Biltmore Estates, Asheville, NC

We arrived at Biltmore Estates in Asheville early Friday while the RV dealer was doing maintenance on our motorhome back in Marion, NC. It proved to be a beautiful day. Of course, the objective was to see the magnificent home that George Vanderbilt had built in the 1890's. This is the largest house in America. It is filled with priceless masterpiece paintings, sculptures and antiques. The intricate architectural details which included the "V" and acorn, are many and very interesting. There were many statues throughout, and many sculptures around the exterior. Gary took pictures of many of figures on the South Terrace with the idea of doing pencil drawings of them. While taking pictures of much of the exterior structure and waiting to enter the House, we did trade favors to have this picture taken of us at the front entrance . If it appears that we always have on the same outfits, all I can say is that it is probably our "best bib and tucker". In fact, much of Gary's will soon need replaced if he keeps loosing weight!

This corner to the left of the front entrance houses the curving marble staircase that connects all four floors. There is a chandelier hanging in the center of this stair well from a single point, down through all four floors, with a tier of lights at each floor level. This chandelier weighs 1700 pounds.

This glass roof illuminates the fountain sculpture in the center of the Winter Garden in the main part of the house. This garden room is surrounded by the following rooms: the entrance hall, the billiard room, , the banquet hall with a table that seats forty and has three fireplaces at one end with a dumb waiter off to each side of these fireplaces and also has a pipe organ at the other end of the room, the breakfast room which has Wedgewood style tiles around the fireplace and embossed Spanish leather and red marble on the walls and a very ornate ceiling , the salon with fabric for the ceiling , and the music room . When we were in the tapestry gallery room and Gary was taking pictures, he was reminded by a host in that area of a sign at the entrance that forbid picture taking! We just assumed that without a flash, picture taking would be okay. Thus ended our pictures of the interior. And the magnificent library which was two full stories in height, would have been the next room! Too bad that we did not get it. We continued on through the upper floors bedrooms, bathrooms and servants rooms. We also toured the extensive basement which houses a large swimming pool, a fitness room, two bowling lanes, many rooms used for food preparation and storage, laundry rooms, and changing rooms for the guests to use after riding and swimming.

The side exit from the house took us through a covered walkway to the stable complex that now houses the Stable Cafe', the Bake Shop, an Ice Cream Parlor, and a gift shop.

The South Terrace provides a spectacular view of the grassy slope leaving the back of the house and the mountains beyond , while the Library Terrace offers shade and an arbor of wisteria and trumpet creeper vines. This trunk on that terrace was so interesting.

Upon leaving the House we went to the Gardens nearest the greenhouse and the area behind the greenhouse .

But Vivienne, I would be hard pressed to name many of the varieties. There were many roses. They and most of the others were nearing the end of their season and many pots of mums were sitting about the area to be transplanted into the gardens. So I will just show some of the blossoms at the bottom of this Blog, but will not bother naming them. These were familiar to me, but I wouldn't want to make a mistake!

We then went down the walkway toward the clock to visit the Winery and walk through the Cellars and and check out the Bottling Room from a second floor window. There was a group of ladies who wanted pictures taken, so we imposed upon them for a return favor . We went on to the tasting room for the fun of it, and checked out the large gift shop there. It was fun! In fact, the Estate had an over abundance of gift shops. I imagine this is part of the source of funds used to maintain it.

We left the River Bend Farm, the Deerpark Area, the Inn and Dining Room to check out the next time we visit the Estate. With 8000 acres, much of which was landscaped beginning even before the construction of the house, there is just too much to see all at one time. They are in the process of restoring another three rooms, planning for it to be open in 2009 for viewing.

The restoration of the construction, decoration, and furniture is all done with much research by many professionals from around the world. They showed one chair that was done as near like the original as possible, through a tiny remnant of fabric that was found under a furniture tack! They also showed the process of restoration of broken statues, which was amazing. The break was not able to be detected after restoration.

There are several concerts held on the South Terrace of the House and I think that even more enticing for me would be seeing the House as it is transformed with the Christmas decor and music! Maybe another year!

A difference between this house and the Boldt Castle which we toured in New York is the amount of grounds and the fact that it was used as a primary residence by the Vanderbilts for many years. The Boldt Castle was to be a summer home and was on an island, but the construction was never completed, nor was it lived in.

See you down the road.