On our cross country trip from Albuquerque to Columbia, MD, we stopped for a couple of days to visit Jim's sister in Asheville, NC. She kindly took us to visit the manicured gardens of the Biltmore estate; in its end-of-summer prime. The next day, Jim and I drove south to the Dupont State Recreational Forest, known for its many lakes and waterfalls along the Little River.
Historically, the forest was part of the Biltmore estate, before being bought by the state. Although some of us are not particularly interested with how the ultra rich live, occasionally those living on a grand scale have the foresight to be stewards of the land. This was the case with Vanderbilt, who hired landscape architect Frederick Olmsted (architect of Grand Central Park in NYC.) Olmsted with forester Clifford Pinchot were the first to develop a forest management plan. This in turn, lead to the founding of the first school of forest management in the US.
On a fun note, scenes of both The Last of the Mohicans and The Hunger Games were filmed here.
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