Christmas at Biltmore!

 Trish and I have all of the things we need for our lives together, so, we look for experiences to share with one another for special occasion gifts.  One of our experience gifts for this Christmas has been three days at the Biltmore Estate outside Asheville, North Carolina.

Biltmore House at Night.

Much of our visit was built around three different visits to the Biltmore House itself.  It is the largest private home in America, built by George Vanderbilt and occupied in 1895.  Vanderbilt wished to use the Estate to support a village of about 150 people by giving them jobs and places to live.  He also built Biltmore Village and beautiful All Souls Episcopal  Church in the village.

The great Banquet Hall with its three fireplaces and pipe organ could easily seat fifty guests.

Vanderbilt tragically died in 1914 following appendicitis and did not get to pursue all of his goals to their fulfillment.   During the Depression his wife, Edith, sold 89,000 acres of their forest land to the Dept. of Agriculture where it became the beginning of the Pisgah National Forest.  Vanderbilt had already made this land managed  forest land in the face of impending logging efforts in the whole area.

The swimming pool in the basement of the house.

After his mother’s death, Vanderbilt’s grandson, William, and his family took over the house.  Under their dedicated stewardship it is now the top employer and the leading tax payer in Buncombe County supporting a staff of nearly five hundred people.  This more than fulfills George Vanderbilt’s philanthropic dream.

My favorite room, the Great Library.