TRAVEL : Biltmore Estate, N. Carolina. 1900, 1902, 1905. Epp, Ronald From: Epp, Ronald Sent: Monday, October 31, 2005 10:41 AM To: Suzanne Durham Cc: Epp, Ronald Subject: RE: George Dorr Dear Suzanne, I left a message for you before departing for Boston and will try again by phone on Thursday. First off, the Biltmore "guest book" may contain information about others who visits coincided with Mr. Dorr. Could those names be provided? Does the Guest Book indicate the length of the stay? Does it include any personal notations as is characteristics of many guestbooks? At Yale's Beinecke Library last week I was investigating the Edith Wharton Papers and she mentions to Mr. Dorr and others her requests from G.W. Vanderbilt and his wife to visit Biltmore. Can these dates be identified? The Harvard Philosopher William James also visited and I have indications that his visits coincided with those of Mr. Dorr. Can you verify? Is there any indication of the itineraries of these individuals regarding traveling around the estate, camping out, seeking forestry advice, etc? Do any documents survive that refer to the Vanderbilt's Bar Harbor estate and the social activities that took place therein? Quite a tall order, I know. I look forward to speaking with you later this week. With best regards! Ronald H. Epp, Ph.D. University Library Director Southern New Hampshire University Manchester, NH 03106 603-668-2211 ext. 2164 Original Message From: Suzanne Durham [mailto: sdurham@biltmore.com] Sent: Tuesday, October 25, 2005 1:09 PM To: Epp, Ronald Subject: George Dorr Hi Dr. Epp, We received your application for research material and you're "cleared for takeoff. " I checked the Biltmore guest book and found George Dorr listed as visiting three times: 21 Dec 1900 27 Nov 1902 and 18 Oct 1905. It's been some time since we talked so please give me a call or send an email and review what kinds of documentation you're looking for. Suzanne Suzanne K Durham CA *Conflicting reports from Special Collections Manager 1900 02 1901 visit The Biltmore Company One North Pack Square Asheville NC 28801 1 R. Stanton Avery Special Collections Dept. New England Historic Genealogical Society 101 Newbury Street Boston, MA 02116 COPY 1871 - GBD & WWD go to London- then join parents at Baden-Baden (Good copy - to be read for typographical errors) Trace noute on map Italy. 1872-1874 - C.H.D. to Paris for winter, going to Riviera and &WWW to Rome; ChD. returned home in spring; GBD & WWD going again, the same spring to England, Scotland and Wales, with Mr. Dana as a companion on the trip; in the fall of 1873 WWD returned home, & CHD joined GBD for a winter in Paris and on Riviera, returning home in the spring of 1874. (Good copy, but change has to be made, as it is written incorrectly.) 1874 - 1878 -- Abroad - Rome, etc. (unfinished) 1878 - trip to Brittany ; trip to Spain, winter of 1877 to be added to the story. 1882 - Trip to Central Italy & Sicily - Rough Copy 1891-1892 - Trip to Palestine & Up Nile - Good Canoeing Trip to Moosehead Lake with Sam Warren - 1895 1902 - Trip with Geologists - Good 1903 - GBD & Vanderbilts - Good 1904 - To Sierras - Good 1907 - Last Trip Abroad Rough A trip through Virginia Staying at Biltmore Estes Park - (Col. Fordyce I 643 Millseitle - Va Nov 18-1902 Dear Mu Elist. I am down in North Carolina h Virginia as it Chanen, tought On athon hif which Ref Wavis rd are making together which I tell you he Order to Ethlan Mr, dela in as get any definite statement from item men who have lake change of the New York Sub- scriptions, but I believe I am lafe in saying that not less than $ $33000 or $4,000 have How been vained We all and I feel that to this Case the Clink 'make a Whert hil together We Mut Mictchell White Shuelting the fact regin mind about if Sincerely your George B. Doe President Charl. W. Eliot Dorr irsits Biltmore "in old days UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE COLONIAL NATIONAL MONUMENT YORKTOWN, VIRGINIA Dec 12-1921 You the Don Today I I of a copy of a letter but you by No Halives relatur to the by ing kip that I made to 4 nk from last summer I turned your personal check over to the clerk here, and it was subsequently last somebow. They are vow asking for only a re-issue of the same check I am essay that you are being troubled So much about the matter a week ago I took the little pencl shelet of Old farm to a fuctive Ramers, and you will get it toon. Last Saturday thiss Gurue writed we to lunch with lee in also present were the (pinunt) and this John Parll of Richmond it was very pleasant Last month I insted the Betwee Estate at Asherille and was greatly impressed by the magnificance of the house and the beauty of the landicabing the Beadle (ap? ) shaved us through the place He numembers your insiting Biltinors in the old days. what pleased me as much as anything else was to see the two brick and budge from Cleursteals' Hice. we had a good tup in the Smokes The weather was lovely But the visiblity very poor Lots of work in the office - loger we will always be lusy. Best regards to you and your administrative finity Charles Returns 12/11/2017 Mt Mitchell History Articles SummitPost Welcome to SP! Sign-In Register Search Mountains & Rocks For GO summit post.org Custom Search Areas & Ranges Mountains & Rocks Routes Images Articles Trip Reports Gear Other People Plans & Partners What's New Forum Mount Mitchell Mt Mitchell History Mt Mitchell History Article Mt Mitchell History Images (4) Page Type: Article Page By: e-doc Comments (0) Object Title: Mt Mitchell History Created/Edited: Jan 8, 2006 / Nov 14, 2007 Object ID: 170761 Parents Hits: 8239 Mount Mitchell Page Score: 73.06% 3 Votes ARTICLES Vote: Log in to vote Mt Mitchell History Tweet G+ Mountains legends Like 0 and stories Stur ARTICLES 100 Years on the Timpanogos Glacier Janosik, Carpathian Robin Hood Cherokee Table of Contents Tone Pogacnik A ski flight into Triglav north wall The mounatain region of North Carolina was inhabited by the Cherokee Legend of the Grand Cherokee Indians. Beginning inthe early 1700's the white Andre' Michaux Mesa Thunderbirds man slowly pushed westward, first into present day Elisha Mitchell and Thomas Clingman The Tale Of Goldhorn Tennessee and Kentucky then into western North Carolina. The 20th Century The Legend of Anton Tozbar Spik Through a series of treaties the Cherokee were slowly Images Mt Mitchell History pushed westward. In 1839 the Cherokee nation was forcibly removed from the mountains on the infamous "Trail of Tears". Andre' Michaux One of the first white men to climb the Black Mountains was Andre' Michaux, a French Botanist. Arriving on the east coast in 1794, Michaux explored Pennsylvania, New Jersy, and Maryland to collect examples of American flkore for shipment back to France. In 1787 he moved to Charleston, SC and in 1789 he made his first trip to the NC mountains. He made 2 trips, one in 1789 and returning in 1794. He left the US in 1796. He climbed on and around the Blacks, Roans and Grandfather mountains. Interestingly, when he climbed Grandfather Mountain in 1794 and he proclaimed it the "most elevated of these (mountains) which form the chain of the Alleghenies and Appalachian." Elisha Mitchell and Thomas Clingman Elisha Mitchell was a minister and one of the first professors at the University of North Carolina (UNC), appointed in 1818. During his 39 year tenure he taught mathematics, botany, zoology, chemistry, mineralology, and geology at one time or another. Encharged with the North Carolina Geological Survey, he made multiple trips west of the Blue Ridge, where he became interested in the Black Mountains. Over the next 20 years Mitchell returned to the Black mountains to determine their elevations with a barometer. Thomas Clingman had bee a former student of Dr Mitchell at UNC. Trained as a lawyer, Clingman had been a state represanative, Congressman, and US Seantor. In the mid 1850's Clingman also became interested in the Black Mountains and their elevations. (Here the story can be confusing as almost all the peaks had different names than today. See the accompanying map) Suffice it to say Clingman was steadfast that he was the first to measure the high peaks height, in 1855 (Mitchell had claimed to measure it in 1844.) The convoluted story tragically ended on June 27, 1857 when Dr Mitchell hoped to climb the Blacks to inverstigate and clear up the controversy. When he did not return after 3 days, local inhabitants of the Cane(y) River valley began a search. Regretably, Elisha Mitchell was found dead, drowned, at the base of the modern day Mitchell Falls. He was found by Big Tom Wilson, a renowned guide and bear hunter (see plaque). Mitchells body was taken to Asheville, where it was buried (The body was reinterred on the summit of Mt Mitchell in 1858.) The Civil War brought a virtual halt to activity in the Blacks. These high peaks remained a wilderness. In the late 1800's expliotation came to the area, first in the form of mining. NC has been a large producer of Mica and the first mine opened in 1869. The environmental damage caused by mining was small compared to its greatest threat, logging. The 20th Century The mountain was very heavily logged in the early 1900's by the logging companies; the Brown Bothers, Carolina Spruce, Dickey + Campbell, and Perley + Crockett (the largest). The slopes of the Blacks were cleared of most trees as they were transported by RR to the towns Pensacola (west of the Blacks) and Black Mt (south of the Blacks). A narrow gauge RR line had been built up the mountain from both places. The mountain was burned fairly extensively from the sparks emitted by the train engines. In 1909 John Silcox Holmes (for whom Holmes State Forest SW of Asheville is named); the newly means on N.C. M 1102- 4902 Note: These Pitmen-variant Shorthand notes describe Dorr's Biltmore trip in 1902. I have been unable to locate historical shorthand specialists who can decipher this record, despite repeated contacts over a decade 2. f Greenston "-, - r M I mt ainy- 2 I mt ainy- 2 L.d I not airy I Hillsville, M I 3" 2 I Hillurile | Foster is to h T (7) . L S9 | Pulaski pit I 3. 4"L If I Pulaski I ministern of Ir Toy 21/ I b.P.M. of / Whirlle wain my & I Marshall , (I) I Ashirlle of ) in 2h of 8 1221 Time / the 2 g d I X2/ TL, I Ashirlle e Bill mm L. EN M. Namer , . Reedle s - fe. as Rath the on IV wain IGN TIA, v. 1. Musted in 62, -17 Black Mtz ) The (I / Lyson', / L st iii 1. I / ( - nd The - 1 mt witchell 2, V, Dain M, Olimited 12. n (L in were 5-8 5. 7-1, yead - , ..2 "L 2) & etc 1 20 rrp 6. Nov- 24" 1. , a Burnsville, My to In V6. 21 voice g L. 2 g u.i. hrs) f my go hi Mallis' Thilidn 1.1 I 2-21 1 1M, in Teumen C the Catawba 7. V ,9 / - I 10, / V4s. Y fr.enghous working information I me I (th s -- T ( 100 1/sct VI, Jr, - 18, 2000 WV 00% Wing 8. - hou- 24m 22 y L St Black his L it yyson C ( t H getty a Lysm's 34.0 to to I - " GRAY HEREPRIUM ARCH VES For study only. Written author must be Commonwealth Avenue. obtait ed for cil other uses. April 24th, 1905. Dear Mr Robinson, Please excuse an invitation by typewriter, but I have got to go down to Bar Harbor tonight to look after the spring planting at my Nurseries. I am going to have some colored lantern slides of the Canadian Rocky wild-flowers, shown at the Tavern Club on Monday evening, May first, after its annual meeting. And I am allowed to ask in a few guests of my own to see them. If you will be one of these and will come at quarter past nine to the Club house in Boylston Place, it will give me great pleasure to welcome you there. The coloring of the flowers has been unusually well done, from notes taken when the flowers them- selves were photographed, and the slides, which are not my own, of course, give one a really good idea, I think, of the flowers and plants themselves as one sees them growing in the mountains. Hoping you may come, I am Dea the Robinson Sincerely yours, The Slides an the bleader's p, my Seen have diew interest Goy B. Wast when you and think if their Height should also he like any Where The them the will f Department not I think they would in you Benjamin L. Robinson, Esq. him also thi, him will you GBW- 2 please efficial My W Mount Mitchell - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Page 1 of 4 Mount Mitchell Coordinates:35°45'53"N 82°15'54"W From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Mount Mitchell is the highest peak of the Mount Mitchell Appalachian Mountains and the highest peak in eastern North America, excluding island summits. It was the highest point in any state of the United Mount States until Texas joined the union in 1845. The Mitchell nearest higher point east of the Rocky Mountains is Harney Peak in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Mount Mitchell is located near Burnsville in Yancey County, North Carolina, in the Black Mountain subrange of the Appalachians, and about Elevation 6,684 feet (2,037 m) [1] 32 kilometres (20 mi) northeast of Asheville. It is Location Yancey County, North Carolina, protected by Mount Mitchell State Park and USA surrounded by the Pisgah National Forest. Range Appalachian Mountains The mountain was named after Elisha Mitchell, a professor at the University of North Carolina, who Prominence 6,089 feet (1,856 m) [2] determined its height in 1835 and fell to his death at nearby Mitchell Falls in 1857, having returned to Coordinates 35°45'53"N 82°15'54"W [1] verify his earlier measurements. Topo map USGS Mount Mitchell 35082-G3 The ascent of Mount Mitchell is now rather easy, Easiest Hike since a road off the historic and scenic Blue Ridge route Parkway runs nearby, and a 980 feet (300 m) trail leads through a conifer forest to the summit. The 40- Listing Ultra foot (12 m) stone observation tower on the summit U.S. state high point was torn down in late 2006. A new observation deck was constructed and opened to visitors in January 2009. [3] Also on the summit is the tomb of Dr. Mitchell. The weather on Mount Mitchell is very mild in the summer and very harsh in the winter, more like Maine or southeastern Canada than the southeastern U.S. The coldest temperature ever recorded in the state occurred there on January 21, 1985 when it fell to -34 °F (-37 °C), during a severe cold spell that brought freezing temperatures as far south as Miami. It is also the coldest average reporting station in the state at 43.8 °F (6.6 which is well below any other station. [4] Unlike the lower elevations in the surrounding regions, heavy snows often fall from December to March, with 50 inches (127 cm) accumulating in the Great Blizzard of 1993. [4] Snow flurries have been reported on the summit even in the summer months of June, July, and August. The summit is often windy, with the record being 178 miles per hour (286 km/h). [5] The high elevations also expose plant life to high levels of pollution, including acid precipitation in the form of rain, snow, and fog. These acids damage the spruce and fir trees are particularly, in part by releasing natural metals from the soil like aluminum, and by leaching important minerals. This stress also reduces the trees' resistance and immunity to insects, especially to non-native introduced pests like the Balsam woolly adelgid. While the mountain is still mostly lush and green in the summer, many dead trunks can be seen due to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Mitchell 6/17/2009 Mount Mitchell - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Page 2 of 4 these serious problems. Repairing the damage is a difficult issue, as the pollutants are often carried in from long distances. Sources can be local or hundreds of miles or kilometers away, requiring cooperation from as far away as the Midwest. Still, hundreds of tourists visit the peak each spring through autumn, for its incredible views and sunsets. Wildflowers are abundant all summer long. Young fir and spruce trees do well in the subalpine climate, and their pine cones feed the birds along with wild blueberry and blackberry shrubs. The second highest point in eastern North America, Mount Craig at 6,647 feet (2,026 m) is roughly a mile to the north of Mount Mitchell. Contents 1 Gallery 2 See also 3 References 4 External links Gallery A view from the Looking west from the Black Mountain Range Looking west at observation tower. parking lot atop the as seen from Blue southernmost Black summit. Ridge Parkway. Mountains from Blue Ridge Parkway. Mount Mitchell is out of frame to the right. Southern view of Black Forest on Mount View northeast from Mount Craig as seen Mountains from Blue Mitchell from hiking Mount Mitchell. from Mount Mitchell. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Mitchell 6/17/2009