Asheville, North Carolina
(Used - postmark 1911)
Completed in 1895 after six years of construction, the Biltmore House was the country estate of George Vanderbilt. Located in Asheville, in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, it remains the largest private residence in the United States. The house is remarkable – if "house" is the correct term for a 250-room mansion – but equally astounding are the surrounding grounds.
Originally 125,000 acres, the estate now covers 8,000 acres. Vanderbilt chose the area for his home because of his love for the mountains, but at the time, the site was anything but scenic. It was an area of worn-out farmland, and depleted and fire damaged forests.
Conceived to be a self-supporting estate, Biltmore Estate remains family owned and self-supporting today. Farming was a primary function for the estate in the beginning and it continues there today. Although it may be hard to imagine a four-acre house with 43 bathrooms as "green", many of the concepts used in the construction of the estate and the restoration of the land were forerunners to some of today's conservation and environmental efforts.
Vanderbilt hired landscape architect Frederick Olmsted, known for his design of New York's Central Park, to transform the site. Olmsted was an early conservationist believing in natural settings and the use of native plants. He created five distinct gardens surrounding the house. From the gardens, the grounds gradually turn into managed woodland to create a natural setting.
Vanderbilt also hired Gifford Pinchot, a German trained forester, to replenish and restore the surrounding forest. Pinchot believed that forests could be preserved yet also yield timber. Vanderbilt wanted Biltmore to be the proving ground for "managed forestry" – a concept unknown in America at the time. Pinchot's work at Biltmore turned it into the first planned forestry program in the U.S. In addition, 86,000 acres of the original estate is today the Pisgah National Forest. Pinchot would go on to found the U.S. Forestry Service.
The Biltmore Estate has been open to the public since 1930. Today it provides visitors a look not only at an extravagant house, but with its original furnishings and history it also provides a look back at a period and lifestyle we can only imagine. Through George Vanderbilt's love of the mountains and its forests, and through his foresight, we have learned how to preserve and maintain the land. Within Pisgah National Forest, you can visit the Cradle of the Forestry, a learning center dedicated to the men who believed in forest conservation.
(Used - postmark 1911)
Completed in 1895 after six years of construction, the Biltmore House was the country estate of George Vanderbilt. Located in Asheville, in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, it remains the largest private residence in the United States. The house is remarkable – if "house" is the correct term for a 250-room mansion – but equally astounding are the surrounding grounds.
Originally 125,000 acres, the estate now covers 8,000 acres. Vanderbilt chose the area for his home because of his love for the mountains, but at the time, the site was anything but scenic. It was an area of worn-out farmland, and depleted and fire damaged forests.
Conceived to be a self-supporting estate, Biltmore Estate remains family owned and self-supporting today. Farming was a primary function for the estate in the beginning and it continues there today. Although it may be hard to imagine a four-acre house with 43 bathrooms as "green", many of the concepts used in the construction of the estate and the restoration of the land were forerunners to some of today's conservation and environmental efforts.
Vanderbilt hired landscape architect Frederick Olmsted, known for his design of New York's Central Park, to transform the site. Olmsted was an early conservationist believing in natural settings and the use of native plants. He created five distinct gardens surrounding the house. From the gardens, the grounds gradually turn into managed woodland to create a natural setting.
Vanderbilt also hired Gifford Pinchot, a German trained forester, to replenish and restore the surrounding forest. Pinchot believed that forests could be preserved yet also yield timber. Vanderbilt wanted Biltmore to be the proving ground for "managed forestry" – a concept unknown in America at the time. Pinchot's work at Biltmore turned it into the first planned forestry program in the U.S. In addition, 86,000 acres of the original estate is today the Pisgah National Forest. Pinchot would go on to found the U.S. Forestry Service.
The Biltmore Estate has been open to the public since 1930. Today it provides visitors a look not only at an extravagant house, but with its original furnishings and history it also provides a look back at a period and lifestyle we can only imagine. Through George Vanderbilt's love of the mountains and its forests, and through his foresight, we have learned how to preserve and maintain the land. Within Pisgah National Forest, you can visit the Cradle of the Forestry, a learning center dedicated to the men who believed in forest conservation.
— Dan Hardison
(Unused - undivided back era, early 1900's)
