FOREST HERITAGE SCENIC BYWAY MAP Pisgah

National Forest
77
◆

Former location
23
40
FOREST
276
215 of some railroads
Forest Heritage
National Scenic Byway
26
HERITAGE
a Camground
276 c Picnic area
Nantahala
National Forest Forest Heritage NATIONAL SCENIC BYWAY
Scenic Byway
6 Horseback riding
V Point of interest
Lake
Logan
Cruso x Interpretive site RECREATION AREAS:
y Visitor center
8 Sycamore Flats Picnic Area: picnicking,
p Parking area
1.
# Byway highlight
restrooms, fishing.
(See details inside) Davidson River Campground: camping, restrooms,
Pisgah National Forest hiking, fishing, showers, fee area.
a Coontree Picnic Area: picnicking, restrooms,
Sunburst
hiking, fishing.
215
c 6 Pink Beds Sliding Rock: swimming, restrooms,
x 7 Cradle of Forestry scenic viewing, fee area.
Pi geon

in America
Cradle of Forestry in America: information available,
ay interpretive trails, restrooms, assessible to those with
R i ver

w 276 Ave
Park
e Rid ge
r y disabilities, fee area.
Bl u
Cr
SlidingV 6 Pisgah Riding Stables Pink Beds Picnic Area: picnicking, restrooms, hiking.
ee
k
Rock 5 Looking Glass Falls Sunburst Campground: camping, restrooms,
Coontree Pisgah picnicking, fishing.
dson River 3 yVisitor
avi 475
c Center
D
J 4 2
FOR MORE INFORMATION: The entrance arch into Pisgah National Forest remained in place
Davidson a 1
280 64
215
from 1916 to 1936, until U.S. 276 was built.
River c For more details, contact the Pisgah Ranger District:
Pisgah Center
for Wildlife Education
Sycamore
1001 Pisgah Highway, Pisgah Forest, NC 28768, rive the 79-mile Forest
D
1327 Flats
& Fish Hatchery 828-877-3265; The center is 1.5 miles from the junction
Balsam
Brevard
of NC 280 and U.S. 276 and is open daily from May- Heritage National
Grove October and Monday-Friday in the off-season. You may
also visit the National Forests in North Carolina web
Scenic Byway, and
215
site: www.cs.unca.edu/nfsnc. imagine the changes the forests
64
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its have seen in the past century.
r
ve

programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex,
Ri

religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, or marital or

d

family status. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Persons with
oa
Br

disabilities who require alternative means for communication of program

USDA Forest Service
ch

information (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA’s

en

TARGET Center at 202-720-2600 (voice and TDD). To file a complaint of Pisgah National Forest
Fr

discrimination, write USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, Room 326-W,

Whitten Building, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20250- Pisgah Ranger District
Rosman 9410 or call 202-720-5964 (voice and TDD). USDA is an equal opportunity
64 provider and employer. NORTH CAROLINA
Recreation Guide R8-RG 309 October 2001
JOURNEY BACK IN TIME
tep back in time as

S you drive the Forest

Heritage National
Scenic Byway. Use
your imagination to envision the
forest as it was decades ago.
ABOVE: One of Carr’s logging
Wagons, waterpower, trains ran right past Looking
railroads & timber Glass Falls. U.S. 276 replaces the
train tracks.
By 1900, the land east of the LEFT: The town of Sunburst
Blue Ridge was the part of boomed with the business of
George W. Vanderbilt’s estate logging during the early 1900’s.
BELOW: Until 1956, crops
called Pisgah Forest. In 1912, covered the land where Davidson
Vanderbilt sold rights to “all River Campground is today. The
timber, wood and bark standing ranger station is in the lower right.
and down” on 69,326 acres of
Pisgah Forest to Louis Carr for 3. Davidson River Community: In the early 1900’s, a
$12 an acre. Carr had 20 years to community of independent, self-reliant families lived
cut the timber—generally taking along the Davidson River and its tributaries. They farmed
everything over 14 to 16 inches in diameter at the stump. ABOVE: Stacks of the land or maintained pasture. Today only a few apple
logs lay above a
In those days, the only roads were wagon roads, trestle. By the trees and daffodils reveal the locations of homesteads.
including the one that forded the Davidson River several 1920’s, acres of
times to John Rock. Along the river were homes, mills, virgin forest were 4. John Rock Logging Camp: Historically, the
and a school. Much of the private land was farmed. Carr logged. Davidson River Road followed the river past John Rock
LEFT: Davidson to Gloucester Gap. The flat land below John Rock held a
built rail lines along the creeks to bring out the timber by River Mill sat near
train until about 1920. today’s entrance to logging camp, Black Forest Lodge, Civilian Conservation
sawmill, tells the story of Dr. Schenck’s school and the
In 1914, the U.S. Forest Service bought 78,410 acres Pisgah National Corps camp, and Boy Scout camp.
Forest. beginnings of forestry.
of Pisgah Forest land from the Vanderbilt estate. This 5. Looking Glass Falls: Carr’s logging railroad ran
land. Today, as you drive through the forest, it is hard to 8.
land later became part of the Pisgah National Forest, right past this scenic spot. Today the highway follows the Sunburst, a Logging Town: A bustling town grew
imagine the landscape changes that occurred.
established in 1916—the first national forest in the former railroad grade. up around a large, double-band sawmill that employed
country created from purchased land. BYWAY HIGHLIGHTS: (See map #’s on back) hundreds of workers. About 400 men were employed to
South of Vanderbilt’s land, Gloucester Lumber 6. Pink Beds Community 7. First Forest School: harvest and process red spruce. Logging ended after a
Company logged the watershed of the French Broad
1. Davidson River Mill at Sycamore Flats: For
several decades, Davidson River was harnessed to forge At the turn of the century, the settlers in this small devastating wildfire in 1925, and the mill closed. Town
River’s headwaters. The forest supported both a sawmill iron, grind corn, and mill fabric. During the Civil War, community farmed the land and met in the schoolhouse remnants were buried under Lake Logan in 1933.
and tannery until the early 1950’s. water power provided a vital source for iron and fabric. for church. From 1898 until 1913, the school served Dr.
On the west side of the Blue Ridge, the Suncrest Carl Schenck, who founded the Biltmore Forest School. Gloucester Lumber Company: Timber from the slopes
Lumber Company and its subcontractors logged the 2. English Chapel: A.F. English founded this church in This was the first forestry school in America that taught draining into the headwaters of the French Broad River
Pigeon River watershed for spruce and hardwood. 1860 after paying $5 for a half acre on which to build the the new science of caring for forests. Today the school fueled the Toxaway Tanning Company and the Gloucester
Logging practices of the early 1900’s often scarred the chapel. The building, that also served as a school, had “all and the surrounding area are part of the Cradle of Forestry Sawmill, both built in Rosman. Tannin derived from the
land, silted the creeks, and destroyed acres of wildlife but fallen down” by 1940. Like the original church, in America. This historic site, with its collection of bark and wood of chestnut, hemlock, and chestnut oak
habitat, and yet forests reclaimed the farms and cut-over volunteers pitched in and built a new one from rock. historic buildings, a steam logging engine, and old trees was needed to tan leather.