For Christmas, Matt and Vanessa got us tickets to visit
Biltmore Estate, in Asheville, North Carolina. It is advertised as the largest privately
owned home in America. Do I believe it? Yes, I do. We actually went to Biltmore
20 years ago with my dad and mom.
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| Fall 1996 |
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| Jessi and Matt in 1996 |
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| Gary, Matt, Kira, Mom and Jessi |
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| Grandpa Ed and Grandma Lola with Matt, Kira and Jessi |
For those who may not be familiar, Biltmore was built
between 1889 and 1895 by the grandson of Cornelius Vanderbilt, George
Washington Vanderbilt II. He pretty much blew his inheritance building the
estate, which was modeled on the French chateaus and English manor homes.
Biltmore has four
acres of floor space and a total of 250 rooms in the house including 33
bedrooms for family and guests, 43 bathrooms, 65 fireplaces, three kitchens and
19th-century novelties such as electric elevators, forced-air heating,
centrally controlled clocks, fire alarms, and an intercom system (not to
mention the bowling alley and indoor pool.) It is decorated with tapestries,
paintings, and other art works from America and Europe. The house was designed
by Richard Morris Hunt who also designed the façade for the Metropolitan Museum
of Art and the pedestal for the Statue of Liberty. The grounds were done by
Frederick Law Olmstead (designer of Central Park in New York). The original
grounds covered 195 square miles most of which Olmstead converted to forest which
is now the basis of Pisgah National Forest.
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| 30 Jan 2016 |
We left Rock Hill
about 8am, since we had a time for the tour of 10:30a. After stopping for gas
in Gaffney we got there around 10:20am. There was still some snow on the ground
in Asheville, especially under the trees.
It took about an
hour to tour the house. We had the audio tour where you are given a device with
a number pad on it. As you came the various rooms, there would be a sign with the
name of the room and a number on it. You would punch in the number and it would
play back a recording describing the room, how it was used, and anything of
interest in it. (There was always something of interest.) The tour covered the main rooms, many of the
private and guest rooms, and also the kitchen, laundry and some of the servant’s
quarters.
After the tour,
we visited the gift shops in the converted stable/carriage house. We also had lunch
there at the Stable Café. We had the Stable Café Sampler for two (smoked ribs,
pulled pork barbecue, rotisserie chicken, white bean ragout, coleslaw, sweet
pickles and potatoes.) I came to about $40 with the tip so not real bad. The
food was pretty good (except the chicken was kind of bland.)
After eating we
stopped off at Antler Hill Village and did a little window shopping and got
some ice cream.
Then it was back
to Rock Hill. We got home a little after 4:40 pm.
We really enjoyed
the trip and we would like to go back and take the behind the scenes tour of
the servants area.
