When Olmsted began working with Vanderbilt and Hunt at Biltmore, he recommended formally landscaping only the immediate two hundred acres surrounding the house, and to turn the rest of the 125,000 acres into managed forest and farmland. Gifford Pinchot was brought in to implement the conservation practices he had learned in France, and later, Dr. Carl Schneck brought his knowledge of German forestry techniques to Biltmore.
Their combined efforts and preserving the forest around Biltmore was one of the earliest land conservation movements in the United States. To promote what they had learned and implemented, the Biltmore School of Forestry was begun to train foresters in the country. The School of Forestry helped implement change in the way landowners treated their property by helping them to understand that land conservation and forestry techniques could actually be more profitable than the previous practices of harvestation to the point of destruction.
The farm operations at Biltmore included both horticulture and livestock. This added to the overall design of a self sufficent estate. On the farm, they grew potatoes and corn, and raised sheep, pigs, chickens, and dairy herds. Special buildings were constructed to support the agricultural endeavors of the estate.
Inspired by European estates that had accompanying villages, Vanderbilt set out to include a village in Biltmore's design. It began with the town of Best, which Vanderbilt purchased in 1889. The town originally included a railway station, two small inns, a grist mill, and a few residences. The additions to the town began in 1896 and expanded to include cottages, a school, post office, shops, a church, a laundry, and a hospital. The village featured brick sidewalks and street lights, and its unique architecture provided a site of its own outside of the estate.
The Biltmore House is located about 60 miles from Cherokee Cabin. It is one of the most visited historical sites in America, and we definitely recommend a trip to Asheville during your stay at our cabin rental.