08/27/2019 - Up early and drove the Jeep (with all 3 dogs) to the campground in Asheville where Trish, Susan, and Bev were parked. It was about 45 miles. We were supposed to be there also, but we were in Marion, NC instead (getting repairs done on the RV). We left all the dogs with Bev, as she did not want to walk the tour. The four of us headed to the Biltmore where we had 10:00 a.m. tour tickets.
The Biltmore was built in 1889-1895 as the permanent residence of George Washington Vanderbilt, younger brother of Cornelius Vanderbilt II (who built The Breakers in Newport R.I. 1893-1895). They had another brother, William Kissam Vanderbilt, who built 660 5th Avenue in New York City, and Marble House in Newport R.I. It seems these men were in a great competition to see who could build the biggest and the best.
The Biltmore was, and still is, the largest private residence in the U.S. It has 178,925 square feet of floor space (135,280 of living space). The property was immense--over 4300 acres. And that was what was left after Cornelia (daughter of George W. Vanderbilt) sold off 87,000 acres to the government, which is now the Pisgah National Forest. We entered into the visitor center and got our tickets, then boarded a shuttle which drove 3 miles to the actual mansion.
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| The Biltmore, built by George Washington Vanderbilt |
At first glance I was in awe of its size, but up close, I really didn't like the style. It was modeled after a French Chateau of the medieval era, with gargoyles everywhere. I was told that there were no duplicates - that each gargoyle was different from the others.
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| Can you wee the gargoyles on the roof? |
The house was built of local limestone. And it felt like a castle of the medieval times - very dark, cold, and imposing. Of course, that was just my opinion.
We entered at our appointed time in the front entry. Here is a very unsual flower blooming next to the front entry.
When we entered, we were given audio sets to explain what we were looking at. The first room we went into was the Garden Room, an interior atrium with a glass ceiling. This room was beautiful - very light and airy. It was used during the wedding of Cornelia Vanderbilt, the only child of George and Edith Vanderbilt. Here is a picture of the room and of it's ceiling
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| The Garden Room |
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| The ceiling of the Garden Room |
Next was the dining room. It appeared to me to come from the knights of the round table times. Large, but not very warm and inviting. The largest feature was the barrel ceiling that reached 70 feet in height,.
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| Dining Room |
And the triple fireplace with a hunting scene carved into the limestone. George Vanderbilt commissioned the carving over the fireplace.
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| Details on the fireplace |
Next was the morning room, a casual dining room for intimate dinners. Actually, this room was lighter and brighter than most of the other rooms, but still very formal in my opinion.
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| Morning Room |
Onto to Library. George Vanderbilt was a collector of books wherever he went. His collection in this room numbered over 10,000 volumes, and many more were found in storage rooms. The guide told us that he read all of them and they were written in multiple languages (I cannot remember how many). The ceiling is of note. It was commissioned just for this room, and was painted by a famous artist,
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| Library |
Next, we walked through a hallway of sorts, but this hallway was called the Tapestry Room. It was decorated with 3 Flemish tapestries, all of which were purchased by George Vanderbilt while traveling through Europe. They were made in the 1500's.
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| The Tapestry Room |
Back out to the front entrance. We passed the Garden Room once more and walked past the front door to the foyer and the Grand Staircase just left of the front door. It climbed up 4 stories. In the center was an iron chandelier with electric lights at each level. We were able to go up to the second floor via an elevator, built by the Otis Elevator Company (it felt like a birdcage inside).
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| main floor Grand Staircase |
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| First and second floors of the Grand Staircase |
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| Third floor Grand Staircase. Fourth floor above |
After climbing up to the third floor and going back down to the second floor, we visited the bedrooms of Mr. and Mrs. George Vanderbilt. They had separate bedrooms as I have seen in other mansions of the time. I found out that the women had to change clothes 5-8 times every day and had ladies in waiting to dress them, It was improper in those days to have the husband present during these times, so they had separate rooms. The bedrooms were large. Mrs. Vanderbilt's room was much lighter. Here is a picture of her bed. I really liked this room. Each of the bedrooms had adjoining bathrooms with bathtubs carved from a solid piece of marble - impressive!
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| Mrs. Vanderbilt's bed |
We then took the elevator down to the main floor, and walked down one flight of stairss, to the basement. Here we found the rooms that were built for leisure and exercise. The first room we saw was the Bowling Alley. It had 2 lanes, and young men were hired to act as pinsetters (they did not have automatic pinsetters in 1895).
And here is the indoor swimming pool. It is quite large, but was empty most of the time. You see, it was filled with spring water from the property. However, they did not have chemicals in those days to keep the pool clean. So, after the party was over, or the family was not using the pool, it was drained to keep bacteria from growing. Today, it cannot be filled, as it leaks.
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The indoor pool
Notice the ropes on the side so swimmers could hold on |
There was also a gymnasium, with all sorts of equipment, high bars, parallel bars, weights, etc. There was a locker room and a two full shower rooms, for men and women. We also saw storage rooms for the house and rooms for supplies. We did not see the entire basement, as I will assume there is a huge boiler room for heat.
When we left the property, we bought a picture that their photographer took of the 4 of us. I thought it was pretty good.
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| L to R: Susan, Trish, Tom, and I at the Biltmore |
As we were getting ready to board the shuttle, I caught Trish trying to take a picture of the front of the Biltmore. She kept backing up. Clearly, she couldn't get the entire house in her picture. Also, it was an overcast day. My picture isn't very good, but you can look it up on any Google search and see a better picture.
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| Trish trying to take a picture of The Biltmore |
We boarded the shuttle heading back to the visitor center. I caught a group of wild turkeys on the side of the road.
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| Wild turkeys on the Biltmore property |
We got back to the car, and headed back to the campground in Asheville, dropped off the girls and picked up our dogs, and headed back to Marion, NC for our RV. While on the road, I noticed that they must really have a problem with ivy taking over the forest and anything left out in the weather (abandoned houses and cars). It reminds me of the movie, The Blob, with Steve McQueen. This ivy is everywhere, gobbling up the trees, telephone poles, and wires, Hope you can see what I see,
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| The ivy takes over |
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