Book excerpt: Around 1919, George Weston left New York to return to his boyhood home in the Arden-Fletcher area of Western North Carolina. The US government had recently established Pisgah National Forest by purchasing 80,000 acres from Edith, George Vanderbilt's widow; lands deserted by logging companies; and other tracts. While superintendent of farms at the Biltmore Estate, Weston had admired those mountainous landscapes. About two miles from Mount Pisgah and a mile from Vanderbilt's private Buck Spring Lodge, Weston constructed Pisgah Inn on property leased from the US Forest Service. Visitors came from across the country and around the world to stay and dine at Pisgah Inn. By the 1940s, the construction of the Blue Ridge Parkway brought drastic changes across the narrow, isolated Pisgah ridgeline. Today, a more modern 1960s lodge welcomes guests to its grand views and preserves the history, charm, and natural setting of the original Pisgah Inn.