North Carolina/The Biltmore

We arrived in Asheville, North Carolina yesterday after 5 days in Pigeon Forge. We made a planned stop in this city to check out The Biltmore, which is known as the "Largest Home in America". Wow! Awesome! Breathtaking! We got a really early start this morning, arriving at The Biltmore at 8:30 a.m. this morning, to ensure we had plenty of time to check everything out. Entrance to the actual Biltmore Mansion is by assigned time. Our entrance time was scheduled for 10:30 a.m., so we had a couple of hours to check out the surrounding grounds around The Biltmore. The Biltmore rates in my "Top 3" things we've done so far...right up there with the Grand Canyon and Yosemite. Unfortunately, no pictures were allowed of the inside of the home, but we took lot's of the grounds and gardens.

For a little history on this home, The Biltmore House has 250 rooms. George Vanderbilt began building this home in 1890 and moved in on Christmas Eve 1895, though work on the grounds and inside continued on for several more years. George Vanderbilt was only 33 when he moved into his "country home" and was known as "the" catch of the century. George Vanderbilt did not make his fortune, his grandfather came to America and started a shipping company and later a railroad company. His father doubled the Vanderbilt fortune and they had in excess of $200 million by the late 1800's.

George brought his bride Edith to Biltmore and welcomed the birth of their only child, Elizabeth, who was born in one of the rooms, (as were her children 25 years later). George's biggest contribution was actually building The Biltmore. He died at a relatively young age. He was 50 and died due to complications from appendicitis.

We took a tour of the entire home with an audio guided tour. They referred to their home as "relaxed elegance"...I'd call it unbelievably elegant and beautiful. The home includes original art from master artists like Renoir, 16th century tapestires, a Napoleon's chess set, a library with 10,000 volumes, a huge Banquet Hall with a 70 foot ceiling, 65 fireplaces, an indoor pool, bowling alley, and countless antiques. The Biltmore remains American's largest privately owned home.

But that's just the Home itself. The Biltmore included 9 different gardens; a Winery; Stables; River Bend Farm and an Inn. The gardens were just breathtaking. Both formal and informal gardens and all designed by "America's foremost landscape architect," Frederick Law Olmsted, who also designed New York Central Park. The gardens cannot be captured in words or pictures--to get the full impact, you just have to see it. The Stables area retains it's outward appearance, but has been redesigned to hold a Gift Shop, Dining and various other things.

I had first become aware of The Biltmore on an old cable show: America's Castles. I don't think that show has been on in at least a decade. I told Mark way back then that if we ever had the chance, I wanted to go to The Biltmore. We're so glad we came. As you can tell, today was just an awesome day and we're very blessed to get to do what we're currently doing.

We leave Asheville, North Carolina tomorrow morning for Huntington, West Virginia. This is the location of the Christian conference we had planned on attend last month, but we missed due to Clyde's injury. We've spent a couple of hours this evening trying to locate a campground in the Huntington area to no avail...so we're not really sure where we'll end up tomorrow! Well, that about wraps up our day at The Biltmore. I've finally gotten all the pictures uploaded to the blog...check them out on the slideshow. Stay tuned!!