Schenck, Carl Alwin, 1868-1955

Carl Alwin Schenck, founder of the first forestry school in the United States, Biltmore Forest School (1898-1913), was born in Darmstadt, Germany on March 25, 1868. Prior to the opening of the school at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina, he studied forestry in Tubingen and Giessen Universities, receiving a Doctorate of Philosophy. In 1895, he was appointed forester of the Biltmore Estate. He returned to Germany to marry Adele Bopp in 1896, and settled in North Carolina, where he opened the first forestry school. In addition to founding the school, he published many books on forestry, conducted numerous forest tours throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia, and lectured world-wide. Schenck was an active member in the Society of American Foresters (1900). He was also appointed President of the German Dendrological Society (1946-48). By 1913, after graduating approximately four hundred students from the Biltmore Forest School, Schenck returned to Germany to serve in the German Army on the Russian Front during the first World War. He resided in Germany (1930s), married Marie-Louise Kulenkampff in 1932, and spent his days in Lindenfels, Germany throughout World War II. In 1951, with the financial and emotional support from the Biltmore Forest School alumni, he revisited the United States. In his honor, several forests were dedicated to him. Three years before his death on May 17, 1955, North Carolina State College awarded Schenck an honorary Doctor of Forest Science degree for his dedication and contributions in the field of forestry.