About North Carolina Arboretum
For more than 35 years…Cultivating Connections between People, Plants and Places…amid a 434-acre public garden, The North Carolina Arboretum is located within the Bent Creek Experimental Forest just south of Asheville and adjacent to the Blue Ridge Parkway at Milepost 393. Surrounded and crisscrossed by forested coves and meandering creeks in the botanically diverse Southern Appalachian Mountains, The North Carolina Arboretum is set in one of the most beautiful natural settings in America.
The Arboretum was established as an affiliate of the University of North Carolina System by the State General Assembly in 1986, nearly a century after Frederick law Olmsted, the Father of American Landscape Architecture, first envisioned a research arboretum as part of his legacy and plan for George Vanderbilt at Biltmore Estate.
Located on land within the Pisgah National Forest, the Arboretum is operated under a special use permit issued by the National Forests in North Carolina. This permit does not give the Arboretum the authority to allow commercial activities on National Forest land. Please visit the National Forests in North Carolina website or call the Pisgah Ranger District at 828-877-3265 for more information regarding permitting.
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