Blessed Beyond Measure: Southern Vaca Day 6b: The Biltmore Estate

If you asked me why I couldn't tell you, but for some reason I have wanted to see the Biltmore Estate for as long as I remember. I don't know if it was my early interest in Architecture, or a show I caught on TV once, or even the fact that I have a vague memory of doing a report or something about it in school, but for whatever reason it has been on my bucket list for a LONG time. So when I realized that the national park was only about 1.5 hours away from the Estate, I told Eric that I would like to go, and that is exactly what we did. On our sixth day of vacation, after saying farewell to the national park we continued East to Asheville, North Carolina where we bought our tickets for access to tour the estate.

After driving the insanely long driveway to the United States' largest privately owned residence (built by George Vanderbilt and opened in 1895), we finally found the parking lot only to find that we either had to take a bus or walk to get to the house. Since we had two kids that refused to walk and a double stroller full of supplies for the afternoon, we opted to walk (up & down hill, in the hot sun, for much further than anticipated). Finally, we made it to the house and were able to take in the intense detail of the architecture, furnishings and gardens of the estate. Enjoy the "tour"...

Front exterior detailing

Upon entering the home, we found a large open Entrance Hall adjacent to a center garden and rooms surrounding along the exterior. We traveled from room to room to soak it all in (double stroller and all!)....

Winter Garden

Interior Hall Ceiling Detailing

The Billiard Room

The custom oak billiard tables were made in 1895

The Banquet Hall

A 7-Story ceiling.

Flemish wall tapestries from the mid 1500s. The dining table seated 38 people, but the Vanderbilts and family members often enjoyed their 7-10 course meal seated at the smaller table close to the gigantic (3) fireplaces.

The Banquet Hall Organ Loft

A 1916 Skinner Pipe Organ.

The Breakfast Room

Despite the name, apparently luncheon was served here.

The Salon

This room was intended by Architect Richard Morris Hunt to be a formal sitting area in the French style, but for unknown reasons it was never completed during Vanderbilt's lifetime.

The Music Room

Like the Salon, this music room was not finished during Vanderbilt's time, and was actually fairly-recently finished (1976 by the current owners (The Cecil family, Vanderbilt's descendants). Asher desperately wanted to play on the piano.

Our family in front of the Winter Garden

The Terrace

This was the boys' favorite part of the house...a large open terrace where they could move freely and be outdoors. :)

The Tapestry Gallery

A 90 foot long room where guests enjoyed afternoon tea and music.

The Library

The library contained approximately half of George Vanderbilt's 23,000 volume collection. In it was also a chess set and game tables once owned by Napoleon Bonaparte. Like the piano, Asher wanted to check out some books!

1720s painting called The Chariot of Aurora by Italian artist Giovanni Pellegrini

After touring the first floor of the home, we headed upstairs. To do so Avery and I took the stroller up the home's tiny elevator while Eric and Asher went up the staircase to meet us.

The Staircase

I loved this hanging chandelier

The Second Floor Living Hall

Mr. Vanderbilt's Bedroom

This room with a view contains 17th-century Portuguese "turned & carved" furnishings

The Oak Sitting Room

This room joined the Vanderbilt's bedrooms and was where they would eat their breakfast and plan the day with the head housekeeper.

Mrs. Vanderbilt's Bedroom

This oval shaped room was decorated in purple and gold fabrics with furnishings in the Louis XV style.

The Third Floor Living Hall

Guests came here to relax and listen to music.

The Watson Room

Named for the engraver James Watson this was one of the 33 guest bedrooms in the house and the only room with twin beds. Guests enjoyed breakfast in their rooms before venturing out to enjoy the variety of indoor and outdoor activities at the estate.

The Van Dyck Room

"Decorated in the Colonial rival style of the late 19th century, this room features prints after paintings by the 17th-century artist Anthony Van Dyck." When reading about the history of this room, it was noted that the guest are able to enjoy the estate's various activities including "automobiling". I suppose in that time period most people had limited access to cars, but its a bit funny to think of 120 years later.

Every guest room had its own bath which included a plumbed tub and toilet. Outside of the bathroom was the table with water and bowl to wash with. When I explained this and the lack of bathroom sink to Asher he had quite a few questions for me!

The Morland Room

This room is named after English painter George Morland and includes exotic Indian-style fabrics.

The bed draperies are exact reproductions of hand-printed originals that adorned the Italian villa where George and Edith Vanderbilt honeymooned in 1898.

A typical guest bath (one of 43 in the house and a rarity for any American home in 1895).

The Madonna Room

This room featured prints after famous Renaissance paintings of the Madonna and Child. Also, the history of the room said the "guest visiting the Biltmore often brought their personal servants; if they didn't, the Vanderbilts would provide one from their household staff. A female guest typically traveled with a lady's maid, who assisted with dressing, styling her hair, unpacking and packing her trunks, and caring for clothing."

After touring the second and third floors of the home, we traveled back down to the first floor and then to the basement to end our viewing of the Biltmore residence. This time around, Eric and Asher traveled down the home's custom elevator while Avery and I took the stairs.

The First Floor Entrance Hall

The Elevator

The Stone Hallway

Here one of the building foundations can be seen. The foundation of this home took almost two years to complete and the foundations and footings extend down approximately 29 feet!

The Halloween Room

George Vanderbilt died in 1914 and in 1924 his wife Cornelia remarried. A year later the newly married couple spent several weeks painting the unusual halloween-esque paintings on the wall.

A photo the house under construction in the Halloween Room.

The Bowling Alley

The guests at the Biltmore could enjoy one of the nation's first bowling alleys and with automatic pinsetters not yet invented, servants would set up the pins and roll the ball back.

"Ba" Avery REALLY wanted to go play!

The Dressing Rooms

With a women's side and a men's side, there were several individual dressing rooms for guests to change into their swimwear for the home's indoor pool.

A dressing room.

The Pool

Asher was very excited to see the pool even though we told him over and over again he could not go swimming in it.

He was very disappointment that it was empty.

The pool held 70,000 gallons of heated water with working underwater lighting.

The Gymnasium

In the gym, guests could enjoy at the time state-of-the-art work-out equipment.

Again, the boys were disappointed that they could not go in and play.

The Vegetable Pantry

Here fresh fruits and vegetables grown at the estate were stored.

The Walk-In Refrigerators

Instead of iceboxes or springhouse to keep food cool, the Biltmore had an early type of mechanical refrigeration. Large metal cans contained milk from the estate's dairy cows.

Pantry Storage

The Dog Gate

The Servants' Bedrooms

Female servants lived in the basement of the house while male servants lived out near the stables. Uncommon for the day, each servant was given a comfortably furnished, heated, private room. Servants were allowed 2 hours off daily but were still on call and they received one afternoon and one evening off per week in addition to a half day every other Sunday.

The Intercom

The Pastry Kitchen

A separate kitchen just for desserts (yum!), protected from the heat of the Main Kitchen.

The Rotisserie Kitchen

Roasted meats were prepared here to keep the smoke and grease out of the other kitchens.

The Main Kitchen

Most of the prep work and cooking for the house was done in the main Kitchen under the direction of the Biltmore's chef. He led a dozen kitchen workers to prepare all meals from breakfasts, to picnics, to fancy dinners. The copper pots hanging here are the originals.

A small refrigerator

The Kitchen Pantry

Electric and manual dumbwaiters raised trays of food to the first floor Bulter's Pantry and floors above.

The Servants' Dining Room

Up to 30 servants a day ate three meals a day here.

The Main Laundry & Drying Room

The Smoking Room

The Gun Room

Hunting parties were a popular pastime on country estates, so guests selected guns to use on their excursions from Mr. Vanderbilt's collection.

That completed our tour of the Biltmore main house, but before I continue I have to explain the drama that ensued at the end of our tour. When we walked past the Smoking Room and Gun Room, the rooms had half-height doors closed to keep people out while allowing them to see in (the other rooms either allowed you in certain areas or just had a rope in front of the room). Asher wanted to see what was in the room, but rather than asking us to lift him up he tried to climb up on the door, causing it to open and making an alarm go off. This surprised Eric and I a little, but it totally freaked Asher out. He started to cry and was really upset. We quickly finished up our tour and headed outside. We told him that we were not mad at him and that it was just an accident, but he wouldn't calm down. Finally, when he had calmed down enough that I could understand what he was saying to me, I heard him ask if he could come home with us. "Of course," I replied, "we would never leave you behind." He continued to cry and said, "but they will take me to jail." :( I realized then what the problem was. When he heard the alarm, he thought it meant the police were coming to get him and he was convinced that they were going to take him away from us. I snuggled him up and assured him that I would never let anyone take him away from us. Then I made it all better in the best way I know how...Ice Cream.

When we had finished up our ice cream, we checked out the stables (which now has a cafe and some shops filling the different rooms) and then we headed outside to check out the gardens.

The Stable Cafe

The boys and I at the Biltmore's front entrance.

Asher wanted us to get a picture by the lion.

This is the Terrace that overlooks the gardens. I loved how the tree and vines grew all over the place. It made a canopy that filled the entire terrace.

By the time that we made it to the gardens, everyone was ready to go home. The boys (all three of them) were cranky and hot, and although I was enjoying the tour, listening to the gripes and fussing of my guys made it less enjoyable. Even so, we had paid a fairly large sum of money to have access to the estate and I was determined to get my money's worth and tour the gardens. I have to say that they were beautiful, and I am glad we went, but when famous landscape architect Fredrick Law Olmsted (he also designed Central Park) designed them, he clearly did not have accessibility or strollers in mind! Everywhere we went there were stairs, while we had a double stroller full of stuff and two boys that didn't want to walk any more! :(

Avery & I making our way down the stairs from the house to the first part of the gardens.

Map of the Biltmore Estate (courtesy: https://photogirltravels.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/map-of-biltmore_photogirltravels-com.jpg)

The Italian Garden

Playing in the grass while I looked around the Italian Garden.

More steps.

The Shrub Garden

By the time we made it to the Walled Garden, the boys were done. They decided to hang out in the grass and play while I continued to walk around on my own.

The Walled Garden

The Conservatory

The Rose Garden

The Conservatory

When I was finished walking through the conservatory, I headed back to the Shrub garden to find the boys and head out. There was still so much more that could be seen, but I felt I had seen enough to make it worth while and knew there was only so long the little monsters could be kept happy enough to not have complete meltdowns. We made the long walk back to our van and piled in ready to be on our way. Little did we know that we were about to take an auto tour of the entire estate, including driving right past the house and right through the gardens! If we had known we could drive down there we totally would have done that rather than dealing with our cranky boys and the stroller! We drove for several miles slowly through the estate and finally (after at least a half hour of driving) we were back outside of the property and ready to find a place to sleep for the night.

This was an apple tree that had been tied to wires as it grew so that all of the apples grew in easily accessible lines across the wire. I wish I had taken a picture straight on so you could see the shape of the tree (imagine the shape of a rib cage).

It is hard to see but there is a dam with water falling and a bridge beyond the trees.

The estate's cows.

Once we were back on the road, we found a hotel on Priceline near the Asheville, NC airport and headed in that direction. Once there, we took the boys to the pool to play for a bit and then Eric headed to a nearby Chili's to pick us up some dinner. We had a little picnic watching the Disney channel and eating on our beds (on towels) in our room and then we all went to sleep for some much needed R&R!