Tales From The Road: The Biltmore Estate

Wednesday - Tuesday, February 29 - March 7, 2017
Like Monticello I was set on visiting The Biltmore Estate, the home of George Vanderbilt. Don't ask me why because I'm not sure that I would even be able to tell you. I have had a couple of conversations with people who have ties to the estate, in fact Wilson's cousin's nephew still works there....does that make him a second cousin or a cousin once removed? We unfortunately did not get to see him this trip.

If you love history, beautiful gardens, architecture, landscape design, wine, horses, farming, or if you are just interested in how the rich lived in the late 1800s and early 1900s The Biltmore is the place to be. Admission is pretty pricey but I think there is enough there to make it worth your while. We were fortunate because Laurie, our Trusted Housesitter host had a guest pass and a discount coupon for the pass that we had to purchase. The guest pass also allowed for a bunch of discounts including dining and the wines purchased at the the winery. The price is also dependent on when you visit. We were there in early March, which was still considered winter pricing. I think it's cheaper because the weather is cold and damp and the gardens were not everything they could be...just daffodils and tulips at the time. We did visit the greenhouse and listened in on an orchid talk though, so we did see pretty flowers. It was rainy and wet so we did not do all that we had hoped, so another visit may be in order 😄

Construction began on the Biltmore House in 1889 and was "completed" in 1895, or at least opened to friends and family. George Vanderbilt worked very closely with the architect, Richard Morris Hunt, and Frederich Law Olmsted, the landscape architect. Olmsted designed Central Park and the U.S. Capitol grounds. I was duly impressed by the landscape design as Olmsted brought in a variety of elements all while using the backdrop of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Check out The Biltmore Estate History Timeline

The exhibit that was being shown while we were there was "Designed for Drama". The exhibit highlighted costumes that were part of films based on books that were in George Vanderbilt's library. It was actually more than just books from his library, they were actually books that George read based on the book journal that he kept for the majority of his life. The costumes were very interesting and added a bit more realism to the rooms, I felt like I could picture the people within the costumes roaming around the home. Check out Designed for Drama to learn more.