Yesterday and Today

Monday, June 29, 2015

Biltmore Estate

Yesterday we visited the Biltmore Estate located in Asheville, NC and set on 8,000 acres of land.    The entrance to the Estate is through a gatehouse archway and then down a several mile windy road through forests and farmland to the parking lots where you board a shuttle which takes you to the house and gardens.  The back windows of the home overlook the hills and woods while the front has a grass area with a fountain.

We chose to take the self guided with a booklet explaining each room.    We arrived around 10:30 a.m. and were able to enter the house right away and proceed at our own pace.  It took us about two hours to cover the house which also entailed going up and down several staircases since there were rooms on the main, second, and third levels as well as the basement.  We got our exercise with that and my knee did well with all the ups and downs.  No inside pictures are allowed so our pictures are all outdoors.

The Biltmore House was designed and construction was supervised by George Washington Vanderbilt (the grandson of railroad magnate, Cornelius Vanderbilt).  George Vanderbilt opened the home on Christmas Day in 1895 after six years of construction.  It was the family home for George and his wife Edith and their daughter Cornelia   Today the home is still owned by the great grandson and granddaughter of George Vanderbilt and is a working estate.  The home was opened to the public in 1930 to help tourism in the area during the Depression.

The house has 250 rooms and is 175,000 square feet (yes, that’s right, 175,000).  What do you do with all that square footage?  Well, you have 2 master bedrooms (one for him and one for her) with a sitting room between, 13 guest bedrooms with attached baths (they each had a claw footed tub and commode with running water but no sinks but rather a pitcher and bowl on a table in the room) and each in a different style, 43 bathrooms (I’m glad I don’t have to clean them),  a banquet hall with a seven story high ceiling and organ loft, a basement with servants bedrooms and dining room, kitchen, pantry, pastry kitchen, rotisserie kitchen, vegetable pantry, walk in refrigerators, laundry, iron rooms and dry rooms.  In addition, the basement also houses a gym, indoor swimming pool, men's and ladies changing rooms, and a bowling alley.

The house is absolutely fabulous with beautiful wood floors and elaborate woodwork everywhere, intricate designed or carved ceilings, plus all the artwork, sculptures, and tapestries, with a library of 23,000 books which includes a large selection of first additions.  It is hard to describe how elaborate and decorative this home is.  You have to see it to appreciate it.

Just to the right of the house is the area that was once the stables which not contains a number of small restaurants, restrooms and gift shops with an outdoor eating area. 

Leaving the house area, we returned to the parking lot and followed the roadway through the estate to the formal gardens and conservatory.  The garden is terraced on three levels above the conservatory and the flowers all in bloom.  About 2,000 people work on this estate to maintain the house and the grounds. 

Driving further into the estate we come across cultivated farmland, cattle, a private lake and a cute waterfall arriving at the Antler Hill Village which includes a creamery, several restaurants,  gifts shops, a playground, the winery, a hotel still being built and a museum about the Vanderbilts.   Interestingly, the Vanderbilts were supposed to be on the fateful Titanic but changed their reservations at the last minute to travel on another ship with friends. 

We returned home tired having experienced another wonderful day.

Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Waynesville, NC

Today we took a short drive to Waynesville to walk the historic downtown and take in the cute shops and restaurants along the main street and to do a bit of grocery shopping at the local Walmart store. 

We did stop in at the Mast General Store which opened in 1883 in Valle Crucis, NC and quickly grew in reputation for carrying everything from “cradles to caskets.”    The mountain mercantile of the same name in Waynesville opened in 1930 and today still contains its antique cabinetry, well-oiled floors and original mezzanine with provisions for the entire family from clothing to camping supplies to kitchen items to books and old fashioned candy and timeless toys.

Tomorrow we hope to go back to Asheville and take in the sights there before heading to Virginia on Thursday.