Carl Schenck, Founder of Biltmore Forest School

 

Dr. Carl Alwin Schenck in 1951 during his visit to the former site of Biltmore Forest School

A major first that occurred in the United States that can be credited to Transylvania County is that it was the birthplace of modern forestry. The man that is responsible for that distinction is Dr. Carl Alwin Schenck. Born in 1868 in Darmstadt, Germany, Schenck earned a doctoral degree in forestry from the University of Giessen in Germany. During his studies, he became enamored with an English woman named Dolly who taught him English using a copy of Shakespeare’s Richard II. His mastery of English qualified him to host a British visitor to his university, Sir Dietrich Brandis, who was at the time the foremost forester in the world. Brandis asked Schenck to accompany him on a tour of German, French, and Swiss forests for the subsequent five summers, and the young Schenck learned the art of old-world forestry. Brandis suggested that George Vanderbilt hire Schenck when the position of Vanderbilt’s head forester was vacated by Gifford Pinchot. Schenck assisted Pinchot during a transition phase and then took on full responsibility for all Vanderbilt lands – over 100,000 acres— as the head forester in 1895.

As Schenck managed the land with an eye for sustainability, he began taking on apprentices and was allowed to dedicate a portion of the land to a forestry school. The Biltmore Forest School, opened in 1898, was the first of its kind in the U.S. Although Ivy League schools Cornell and Yale would begin forestry education programs shortly after, the Biltmore Forest School created by Schenck was given special distinction with its field work component. Schenck wrote the textbooks for his school because none existed. The one-year course was a mix of lively classroom lectures and field experience that took place on the Biltmore Estate, near the Davidson River, and in the Pink Beds area of Pisgah Forest, depending on the season. Camaraderie created by “saengerfests” – singing and drinking parties after hours – and the rigors of living in the woods away from most civilization made the experience memorable for students.

During his employment, Schenck openly feuded with Pinchot, his predecessor, as well as with Vanderbilt himself. Differences came to a head in 1909 when Schenck leased hunting and fishing rights to 80,000 acres of Vanderbilt’s land to a Chicago-based club without Vanderbilt’s permission. He was dismissed and no longer allowed to operate the Biltmore Forest School on Vanderbilt’s land. He continued for a few years with a nomadic school that split time between Germany and the Champion Paper Mill’s Sunburst Logging Camp above Bethel in Haywood County, but then discontinued the school in 1912 when he returned to Germany to serve as an officer in the infantry on the eastern front, where he was wounded in action and discharged.  When he returned to Germany, he took with him a carload of chestnut and yellow poplar which he used to construct his home in Lindenfels, Germany. He planted groves of yellow poplar in the area between Weinheim and Lindenfels, many of which still grow today.

He lived quietly in retirement in Germany, though he often was asked to be a guest lecturer for forest education programs in the U.S. The photo above depicts Schenck during one of his last visits to the U.S. In May 1951, the American Forestry Association sent Carl Schenck on national tour. On the east coast, he was welcomed in New York; Philadelphia; Staunton, VA; Aiken, SC; and Pisgah National Forest, NC at the former location of the forestry school he founded. On the west coast, he was honored in Oregon and California, and was touched by the dedication of a 40-acre grove of redwoods that was purchased by a conservationist group in his honor. During his visit to the Pisgah National Forest, he viewed a plaque that had been erected in his honor at a Biltmore Forest School reunion the previous year. His tour also included social events with alumni and tours of modern forestry operations. Dr. Carl A. Schenck died just a few years later in 1955 and, according to his request, was cremated and had his ashes dispersed in the forests of North Carolina.

Photographs and information for this column are provided by the Rowell Bosse North Carolina Room, Transylvania County Library. This article was written by Local History Librarian Laura Gardner. For more information, comments, or suggestions, contact NC Room staff at ncroom@transylvaniacounty.org or 828-884-1820.