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Bill is a native of Asheville and
has worked at Biltmore Estate since 1978 in varying positions including:
Horticulturist, Greenhouse and Gardens Supervisor, Landscape Manager,
Landscape Curator, and now as Landscape and Forest Historian. He studied
both forestry and horticulture at Haywood Technical College and earned the
North American Certificate in Horticulture through the American
Association of Botanical Gardens and Arboreta in 1982. Research, study
tours and professional meetings have led him throughout much of the U. S.,
Canada, Great Britain and Switzerland.
Bill has been involved in the management and preservation of Biltmore
Estate’s landscape and forest for the past thirty years with a passion and
determination to conserve them according to the vision of Frederick Law
Olmsted and George W. Vanderbilt. To that end, he is currently involved in
an ongoing project of researching and documenting Olmsted's design and
implementation of the Biltmore landscape and forest, as well as the work
and contributions of the estate’s nurseryman and long-time superintendent
Chauncey D. Beadle, foresters Gifford Pinchot and Dr. Carl A. Schenck and
others. His documentation and recommendations are utilized in the ongoing
preservation, management and interpretation of the estate. He coordinates
all archaeological surveys and excavations on the estate and is also
researching and documenting the rich, pre-Vanderbilt history of the land.
Recent Accomplishments: Oversaw the completion of a multi-year project of
additional documentation of Biltmore Estate’s history and significance for
expanded status as a National Historic Landmark. Completed in 2005,
Biltmore Estate’s current NHL designation now includes the historic
contexts of Architecture, Landscape Architecture and Social History in
addition to its original designation in 1963 under the theme of
Conservation of Natural Resources.
Recent Publications: The First American Forest, American Forests magazine,
2005, Quality Forward’s 2007 calendar Treasured Trees of Biltmore Estate
and two books, The Biltmore Nursery: A Botanical Legacy, History Press,
Charleston, 2007 and Images of America: Around Biltmore Village, Arcadia
Publishing, 2008. He is currently working on a book about the history of
Biltmore roses.
Bill serves on the boards of directors for the Cradle of Forestry
Interpretive Association and the Blue Ridge Parkway 75, Inc., on an
advisory panel for Thomas Jefferson’s Poplar Forest and on the Recreation
Resource Advisory Committee for the Southern Region of the USDA Forest
Service. He is a member of the Forest Guild, the Forest History Society,
the Southern Garden History Society, and the National Association for
Olmsted Parks. He frequently lectures on Biltmore Estate’s landscape,
forest and agricultural history to diverse audiences regionally and
nationally. |
