If your trip to the Western North Carolina mountains includes a stay in Asheville NC lodging, you’ll want to plan a visit to the North Carolina Arboretum.
Frederick Law Olmsted, the landscape designer who created Central Park and the gardens of The Biltmore Estate, had envisioned an arboretum on the Biltmore Estate but died in 1898 short of realizing that dream.
It wasn’t until 1986 that the North Carolina General Assembly established the Arboretum as an affiliate of the University of North Carolina.
Today the Arboretum is a public garden on 434 acres in the Bent Creek Experimental Forest of the Pisgah National Forest. It is located off The Blue Ridge Parkway at Milepost 393 just outside of Asheville, convenient to all kinds of Asheville NC lodging.
Just what is an arboretum? The stated mission of the North Carolina Arboretum is to cultivate “connections between people and plants through creative expressions of landscape stewardship, including: conservation, education, garden demonstration, research and economic development,” according to its web site.
Outdoors, the Arboretum acreage includes 10 miles of hiking and biking trails and 65 acres of exhibits including cultivated gardens, art installations and one of the United States’ most distinctive bonsai collections.
The Arboretum’s Baker Exhibit Center offers many indoor exhibits for members and visitors, group tours and school field trips. The exhibits include works by regional artists and craftspeople, focusing on the cultural heritage and crafts industry of the Western North Carolina region. Additionally, the Arboretum’s Production Greenhouse exhibits horticultural innovations.
Just a short drive from Biltmore accommodations and other Asheville NC lodging, The North Carolina Arboretum can be reached at 828-665-2492 or online at http://www.ncarboretum.org.
