The Cradle of Forestry’s Forest Festival Day will be held 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 4.

More than 80 traditional craftsmen, exhibitors and forestry students will be on site sharing demonstrations of old-timey and outdoor skills, such as whittling, woodcarving, candle making, wood turning, fly fishing and tying, falconry and creating cornhusk dolls. 

The festival celebrates the Cradle’s status as the birthplace of forestry in America. Dr. Carl Alwin Schenck, forester for George Vanderbilt’s Biltmore Estate from 1895 to 1909, founded America’s first forestry school in 1898 and used the present Cradle of Forestry area as its summer campus. At that time the word “forestry” was a vague and new idea in the U.S.

$6 ages 16 and older; $3 youth 4 to 15 and holders of America the Beautiful and Golden Age passes; free for children under 4. Located 4 miles south of the Blue Ridge Parkway on U.S. 276 in the Pisgah National Forest, 25 miles from Waynesville. 

www.cradleofforestry.com or 828.877.3130.