OUR VISIT TO THE BILTMORE HOUSE AND ESTATE

Last month we did some traveling and went on a big road trip.  I shared the first part of our visit to Laurel, MS and Perdido Key, FL with you here if you missed it.  After leaving the beach, we wanted to visit a part of the country we haven't really spent time in before and headed to the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina.  This trip was a last minute pivot from previous plans, so we were winging it, making plans as we went. When friends heard we were headed to the area they graciously offered us some of their passes to tour The Biltmore House and Estate.  We jumped at the chance and are so grateful for their generosity! 

A few facts consolidated from our visit and Google - Located in the Blue Ridge Mountains in Asheville, NC, the Biltmore is the largest privately owned home in the United States.  It was built by George Washington Vanderbilt from 1889-1897, and he married Edith Stuyvesant Vanderbilt in 1898. Their only child, Cornelia, was born in 1900. The house has 175,000 square feet of floor space- 250 rooms, 35 bedrooms, 43 bathrooms, and 65 fireplaces. The home is surrounded by 8,000 acres including 75 acres of gardens, and is considered the birthplace of American Forestry.  The acreage during George Vanderbilt’s lifetime was approximately 125,000 acres and included property later sold to the federal government to create Pisgah National Forest, one of the first national forests east of the Mississippi.  The estate was opened to the public on March 15, 1930 after Cornelia Vanderbilt Cecil and her husband John A. V. Cecil decided to open the house to visitors to help support the estate and boost tourism in the area during the Great Depression.

The photos I'm sharing here barely scratch the surface of the amount I took, but I cut it off at around 60 here!! And they don't begin to do the grandness of the rooms in the house or the estate grounds justice. It was a beautiful day to visit!

I had to take a photo beside my guys' great great grandparents... 😂

Jacket- past season Old Navy but similar here, here, or here || Horse Bit Scarf || Striped Button Up || Jeans || Similar Leopard Loafers here, here, or here

This atrium through the front door welcomes visitors- the ceiling was magnificent!  They were decorating for Christmas in the house.  Most rooms throughout already had trees up and this space was in progress but it was beginning to look a lot like Christmas! 

Billards Room-

Dining Room- it was just stunning!  All of the details throughout the house were just so much to take in.  Three fireboxes side by side on one end of this massive room-

and a wall full of organ pipes on the other end. 

There were countless gathering rooms for family and entertaining guests surrounding the central atrium.  Again- the details of the woodwork, ceiling, wall treatments, fireplaces... all just mind boggling. 

The back of the house-

This veranda (behind us in the photo above) stretched across the back and I could just imagine sitting for hours and hours looking out over the fields and vast expanse of land.  At the time the estate was built, they said Vanderbilt land went as far as your eye could see.  Wow! 

George toured Europe extensively and his travels had a big influence on the design of the home.  He was fond of tapestries and displayed several in the "Tapestry Room". 

The grand Library with bookshelves all the way around and a spiral staircase to access the second level- 

This staircase gave access to multiple floors.  It was the grandest but there were several others throughout the house that were mostly used by family only and several that would have been used by the servants. 

I loved the gigantic tassel rope handrails-

All the way at the bottom you can see the Christmas tree from the photo above-

The upper levels were full of more family gathering spaces- living rooms, sitting rooms, and bedrooms. I didn't take notes to remember what all of these were called, there were so many! 

This was George's bedroom-

and a large sitting area outside of it with Edith's bedroom on the other side.  

I loved this green furniture with the tassel trim, and the oil painting hung is daughter Cornelia. 

Edith's bedroom-

I think this was a guest bedroom but it was one of my favorites.  The walls were more of a mauve/pink that the photo was showing and it was such a striking combination with the green. 

Details... there were also quite of bit of blue and white pieces sprinkled in throughout the home. 

The entrance into the nursery- again I couldn't get over all of the details like these fabric covered walls and loved the trimwork on the door. 

I think the nursery was on a different floor than George and Edith's bedrooms, if it was on the same floor it wasn't very close! Ha, it was a different time and such a different way of life.  The other end of the large room was a bed for the nanny and sitting area.

There is an elevator in the house which is the original 1895 Otis elevator, and they are quite proud of it!  It is available for guests with mobility issues but the attendant was going down and no one was around so he offered us a ride.  It was magnificent and he said that the Otis company still maintains it. 

Moving into the lower levels and basements- these brightly colored walls fill one large room.  They were a bit of a mystery until documents and photos were discovered explaining their purpose.  Cornelia and her friends would hang out in this space, and one year they produced a play for New Year's Eve.  The painted walls were the sets for the story! 

There was a bowling alley- they mentioned that there would have been a servant standing at the end of each lane to clear, set the pins back up, and return the ball each time.

There was a 9' swimming pool with diving platform in the basement!  It was considered therapeutic and the left railing side had ropes hanging down periodically that guests could hang on to in the water, many did not know how to swim.  They said the pool had to be filled and drained after each use, unbelievable!  The last time it was filled was in the 50's and all of the water leaked into the sub basement below, so it will likely never be repaired and filled again. 

A gym complete with early weights, medicine balls, a rowing machine- all the latest equipment! 

The servant quarters were well outfitted but utilitarian and nothing fancy as would be expected-

The kitchen wasn't as large as I would expect considering the large gatherings that they prepared for but was definitely well appointed for the time period.  There was even one little room that consisted just of a giant rotisserie! 

Staff dining table-

There were several work and storage rooms including this potting room

and this fabulous flower arranging room! 

A couple of large laundry rooms- one for washing and one for pressing/finishing.  They stressed the complexity of the outfits worn back then and the servants would also take care of laundry for all of the guests, taking great care to ensure that each piece of clothing was restored to like new condition upon returning to the owner. 

A sportsman's room (wall on the other side was full of cases with gun racks)-

Leaving the tour!  It was A LOT to take in but so fabulous to see. 

We also spent a bit of time roaming the grounds, wish we had had more time! There are trollies that move around to different stops on the grounds, or you can freely roam the paths from one spot to another. 

The Conservatory was stunning and packed full of a huge variety of flowers and plants-

If you made it this far... whew!  Believe me, I could have included more but just had to stop!  If you've never visited, it's a must see if you're ever in the area. And on a side note, we don't have a Belk in OKC but I stopped into one when were were in Fort Worth this past weekend, and they have a whole Biltmore labeled line of home goods!  We thought the Advent Calendar was so cool (it's large!) and these 18" blue and white trees were SO nice in person- there's a pagoda version and a bird/floral version.  Just thought it was interesting to spot that after we had just visited! 

So tell me, if you've ever visited the Biltmore what was your favorite part?  Favorite room in the house? I loved imagining being able to roam the grounds on an after dinner walk and what it would be like to have access to such vast outdoor spaces if I had lived there... magnificent! 

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