired US Navy surgeon and a highly school in the U.S., had studied forestry in France for 13 respected pulmonary specialist with a practice there, months. Anxious to get started in his chosen profession, subsequently provided Mrs. Vanderbilt's medical treat- he accepted Vanderbilt's offer of employment and came ment while she and her son stayed at the posh Battery to the Biltmore Estate in early February 1892. By 1895 Park Hotel. The clean air, scenic mountains and natural the property holdings had grown to over 125,000 acres beauty of the area quickly captivated Vanderbilt, a widely of forest land; but much of it had been heavily damaged traveled, well-read individual, who considered himself a by fire, grazing and poor logging practices. There were, poet at heart. Consequently, he fell in love with this land however, virgin stands of high-quality trees, especially in and immediately decided to build a luxurious mansion - the coves and on north and least facing slopes of his hold- he later named Biltmore - and to purchase property. As he ings. His plans for forest management included selec- was buying the initial 6,000 acres for the estate, he decided tion cutting for sustained yield. Stands not adequately to buy the view as well, the breathtaking Blue Ridge stocked with trees were planted with hardwoods and Mountains, including Mount Pisgah. Vanderbilt employed pine. Later, in writing of his experience, Pinchot stated, the foremost architect of the day, Richard Morris Hunt, to "Thus, Biltmore became the beginning of practical 12 NATIONAL WOODLANDS | Spring 2018 forestry in America. It was the first just a hundred yards or SO from the piece of woodland to be put under present-day Cradle of Forestry in a regular system of forest manage- America Forest Discovery Center, ment whose object was to pay the the very first forestry school in the owner while improving the forest." nation was established. He also received his first taste of The second school of forestry fighting wildfires while working on was established later that month the estate. at Cornell University in New York Pinchot was employed at by Bernhard Fernow, who left the Biltmore for only three years. Eager Division of Forestry to open the first to play a national role in the estab- college-level program. However, lishment of forest policy in the US, the New York State College of he worked as a consulting forester Forestry was shut down after only and eventually succeeded Fernow. five years. Fernow's use of clear- He became the founding chief of the US Forest Service cutting and the presence of a logging railroad through when the federal forest reserves were transferred to the the school's forest upset several well-connected neigh- Department of Agriculture in 1905, and later was elected bors, who appealed to New York's governor for help. The governor of Pennsylvania for two terms. He advised both governor in turn eliminated funding because of public Presidents Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt on conser- objections to Fernow's insistence on defining forestry vation matters, and was one of the original founding solely in economic terms, to the exclusion of the recre- members of the Society of American Foresters. With his ation and aesthetic considerations. family he established the Yale School of Forestry in 1900, Balancing similar demands-managing the land for the first graduate school of its kind in the country. Today, lumber and recreation, protecting economic and ecolog- he is highly regarded as the "father" of American forestry ical interests-were all things Schenck tried to teach his by professionals throughout the nation. students at Biltmore. He was a demanding instructor and When Pinchot departed Biltmore Estate in 1895, his 12-month curriculum of hands-on, practical training through his European contacts, he could recommend was intense. But being a man of broad interests his a successor, Dr. Carl A. Schenck, a German forester, teaching was not limited to just forestry. Mixed into his who grew up in the town of Darmstadt and had longed lectures were lessons in art, music, history, literature and to become a forester since boyhood. Knowing little of life. As one student later wrote, "he also developed char- American tree species or forest conditions, Appalachian acter." Instruction took place in an abandoned school- mountain culture or even democracy for that matter, house until noon. After a quick lunch, students galloped Schenck accepted Vanderbilt's offer of employment. He along behind Schenck on horseback to complete various did have one thing going for him though - he could speak field exercises in the woods before dark. Classes included English. During his college days, he had met and fallen silviculture, surveying, forest protection, logging, tree and in love with a girl from England. In an attempt to impress plant identification, forest mensuration, forest policy and her, he memorized Shakespeare's "King Richard II." the forest management. A total of twenty-seven courses had romance ended when he went off to forestry school. to be completed. A six-month internship followed the year Schenck intensified the programs begun by Pinchot. of study and students had to submit a paper on their expe- He urged the construction of permanent forest roads to rience in order to receive a Bachelor of Forestry degree facilitate management activities, took steps to improve (though it was not a college degree). Students received watersheds, and created a tree nursery. He undertook Sundays off and were given two weeks for Christmas; several projects to improve game and fish populations on otherwise they were fully engaged in learning year-round. Vanderbilt's lands. As his reputation as a practical forester They either boarded with mountain families still residing grew, Schenck was approached by several individuals on the property or occupied vacant cabins and cooked seeking to become apprentices so that they might learn for themselves. Students gave these cabins pictur- of this new concept called "forestry." Encouraged by the esque names like Hole," "Rest for the Wicked" or number of young men wanting training, he decided to "Gnat Hollow." The combination of challenging teaching open a forest school. On September 1, 1898, on a site continued next page NATIONAL WOODLANDS Spring 2018 13 agency's Washington Office was appointed as leader of a project to By understanding our past, we shape our future. research, design and reconstruct the historic school. THE FOREST SERVICE Six years later Congress and THE GREATEST GOOD A Centennial History AMERICA'S declared 6,500 acres of the Forests Pisgah National Forest as the Cradle of Forestry in America National Historic Site. Here four firsts can be identified: the first trained American forester; the first James G. Lewis managed forest; the first school of forestry in America and the first THE GREATEST GOOD national forest created under the Weeks Act of 1911. Preserving and publishing forest history since 1946 Today this historic site is jointly managed by the U.S. Forest FOREST HISTORY Find our books and films at Service in a cooperative partner- Society www.ForestHistory.org ship with the Cradle of Forestry in America Interpretive Association, a nonprofit foundation. It is open to visitors from mid-April the historic structures with a relaxing walk through the to early November. Upon entering the main gate one woods or in the neighboring Pink Beds - the five-mile is rewarded with the opportunity to explore the past, loop trail being very popular because of its gentle, almost present, and future of environmental sustainability and level grade. stewardship - with interpretive trails, interactive exhibits, The entrance to the Cradle of Forestry in America film, music, drama, guided tours, nature programs, craft is three miles south of the junction of the Blue Ridge demonstrations, and special events. The Forest Discovery Parkway and the Forest Heritage National Scenic Byway. Center, with its gift shop and café, welcomes visitors to The surrounding national forest is a haven for outdoor enthusiasts, offering hundreds of miles of hiking and bicy- cling trails, waterfalls, scenic overlooks and camping. The nearby town of Brevard is filled with numerous musical events throughout the summer and offers a wide range of dining opportunities. Sliding Rock, a natural water slide, attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors yearly, and is only three miles away. It is almost impossible to list all of the things to see and do in the area. This heritage site is truly a national treasure and a must for anyone with an appreciation of our outdoor heri- BILTMORE FOREST SCHOOL tage. The development of science-based forestry at the FOUNDED SEPTEMBER 1. 1893 turn of the 20th century literally launched today's environ- THIS TABLET, MARKING THE SITE OF THE SCHOOL BUILDING IS ERECTED IN HONOR OF mental protection efforts. It is a unique spot to learn while DR. C.A. SCHENCK FOUNDER OF THE enjoying nature. What could be a better combination for BILTMORE FOREST SCHOOL THE FIRST SCHOOL OF FORESTRY IN THE UNITED STATES an outstanding vacation? THE ALUXNI-1950 Robert Beanblossom, a member of the Society of American Foresters, retired from the WV Division of Natural Resources after a 42-year career with that agency. A freelance writer, he and his wife currently are the volunteer caretakers at the Cradle of Forestry in America. Email: r.beanblossom1862@outlook.com NATIONAL WOODLANDS Spring 2018 15 Mount Mitchell State Park - Wikipedia, the tree encyclopedia Page I of 2 Mount Mitchell State Park Coordinates: 35°46'13"N 82°15'48"W From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Mount Mitchell State Park is a North Carolina state park Mount Mitchell State Park in Yancey County, North Carolina in the United States. North Carolina State Park Established in 1915 by the state legislature, it became the Natural Monument (IUCN III) first state park of North Carolina. By doing so, it also established the North Carolina State Parks System within the same bill. Located off of NC 128 and the Blue Ridge Parkway near Burnsville, North Carolina, it includes the peak of Mount MOUNT MITCHELL HIGHEST Mitchell, the highest peak east of the Mississippi River. or From the parking lot you can take a short hike to the summit which includes an observation tower and the grave of Elisha Mitchell, the professor who first noted the mountain's height. The old observation tower was torn down in Early October 2006. The trail leading to the A view from the summit of Mount Mitchell summit has been paved, and a new observation platform was constructed and opened to the public in January 2009. Named for: Mount Mitchell The summit also features an exhibit hall with information Country United States about the mountain's natural, cultural and historical State North Carolina heritage. County Yancey In addition to Mount Mitchell itself, the park encompasses Location several other peaks which top out at over 6000' in - coordinates 35°46'13"N 82°15'48"W elevation, including Mount Hallback, Mount Craig (just 37 - elevation 6,366 ft (1,940.4 m) feet (11 m) shy of Mount Mitchell in Elevation and the Area 1,946 acres (787.5 ha) second highest peak east of the Mississippi River), Big Highest point Mount Mitchell Tom and Balsam Cone. Trails lead to all these summits - coordinates 35°45'53"N 82°15'55"W save Mount Hallback, and their exploration takes visitors - elevation 6,684 ft (2,037 m away from the crowds on Mount Mitchell but to places similarly spectacular. About 8 miles (13 km) of trails exist Founded 1915 within the park in all. Managed by North Carolina Department of Another popular destination reachable by trail within the Environment and Natural park is Camp Alice, at an elevation of 5800' south of the Resources summit of Mount Mitchell. This historic site is the location of a logging and, later, Civilian Conservation Corps tourist camp at the terminus of the old Mount Mitchell toll road. Lower Creek flows across the main trail at this point and it is one of the highest elevation perennial streams in the Appalachians, flowing through the Spruce-Fir forest. Openings here in the forest surrounded by evergreens Location of Mount Mitchell State Park in resemble such openings near treeline in higher mountain North Carolina ranges. Website : Mount Mitchell State Park http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Mitchell_State_Park 1/30/2014