Asheville is a city in, and the county seat of, Buncombe County, North Carolina. Located at the confluence of the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers, it is the largest city in Western North Carolina, and the state's 11th-most populous city. According to the 2020 census, the city's population was 94,589, up from 83,393 in the 2010 census. It is the principal city in the four-county Asheville metropolitan area, which had a population of 424,858 in 2010, and of 469,015 in 2020.
Biltmore Estate is a historic house museum and tourist attraction in Asheville, North Carolina. Biltmore House, the main residence, is a Châteauesque-style mansion built for George Washington Vanderbilt II between 1889 and 1895 and is the largest privately owned house in the United States, at 178,926 sq ft (16,622.8 m2) of floor space. Still owned by George Vanderbilt's descendants, it remains one of the most prominent examples of Gilded Age mansions.
George Washington Vanderbilt III was an art collector and member of the prominent Vanderbilt family, which amassed a huge fortune through steamboats, railroads, and various business enterprises. He commissioned the construction of a 250-room mansion, the largest privately owned home in the United States, which he named Biltmore Estate.
Pisgah National Forest is a National Forest in the Appalachian Mountains of western North Carolina. It is administered by the United States Forest Service, part of the United States Department of Agriculture. The Pisgah National Forest is completely contained within the state of North Carolina. The forest is managed together with the other three North Carolina National Forests from common headquarters in Asheville, North Carolina. There are local ranger district offices located in Pisgah Forest, Mars Hill, and Nebo.
The Biltmore Company is an American firm that owns and operates Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina. The company is owned by the family of William Amherst Vanderbilt Cecil, the younger grandson of George Washington Vanderbilt II.
The Episcopal Diocese of Western North Carolina is a diocese in the Episcopal Church. It consists of 28 counties in western North Carolina and its episcopal see is in Asheville, North Carolina, seated at Cathedral of All Souls. The first recorded worship from the Book of Common Prayer west of the Catawba River was in 1786. Valle Crucis, where one of the two conference centers is located, began as a missionary outpost in 1842. In 1894, a resolution was adopted in the Convention of the Diocese of North Carolina that the Western part of the state be set aside and offered to the General Church as a Missionary District. The following year, in November 1895, the first Convention of the District of Asheville was held at Trinity Church in Asheville. In 1922, after all the requirements had been fulfilled, a petition from the Jurisdiction of Asheville to become the Diocese of Western North Carolina was presented at the General Convention of The Episcopal Church. It was accepted on September 12, 1922.
Founded in 1897 by George Washington Vanderbilt II, Biltmore Farms has evolved from one of the Southeast's largest independent dairy producer to a community development firm. Son of William Henry Vanderbilt and grandson of Cornelius Vanderbilt, George W. Vanderbilt pioneered sustainable land-use practices when he moved from New York to the Southern Appalachian Mountains near Asheville, North Carolina, where he built his famed Biltmore Estate, America's largest residence.
The Omni Grove Park is a historical resort hotel on the western-facing slope of Sunset Mountain within the Blue Ridge Mountains, in Asheville, North Carolina. This hotel was visited by various Presidents of the United States mentioned below.
Enka is an unincorporated community in Buncombe County, North Carolina, United States. It lies on U.S. Routes 19, 23, and 74 Business near the interchange of Interstates 26, 40, and 240. It has a post office with the ZIP code 28728.
The Biltmore Forest School was the first school of forestry in North America. Carl A. Schenck founded this school of "practical forestry" in 1896 on George W. Vanderbilt's Biltmore Estate near Asheville, North Carolina. The school grounds are now part of Pisgah National Forest in Transylvania County, North Carolina as the Cradle of Forestry in America, a 6500-acre historic site which features exhibits about forestry and forest conservation history.
The Cathedral of All Souls, also referred to as All Souls Cathedral, is an Episcopal cathedral located in Asheville, North Carolina, United States of America. All Souls was built by George Washington Vanderbilt II, the grandson of railroad baron, Cornelius Vanderbilt, in 1896, to serve as the local parish church for Biltmore Village, which had been developed near his Biltmore Estate. The Right Reverend José Antonio McLoughlin is the current bishop seated at the cathedral.
Richard Sharp Smith was an English-born American architect, associated with Biltmore Estate and Asheville, North Carolina. Clay Griffith with the North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office says, "The influence of Richard Sharp Smith’s architecture in Asheville and western North Carolina during the first quarter of the twentieth century cannot be overstated." His vernacular style combines elements of Craftsman, Colonial Revival, English cottage, Shingle, and Tudor Revival architectural styles. He is associated with some of America's important architectural firms of the late 19th century—Richard Morris Hunt, Bradford Lee Gilbert, and Reid & Reid.
Young Men's Institute Building, also known as the YMI Building, is a historic meeting hall located at Asheville, Buncombe County, North Carolina. It was designed by architect Richard Sharp Smith and built in 1892–1893. It is a 2+1⁄2-story, pebbledash coated masonry building with brick, stone, and wood accents. From its early days, the YMI building has housed shops, residence rooms, meeting rooms, and a wide variety of functions serving the African American community of Asheville. The building was restored and reestablished as the YMI Cultural Center in 1980, and now hosts a variety of intercultural programs and events. It is located in the Downtown Asheville Historic District.
Southern Railway Passenger Depot is a historic train station located at Biltmore Village, Asheville, Buncombe County, North Carolina. It was designed by architect Richard Morris Hunt and built in 1896 for the Southern Railway. It is a one-story symmetrical structure with a low hipped roof, central porte cochere, wide overhanging eaves, half-timbering, and a pebbledash finish.
Biltmore Village Commercial Buildings is a set of two historic commercial buildings located at Biltmore Village, Asheville, Buncombe County, North Carolina. They were designed by architect Richard Sharp Smith and built about 1900. Included is a 1 1/2-story pebbledash finished building with a gable roof and half-timbering and a small one-story building that originally housed the Biltmore Village Post Office.
Biltmore Industries, Inc., also known as Biltmore Homespun Shops, is a historic industrial complex located adjacent to the Omni Grove Park Inn in Asheville, Buncombe County, North Carolina, now known as Grovewood Village. Biltmore Industries was started by Eleanor Vance and Charlotte Yale, missionaries who moved to Asheville, NC in 1901. The complex of seven buildings were built about 1917 by Fred Loring Seely, and are constructed of hollow ceramic tile with stuccoed exterior wall surfaces. The buildings are The Eleanor Vance Building (1917), Charlotte Yale Building (1917), Carding and Spinning Building (1917), (Former) Weavers' Building (1923), Boiler House (1917), Gatehouse, and Guardhouse (1917). The complex produced high-quality crafts and fine hand-woven wool cloth. The property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.
Biltmore Village Cottage District is a national historic district located Ash eville, Buncombe County, North Carolina. The district encompasses 14 contributing residential buildings in Biltmore Village. They were designed by Richard Sharp Smith and built about 1900 for George W. Vanderbilt. The dwellings are 1 1/2- to two-story, pebbledash finished half-timbered cottages with recessed porches, multiple gables, steeply pitched roofs, simple molded trim, one or more brick chimneys, and brick foundations.
John Francis Amherst Cecil was the first secretary of the British Embassy, Washington, known for his marriage to Cornelia Stuyvesant Vanderbilt.
Albemarle Park is an historic district in Asheville, North Carolina. Originally a mountain resort, it is now primarily a residential area of homes and apartments with retail and office spaces. Much of its significance is due to the founder, railroad magnate William Greene Raoul, and his selection of three New York City-based men to design his resort. Architect Bradford Lee Gilbert designed the core buildings, including The Manor Inn, the Lodge Gate, and several cottages. Landscape architect and author Samuel Parsons, Jr. planned the roads and romantic, naturalistic landscape. Parsons had been the head landscape architect for the city of New York after working with Frederick Law Olmsted on Central Park. A drainage and sewage plan was done by leading engineer George E. Waring Jr.
