Cradle of Forestry

Institutions, Land

In the early 20th century, the Appalachian forest was subjected to devastating large-scale commercial exploitation for the first time. At the same time, pioneering conservationists were devising reforms for forest management.  In 1889, George Vanderbilt hired a young...
All Souls Episcopal Church

All Souls Episcopal Church

Blog, Institutions

George Vanderbilt established All Souls Episcopal Church in 1896 to serve the workers on his Biltmore Estate near Asheville.  The church was the centerpiece of the village he constructed to house his workers, a community known as Biltmore Village.  Richard Morris...
Sanitariums

Sanitariums

Institutions

For several years during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, tuberculosis was the leading cause of death in the United States. Consequently, a wide variety of treatments emerged claiming to sooth. . .

Biltmore Estate

Biltmore Estate

Culture, People

George Washington Vanderbilt II was born into money. His grandfather, Cornelius Vanderbilt, amassed a huge railroad and shipping empire. His father, William Henry Vanderbilt, financed the founding of New York’s Metropolitan Opera and Vanderbilt University. . .