Documenting the American South

Monument Name

Biltmore Forest School, Dr. C.A. Schenck Memorial, Pisgah Forest

Type

Marker

Subjects

Educational Institutions

Historic Science and Technology Figures

City

Pisgah Forest

County

Transylvania

Description

The memorial to the Biltmore Forest School and Dr. Schenck consists of an unadorned bronze plaque attached to a boulder several feet tall embedded in the ground.

Images: Plaque

Inscription

BILTMORE FOREST SCHOOL / FOUNDED SEPTEMBER 1, 1898 / THIS TABLET, MARKING THE SITE / OF THE SCHOOL BUILDING, IS ERECTED / IN HONOR OF / DR. C.A. SCHENCK / FOUNDER OF THE / BILTMORE FOREST SCHOOL / THE FIRST SCHOOL OF FORESTRY / IN THE UNITED STATES / THE ALUMNI - 1950

Custodian

U.S. Forest Service

Dedication Date

May 30, 1950

Decade

1950s

Supporting Sources

McCoy, George W. “Dr. Carl Schenck to Visit Scene of His Early Labors,” Asheville Citizen-Times (Asheville, NC), June 3, 1951

“Biltmore Forest School,” The Historical Marker Database, HMdb.org, (accessed March 22, 2017) Link

“Forestry’s Plymouth Rock’ Dedicated to Schenck,” Asheville Citizen-Times (Asheville, NC), May 31, 1950

Public Site

Yes

Materials & Techniques

Bronze, stone

Sponsors

Alumni of the Biltmore Forestry School

Monument Dedication and Unveiling

J. Harold Peterson from Coronado Beach, California who had graduated from the school 40 years prior unveiled the marker. Dr. Schenck, alive and living in Germany, sent a message that read in part that the school was “not merely national,” but also “Christian, irrespective of sect and denomination.” George W. Butz Jr. of Wilmington, Delaware accepted the plaque on behalf of the alumni.

Subject Notes

In 1895 Dr. Schenck succeeded Gifford Pinchot as forest manager of the Biltmore Estate. By 1896 he had five or six assistants working without pay to receive training which led to establishment of the Biltmore Forest School. This school vied with Cornell for honor of the pioneering school of forestry in the United States. Biltmore was the only school devoted exclusively to the teaching of technical forestry and offered Bachelor Degrees in Forestry and Forestry Engineering. The degree programs were discontinued in 1909 when Schenck left employment of the Biltmore Estate and the school disbanded in 1914.

Location

The marker is located at the Cradle of Forestry in America Heritage Site. From the community of Pisgah Forest, travel north on U.S. 276 approximately 11.2 miles. The address is 11250 Pisgah Highway, Pisgah Forest, NC. Access is also available via the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Landscape

The boulder with the commemorative plaque stands in the wooded area.