 Our
Story
The Compleat Naturalist nature store and wildlife art gallery was
founded in 1992 in Historic Biltmore Village, Asheville, North Carolina,
by Hal and Laura Mahan. Both are professional naturalists
with extensive backgrounds in natural history museums and science
education.
Hal served as director of the Cleveland Museum of
Natural History and the San Diego Natural History Museum, and was the
first president of the Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History.
He has a Ph.D. in Zoology (ornithology).
Laura is former
head of education at both the Cleveland and San Diego museums, and has
an M.S. in Biology (botany and plant ecology). She is honored to
have been elected recently to the Board of Directors of Discover Life in
America (www.DLIA.org) which oversees the
All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory in the Great Smoky Mountains National
Park.
Our store carries merchandise relating to all
fields of nature study: birds, botany, astronomy, entomology, geology,
mineralogy, anthropology, and paleontology. In addition to our
retail activities, The Compleat Naturalist satisfies a strong educational
mission by offering a variety of classes and field trips. We also are
proud to be a locally-owned, independent business.
We believe that a lifelong interest in natural
history can profoundly change a person's life, providing fascinating worlds to
explore wherever one goes and whatever one's level of expertise. 
(Right:
Laura teaches a field class on identifying wildflowers at Craggy Gardens on the
Blue Ridge Parkway near Asheville.)
Visit
us in Asheville's Historic Biltmore Village (www.biltmorevillage.com)
at the intersection of Hwy. 25A (Brook Street) and Kitchin Place, across
the street from Neo Cantina and next to the Wayside Bar and Grille. Our
address is 2 Brook Street. Free parking is available all along
Brook Street and in the lot across the street, and other streets of
Biltmore Village. The building at 10 Brook Street which houses
Chico's, Talbot's, Williams-Sonoma, Coldwater Creek, and J.Crew, has a
large parking lot under the building. Access the parking from the driveway
next to Chico's. Click
HERE for a detailed map.
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