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| The Stevens "Girls" |
Before we headed off for Black Mountain for the “Sassy Stevens” Girls’ Weekend we planned to find some Bears in Cades Cove. After
all, I had had great luck the day before.
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| Yesterday's Bear |
Instead we found rain. So much rain that we decided to head
on to North Carolina. I am not going to
blog about the actual girls’ weekend because, first, I don’t really blog about
family interactions and, second, I doubt that anyone would be interested if I
did.
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| Melissa, Melanie, Julie and Caty |
But, I will cover a few things.
First, the house was perfect. We found it through HomeAway
and it was huge and ridiculously cheap. In fact, it worked out to less than $130 a
person for three nights. And, we could have accommodated four more without
having to double up in any of the beds!
Second, the view was fabulous – morning, noon and night.
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| Pretty |
Third, we had a great time hanging out together and playing
games.
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| Melissa explains it all |
It is nice to get together with family from time to time.
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| Photo shoot |
From a travel blog perspective, there are two things worth
mentioning.
First, we ate at a fabulous tapas restaurant called Curate.
I wish I had pictures of the sangria, chicken croquettes, patatas bravas,
stuffed piquillo peppers, chorizo in potato chips, olives, cheese, albondigas
and any other goodies I can’t even remember. But, it was authentic and very
tasty.
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| My, oh, my; Photo: Curate |
Second, Caty and I toured the Biltmore Estate.
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| Long view of the Biltmore |
Originally,
the whole group was planning to go, but everyone else decided to shop and drink instead.
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| It was just Caty and me on a glorious spring day |
The tickets and signs say that photography is not allowed the mansion, so we didn't take cameras. Then, we saw lots
of people taking pictures unchallenged. Still, we didn’t, so the only pictures
we have to share are of the gardens and the winery.
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| Beautiful wisteria |
The 8,000-acre Biltmore Estate is in Asheville, North Carolina.
It features a Château-styled mansion built by George Washington
Vanderbilt II between 1889 and 1895 and is the largest privately owned house in
the United States, at 178,926 square feet of floor space and 135,280 square
feet of living area. It is one of the most prominent remaining examples of the Gilded Age.
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| It is still owned by one of Vanderbilt's descendants; Photo: Biltmore |
Designed by New York architect Richard Morris Hunt, who had
previously designed houses for other Vanderbilt family members, the
four-story Indiana limestone home has a 375-foot asymmetrically balanced facade
with two projecting wings.
The home's carved
decorations include trefoils, flowing tracery, rosettes and at prominent
lookouts, gargoyles. The large gargoyles are purely for decoration instead of
their normal use to direct water away from a building.
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| Very ornate |
The house has attached
stables, a carriage house and a courtyard to protect the house and gardens from
the wind. The 12,000-square-foot complex housed Vanderbilt's prized driving
horses and the carriage house opposite the stables stored his 20 carriages in
addition to any of his guest's carriages. The area now houses stores, a snack bar and a restaurant where we had a
delicious lunch.
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| More great food |
Biltmore has a total of 250 rooms, including 33
bedrooms for family and guests, 43 bathrooms, 65 fireplaces, three kitchens and
19th-century novelties such as electric elevators, forced-air heating,
centrally controlled clocks, fire alarms and an intercom system. The principal
rooms of the house, located on the ground floor, include a winter garden,
banquet hall ...
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| You could have a great dinner party; Photo: Biltmore |
... organ gallery, music room, tapestry gallery and library.
The second floor is accessed by the cantilevered 102-step
grand staircase spiraling around a four-story, wrought iron chandelier holding
72 light bulbs. The second floor houses a living hall, George Vanderbilt's
gilded bedroom ...
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| Quite the room; Photo: Biltmore |
... his wife's Louis XV-style oval-shaped bedroom and many guest rooms.
The third and fourth floors, which house more guest rooms,
are not part of the tour.
The basement houses an indoor 70,000-gallon heated swimming
pool (now empty) that had underwater lighting; dressing rooms so that guests did not have to walk through the mansion in their bathing costumes; one of the nation's first bowling alleys in a private residence; and a gymnasium with once state-of-the-art
fitness equipment.
It is also the location for the main kitchen ...
... pastry
kitchen, rotisserie kitchen, walk-in refrigerators, servants' dining hall,
laundry rooms and additional bedrooms for staff.
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| The gym; Photo: Biltmore |
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| You need a big kitchen for a big dining room; Photo: Biltmore |
Vanderbilt employed landscape architect Frederick Law
Olmsted (he also designed Central Park) to design the grounds. He created a
park surrounding the house and established farms along the river.
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| Spring flowers |
He also replanted the
rest of the grounds as a commercial timber forest. The first forestry education
program in the U.S., the Biltmore Forest School, was established on the estate
grounds in 1898.
The intentionally rustic three-mile approach road winds
through natural-looking foliage and shrubbery to provide a
relaxing journey for guests. There are also 75 acres of formal gardens that
include an Italian formal garden, a walled garden, a shrub and rose garden,
fountains and a conservatory ...
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| Conservatory |
... with individual rooms for palms and orchids.
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| Hothouse flowers |
Across the estate is the former diary barn, which has been
converted into a winery.
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| Winery |
The area also features hotels and restaurants.
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| The house was built between 1889 and 1896; Photo: Biltmore |
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| A three-mile railroad spur was constructed to bring in materials; Photo: Biltmore |
Vanderbilt went on extensive buying-trips overseas where he
purchased thousands of furnishings including tapestries, carpets, prints,
linens and decorative objects dating between the 15th and the 19th century. The
house officially opened on Christmas Eve 1895. Vanderbilt married Edith
Stuyvesant Dresser in 1898 and their only child, Cornelia Stuyvesant
Vanderbilt, was born at the estate in 1900, and grew up there.
Driven by cost of managing the estate, Vanderbilt agreed to
sell 87,000 acres to the federal government. After he died unexpectedly in 1914
of complications from an emergency appendectomy, his widow completed the sale
to carry out her husband's wish that the land remain unaltered and that
property became the nucleus of the Pisgah National Forest. She
intermittently occupied the house until the marriage of her daughter
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Cornelia Vanderbilt marries John Francis Amherst Cecil in 1924; Photo: Biltmore The Cecils went on to have two sons who were
born in the same room as their mother. |
In an attempt to bolster the estate's financial situation
during the Great Depression, Cornelia and her husband opened Biltmore to the
public in March 1930 at the request of the City of Asheville, which hoped the
attraction would revitalize the area with tourism. When the Cecils divorced,
Cornelia left the estate and John remained until his death in 1954. Their eldest
son George Henry Vanderbilt Cecil occupied rooms in the wing until 1956. At
this point Biltmore House ceased to be a family residence and has continued to
be operated as a historic house museum, with increasing portions of the house
opened to viewing.
It is used for concerts, special programs and weddings, too.
We overheard a Biltmore employee saying that the owners do have a separate house on the property.
It is used for concerts, special programs and weddings, too.
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| A Biltmore wedding; Photo: Biltmore |
William A. V. Cecil, Sr. returned to the estate in 1960 and
joined his brother to manage the estate and make it a profitable and
self-sustaining enterprise like his grandfather envisioned. He eventually
inherited the estate upon the death of his mother in 1976, while his brother
George inherited the then-more-profitable dairy farm. In 1995, while
celebrating the 100th anniversary of the estate, Cecil turned over control of
the company to his son, William A.V. Cecil, Jr.
The estate was designated a National Historic Landmark in
1964, and remains a major tourist attraction with almost 1 million visitors
each year.
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| On the grounds |
During our visit, the Biltmore was also showing a collection of gowns -- many of them wedding gowns from motion pictures. To complement the collection, many parts of the estate were decorated as for a wedding.
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| Worn by Helena Bonham Carter in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, 1994; Photo: Biltmore |
If you are planning to visit the Biltmore, beware. The website can be confusing. It costs $50 to get into the house and grounds. Tours are additional. So, don't be fooled by the $17 tour price -- that's on top of the $50. Reservations are essential on some days, so do check before you go. Parts of the house are disability accessible, but not all of it is.
Trip date: April 18-26, 2016
