This is America. Гришенкова Е.Г. - 23 стр.

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23
To the left of the front door, about fifty meters away, is where the Vanderbilt
family kept its horses. It is no longer used for horses, however. It now has several
small stores that sell gifts to visitors. Visitors can also enjoy a meal or buy cold
drinks and ice cream.
In addition to seeing the main house at Biltmore, you can walk through the
gardens. Hundreds of different flowers grow there. A big stone and glass building
holds young plants before they are placed in the ground outside. Past the gardens is
the dark, green forest. Trees seem to grow everywhere. The place seems wild. At the
same time, there is a feeling of calm order.
There was once a dairy farm on the Biltmore estate. It is gone now. The milk
cows were sold. Some of the land was planted with grapes. And the cow barn was
turned into a building for making wine.
As we continue to walk, we come to an unusual house in the forest. The road
on which we are walking passes through the house. The house was used many years
ago by the gate keeper. Visitors traveled from this gate house to the main house. The
distance between the two is almost five kilometers. The trees surrounding Biltmore
look like a natural forest. Yet all of the area was planned, built, and planted by the
men who designed the estate. None of it is natural.
Now you may have begun to wonder about the history of Biltmore. Who
designed it? How did they plan it? How and why was it built?
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.
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, D.C. 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.
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.

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