Biltmore Estate, Asheville, Georgia

Biltmore Estate (photo courtesy kathrynrjones.wordpress.com/tag/biltmore-estate/)

Biltmore was the 250 room home of billionaire George Vanderbilt and remains the largest privately owned home in the USA. Sadly Vanderbilt died in 1914 at aged 52 years following complications of appendicitis - he left behind his wife (a descendant of Peter Stuyvesant) and their 14 year old daughter. The property remains in the family, and on a really good day, can receive around 10,000 visitors. At $50 a ticket (if you purchase more than a week ahead), that works out to $500,000 a DAY!! Mind you, the house is enormous, and the 8,000 acres with views of the Blue Ridge Mountains, gift stores, cafes and restaurant, historic gardens and the most visited winery in America would need a lot of money to maintain. Not to mention the wages of over 2000 staff  employed by the estate. 

During previous visits to USA, friends had mentioned the delights of a visit to the Biltmore Estate. One of Kim's Canadian girlfriends Lyndsay, and her mum Heather visited Biltmore on their way to meet up with us in Nashville 2 years ago, and our North Dakotan friends Kathy and Milt had their son's wedding there last year. After hearing their comments about the house and garden, it was included as a 'must see' for our RV itinerary for this year - along with the Hamilton Pool Preserve, Texas and Destin, Florida. 

After we left Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia, we should have headed NW to Asheville, North Carolina, but instead we headed NE towards the Atlantic Ocean to revisit Savannah, Georgia. We had been there before and done a trolley tour, but it pulled me back for one more visit. I wanted to spend time in the beautiful Forsyth Park with its historic fountain (added in 1858), so I adjusted the GPS and off we went. Sigh, after soaking up the park and beautiful environs (saw the Candler Oak with an estimated age of 283 years)  it was time to veer NW and cross the border into North Carolina to make our way to Asheville and the Biltmore Estate.

Candler Oak (Photo courtesy http://www.savannahoffthebeatenpath.com

Blue Ridge Mountain Views as we approached Asheville

The Biltmore home was officially opened in time for Christmas, 1895. It had 33 bedrooms and 45 bathrooms for family and friends. There were another 21 bedrooms for female household staff (the males had rooms above the stables). The audio-guided tour of the house was simply amazing - so much to take in. Can you believe that George Vanderbilt could speak 8 languages, and had a personal library collection of over 22,000 books (10,000 are on display in the library of the house). The home had a huge indoor swimming pool at a time when people tended to just wade in ocean waters, and not actually swim. The water (70,000 gallons/265,000 litres) for the pool was drawn from a stream on top of a nearby mountain, then heated with steam once it was in the pool! Because it was in the days before pool chemicals were created, the pool had to be emptied and cleansed after 3 days to keep it hygienic. Unbelievable. The home was full of artwork, from artists who weren't even famous in Vanderbilt's day, but are world renowned now. Biltmore played a top secret role during the Second World War 11 - it was chosen as the ideal location to safeguard precious US artwork in case of German attack and Adolf Hitler's known perchance for seizing priceless artworks. A specially modified room that was fireproofed, laced with steel barriers and craftily concealed was used to house Rembrandts' and other famous works from Washington's National Gallery of Art. 

Many of the authors of Vanderbilt's books, and some of the painters of his numerous art work were often guests at his home. If you visit this Estate, be sure to pay $10 extra to get the audio device - the facts provided to accompany each room, along with personal anecdotes and family information makes the tour so interesting. Without it, the visit would be like watching a 2D movie compared to one in 3D. 

Movies 'Patch Adams', 'Hannibal', 'My Fellow Americans', 'Richie Rich', 'Mr Destiny', 'The Private Eyes', Peter Sellers in 'Being There', and Grace Kelly in 'The Swan' were movies that used Biltmore Estate for some scenes. Whilst 'Downton Abbey' is a British series, Highclere Castle shows a 'striking resemblance' to Biltmore, and castle life as depicted in the series was 'surprisingly similar' to the day to day running of Biltmore. (Biltmore.com).

Looking back to the house from the gardens

Following the tour of the house we fortified ourselves with lunch in the Stable Cafe which had a delightful view out to the house beyond. I can recommend the Quinoa and Kale salad with freshly grilled salmon! Once refreshed, we wandered through the adjoining Christmas Tree Shop (yes Ret and Jen!!), the chocolate shop and the gift shop. I picked up a little knicknack for you Kim, although I am very tempted to keep it for myself! From there we wandered into the gardens - what a beautiful experience. The walled garden was my favourite, but I did enjoy wandering through the hot houses and thought of Dick and his orchids as I did so. 

Time to stop and 'smell the roses' in the Walled Garden

Before we returned to the house and then back to our RV, we sat on a bench to enjoy the 'aura' of the gardens. Murray's keen eye spotted this harmless black snake crossing the path. He didn't seem to be peturbed by the chap on the path. 

View as we were driving out of Biltmore Estate.