Biltmore Estate, Asheville, NC

23 August 2013

We had a fabulous time touring the Biltmore Estate here in Asheville. It is definitely important to devote a whole day to seeing this impressive place. Biltmore was built by George Vanderbilt, youngest son of the third generation of wealthy Vanderbilts. The house, in French chateau style, was completed in 1895 when George was 32 and still single. It has 101 bedrooms, 43 bathrooms, and 4 acres of space under its roof. Imagine that much house for one single guy. He did marry not long after (how could such an eligible bachelor escape for long?), but he and his wife only had one child, a daughter named Cornelia, born in 1900, and George died suddenly at age 51 when she was not quite 14.

The property includes vast gardens, and we walked them first. Then we took a multi-hour walk of the house, using rented audio players that give great information about the house, the furnishings, the art and tapestries, and the people who lived there and visited there. The audio players are well worth the extra $10 it costs to use them. The house is absolutely amazing, and it’s the best house tour we have ever had. One of the wonderful things about touring here is that you are completely able to move at your own pace and you never feel hounded. Most rooms are monitored by friendly and knowledgeable hosts, there to answer any questions you have. The estate has 1800 employees to keep this whole operation going.

One cute story on the audio player was told by a preservationist who works at Biltmore. He had completed a restoration of George Biltmore’s bedroom, which involved new gold leaf on the walls and across a door to George’s private closet. With the new gold leaf, the closet door would not close properly, and in an attempt to close it, the preservationist went inside the closet and pushed the door shut from that side. It was then that he discovered that there was no doorknob on the inside. He called out for a long time, hoping one of the tourists strolling through the bedroom would hear him and get him out, but the closet was too soundproof and everyone passed by. Finally a little child heard his cries for help and with difficulty convinced his mother that someone was trapped in the closet. As the preservationist was finally released from the closet, the gathered tourists applauded. Now that closet door is left permanently ajar.

Descendants of George Biltmore own the property still, and continue to work on preserving the house and making it available to the public. If we ever get a chance to return, we would enjoy touring Biltmore again and taking one of the specialized tours, such as the Butler’s Tour or the Architect’s Tour, which cover other rooms and additional information from behind the scenes.

Right now we’re on the road toward Williamsburg, Virginia. We took a couple of damaging hits to the Flex’s windshield once again, and hope that it will be repairable without replacing the whole thing, which cost $500 last time around. My theory is that because we are travelling at 60 mph, we are sitting ducks to the many semis who pull around us and kick rocks at us.