Biltmore Estate

Okay, so I'm sure a lot of people reading this have already been to the Biltmore. For those of you who haven't been there yet, here's a quick overview. The Biltmore House was a collaborative effort between George Vanderbilt, architect Richard Morris Hunt and landscape architect Frederick law Olmstead. It took 6 years to complete and was finished in 1895. The limestone was hauled 600 miles from Indiana and building supplies were delivered via a 3 mile long railway spur between the estate and the neighboring village.  The architectural style was inspired by the chateaux of the Loire Valley in France. The original estate was 125,000 acres of forest, 8,000 acres remain and is open to the public. After George's death his wife sold 87,000 acres to the US government and it became the bulk of the Pisgah national Forest.

Admission to the Biltmore Estate is currently $59 each and includes admission to the house, gardens, winery, and also the Deerpark area of the estate. Cameras are not allowed inside the house. The house has 250 rooms, including 43 bathrooms, 3 kitchens and 65 fireplaces. An indoor Winter Garden room is to the right of the main entrance which has a glass roof that lets in light. The basement area also contains an indoor swimming pool, a gymnasium and a bowling alley. The many visitors at Biltmore were encouraged in the early 1900's were encouraged to use the entire landscape by hiking, riding or playing lawn games. The Biltmore's daughter, Cornelia, even used to swim in the large fountain in front of the house.

We toured the gardens first, figuring they would be less crowded on a chilly April morning and we'd be better able to get shots of the Azalea Garden without people in the background, not to mention shooting before all that harsh afternoon light! We toured the whole garden area, which is quite extensive and includes the Conservatory where plants are grown for the garden and for display in the house. There is also a garden store where visitors can buy plants.

We really enjoyed the tour of their home, and were surprised that touring the gardens and house took us almost five hours. We're quick when we tour places, so I'm assuming most guests would require 6-8 hours. The most interesting parts of the tour for us were the servant areas and trying to contemplate how many servants and staff it took to run the house as well as the gardens and the farm. The had their own dairy farm and even sold produce and meat as part of their goal to make the money needed to run such a large estate.

I purchased the book about the estate on our way out, and it was interesting to get some more details that were missed during the tour. I would suggest to anyone who takes the tour to utilize the staff placed throughout the building and ask lots of questions. I asked if the decorative marble panels in some of the rooms were replicas or actual antiquities and was happy to find out that they were indeed replicas based on the famed Elgin Marbles. If anyone knows whether the Art Deco-looking metal doors on the first level in the doorways surrounding the Winter Garden area were added at a later date or if they were part of the original design I'd love to know! I forgot to ask that one!