A visit to the Biltmore Estate in North Carolina

A visit to the Biltmore Estate in North Carolina (part 3)

The Biltmore Estate

RICH KLEINFELDT: The Biltmore estate was the idea of George Vanderbilt. The buildings were designed by Richard Morris Hunt. Mr. Hunt was one of the most famous building designers of his day.

He designed and helped build several other big homes in the United States. Several of them were for other members of the Vanderbilt family. Mr. Hunt also designed the base of the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor.

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Another famous man of the time designed the gardens at Biltmore. He was Frederick Law Olmsted. He is most famous for designing central park in New York City and the grounds around the capitol building in Washington, DC.

One of Mr. Olmsted's first projects at Biltmore was to plant and grow the millions of flowers that would be used for the gardens there.

RICH KLEINFELDT: Another man, named Gifford Pinchot, was also part of the team that designed Biltmore. While there, he started the first scientifically managed forest in the United States. He cut diseased or dead trees and planted new ones.

He improved the growth of many kinds of trees. It is because of his work that the wild forest at Biltmore has an ordered and peaceful look.

Gifford Pinchot left Biltmore to start the school of forestry at Yale University. Later he helped to establish the United States Forest Service.

Biltmore is surrounded by more than one thousand eight hundred hectares of forest. The forest provides a wood crop that helps pay the costs of operating the estate. It was the work begun by Gifford Pinchot that makes this possible.

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Today, Biltmore belongs to the grandchildren of George Vanderbilt. However, it is no longer used as a private home.

Many years ago, the family decided to open it to the public. Visitors help pay the cost of caring for and operating it.

Biltmore employs more than six hundred fifty people who work in the house and gardens.

The family says George Vanderbilt liked to have guests at Biltmore. They say he enjoyed showing it to others. Now, each year, about seven hundred fifty thousand people visit the Vanderbilt home in Asheville, North Carolina. The family says their grandfather would have liked that.

FAITH LAPIDUS: Our program was written by Paul Thompson and read by Rich Kleinfeldt and Shirley Griffith. I'm Faith Lapidus. Join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.

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Grammar notes:

- It's because of sth that …: Nhờ có, bởi vì cái gì mà …

It is because of his work that the wild forest at Biltmore has an ordered and peaceful look.

- Help (to) do sth: giúp làm gì

Later he helped to establish the United States Forest Service.

- Enjoy doing sth: thích làm gì

They say he enjoyed showing it to others.