Looking Back at the Flood of 1916

While many of the events in Biltmore’s long history are joyous, some are solemn occasions that have shaped the estate and our community. 

On September 27, 2024, heavy rain and high winds from Tropical Storm Helene swept through Western North Carolina, causing record-level flooding throughout the region. This natural disaster echoes the Asheville flood of July 16, 1916, when water reached historic levels far beyond the banks of the Swannanoa and French Broad Rivers, causing widespread damage at Biltmore and throughout the western end of the state.

As we reflect on the historic flood of 1916, we invite you to discover the stories that have shaped our history and inspire our resilience today.

Biltmore Greenhouses, 1916. Courtesy of the National Park Service, Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site.

The End of an Era

Prior to the flood of 1916, Biltmore’s Nursery was one of the top nurseries in North America. Founded in 1889, it was established to supply the wide variety of trees, shrubs, and other ornamental plants that Frederick Law Olmsted required to complete the estate’s industrious landscape design.

It grew to be a beacon within the horticultural world as it opened to public buyers and supplied customers across the United States with unsurpassed variety, quantity, and quality of ornamental plants. The nursery also contributed to George Vanderbilt’s vision of a self-sustaining estate, and provided income at a time when the estate was still under construction.

Swannanoa River cutting off Biltmore from Asheville, 1916. North Carolina Collection, Pack Memorial Public Library, Asheville, North Carolina.

Biltmore’s Lodge Gate, 1916. North Carolina Collection, Pack Memorial Public Library, Asheville, North Carolina.

Uncontrollable changes

On March 6, 1914, the estate experienced a crushing loss with the untimely death of George Vanderbilt. Left with a large estate to manage, Mrs. Vanderbilt was already considering downsizing various estate operations, including the nursery. She was also pondering the donation of the Biltmore Herbarium, a subsidiary of the nursery, to a small local educational institution.

However, before decisions could be made and implemented, the flood of 1916 provided the last word. 

The ruin from the flood was so massive that it closed the doors of the nursery’s large-scale commercial operation, destroyed three-fourths of the Biltmore Herbarium, and ruined many rare botanical volumes that were part of the estate’s botanical library. 

Chauncey Beadle, estate superintendent and head of the Biltmore Nursery, wrote after the flood that “We are heavy losers, something like 85% of our nursery stock having been destroyed.”

Flooded field, 1916. Courtesy of the National Park Service, Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site.

A Legacy withstanding the test of time

While the flood’s damage was permanent, the legacy of the Biltmore Nursery was timeless. The specimens grown at Biltmore before the flood found homes on the estate’s grounds and outside of Biltmore’s gates thanks to the nursery’s commercial success. 

In particular, the North Carolina Governor’s mansion in Raleigh received a donation of various shrubs and plants in 1898 for the beautification of the Executive Mansion Square. Then in 1908, a shipment of roses and sequoia trees were delivered to Dr. Booker T. Washington at what is now Tuskegee University.

Various plants and trees were shipped across the country and overseas before the flood, and continue to thrive at botanic gardens, public parks, universities, and private landscapes. Beadle and Edith Vanderbilt arranged for the surviving parts of the Biltmore Herbarium and botanical library to be salvaged and donated to the Smithsonian Institution.

While the flood may have ended the business side of the nursery, the landscapes at Biltmore and beyond serve as a living testament to the vision and business acumen of Frederick Law Olmsted, Chauncey Beadle, and George Vanderbilt.