The last major stop on our trip was Biltmore Estate. You may remember that there are some super fancy mansions built by insanely rich people during the Gilded Age. These insanely rich people included the Vanderbildts. One of the Vanderbilts somehow lost his way, ended up in North Carolina where he built a mansion that is still the largest home in America. (He didn't actually lose his way. As the youngest son his brothers were taking care of the business and his main job was taking care of his mother. She had some lung problems so they moved down south where it is warmer.) This house is huge. We went on a tour of it which only visited less than half of the building and it took us 6 hours. The mansions in Newport were more sparkly but this estate said "trying really hard to establish an aristocracy in America" louder than anything else I've seen. They didn't have platinum wallpaper (Breakers, Newport) but Mr Vanderbilt's entire bedroom is gilded. He even gilded it on a budget, using 22ct gold and not 24ct. And he had thrones. And an organ loft in his dining room. And an indoor swimming pool and bowling alley in a house completed in the 1890s. There weren't guest rooms in this place, there were guest suites, 41 of them. And he had a walk in refrigerator, in the 1890s.
The house was incredible but you can't really appreciate it without acknowledging the rest of the estate. The house sits on 8,000 acres looking out over the Smoky Mountains. That is 12.5 square miles. On those grounds there are all kinds of farms, gardens, greenhouses, forests and fields. We saw formal gardens, shrub gardens, what may or may not be the largest collection of azaleas in the US, rose gardens, and a green house full of very exotic orchids. And then we got tired and gave up. But the estate just kept going on without us.
The last major stop on our trip was Biltmore Estate. You may remember that there are some super fancy mansions built by insanely rich people during the Gilded Age. These insanely rich people included the Vanderbildts. One of the Vanderbilts somehow lost his way, ended up in North Carolina where he built a mansion that is still the largest home in America. (He didn't actually lose his way. As the youngest son his brothers were taking care of the business and his main job was taking care of his mother. She had some lung problems so they moved down south where it is warmer.) This house is huge. We went on a tour of it which only visited less than half of the building and it took us 6 hours. The mansions in Newport were more sparkly but this estate said "trying really hard to establish an aristocracy in America" louder than anything else I've seen. They didn't have platinum wallpaper (Breakers, Newport) but Mr Vanderbilt's entire bedroom is gilded. He even gilded it on a budget, using 22ct gold and not 24ct. And he had thrones. And an organ loft in his dining room. And an indoor swimming pool and bowling alley in a house completed in the 1890s. There weren't guest rooms in this place, there were guest suites, 41 of them. And he had a walk in refrigerator, in the 1890s. 
The house was incredible but you can't really appreciate it without acknowledging the rest of the estate. The house sits on 8,000 acres looking out over the Smoky Mountains. That is 12.5 square miles. On those grounds there are all kinds of farms, gardens, greenhouses, forests and fields. We saw formal gardens, shrub gardens, what may or may not be the largest collection of azaleas in the US, rose gardens, and a green house full of very exotic orchids. And then we got tired and gave up. But the estate just kept going on without us. 
That sounds great! When we went it was December and the grounds were mostly "big" without all the beautifying. I'm glad you got to see the gardens.
ReplyDeleteFor anyone planning a trip you should try and go in the spring when the azaleas are blooming. Apparently this place has the biggest collection of azaleas in the world.
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