{"nrhp_refnum":"93000373","name":"Bent Creek Campus of the Appalachian Forest Experiment Station","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Brevard Rd. S of jct. with I-26","address_restricted":false,"city":"Asheville","county":"Buncombe County","state":"NC","lat":35.50266755350006,"lon":-82.59666087502538,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1993-04-29","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Conservation","Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 35-acre district of 19 resources (17 contributing) at the entrance to the Bent Creek Experimental Forest near Asheville, Buncombe County, North Carolina. It holds laboratories, insectaries, residences and support buildings built by the U.S. Forest Service between 1925 and the mid-1930s.","why_significant":"The campus was the primary research facility of the Appalachian Forest Experiment Station and contributed to the development of scientific forestry. It also reflects federal unemployment programs of the Hoover and Roosevelt years. Architecturally, its Rustic-style buildings anticipated the design philosophy of New Deal Forest Service architecture.","narrative":"Bent Creek Campus is a cluster of Forest Service research buildings at the main entrance to the Bent Creek Experimental Forest, south of Asheville. It was the primary research facility of the Appalachian Forest Experiment Station, established in 1921. The one-story frame buildings, built between 1925 and the mid-1930s, include laboratories, insectaries, a bunk house and mess hall, a superintendent's house and office, garages and a shop. Most are clad in chestnut shakes, with fieldstone foundations and hewn corner posts, a Rustic approach meant to blend with the wooded setting. The 1931 buildings were designed by Asheville native Walter C. Bearden, and the superintendent's house was designed and built by Charles F. Pyke. Construction provided work for the unemployed during the Great Depression. The campus is significant for its role in the development of scientific forestry, as a product of federal relief programs, and as an early example of Rustic design in Forest Service architecture. It remains in research use today.","period_of_significance":"1925-1942","architect_builder":"Bearden, Walter C.; Pyke, Charles F.","architectural_style":"Other: Rustic; Craftsman","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Most buildings continue as laboratories, offices and residences; a few serve as storage. The 1925 laboratory (demolished 1976) and the 1931 greenhouse no longer survive.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:57:49.912945-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/65/7192/47719265/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/93000373.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"95001187","name":"Bent Creek Campus of the Appalachian Forest Experiment Station (Boundary Decrease)","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/north-carolina/bent-creek-campus-of-the-appalachian-forest-experiment-station-boundary-decrease-95001187/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47719265","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bent_Creek_Campus_of_the_Appalachian_Forest_Experiment_Station","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q17985843"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/buncombe-county/bent-creek-campus-of-the-appalachian-forest-experiment-station-93000373/"}