A Gilded Age Paradise

 Approximately 40 minuites by car from this bloggers home is one of the outstanding homes in America. The fact that it is still privately owned by the desendents of the original builder and owner of the home is nothing short of miraculous. The home of which this blogger speaks is of course Biltmore House in Ashville North Carolina, ordered built by George Washington Vanderbilt in 1890, completed in 1895. Initially George Vanderbilt dreamed of owning a simple wooden Victorian farm house with land. This dream would eventually turn into an estate consisting of 140,000 acres centered around a 255 room French style chateau. Today, the home still stands along with 7,000 acres (Biltmore Dairy) and award winning gardens that bring people from all over the world to see. 

The house itself is much more beautiful in person than any photograph can show. The house is built from a pale color stone that reflects the light for that perfect photograph. And for a house of this vastness the interior is very coherant, it is actually livable. The home is full of antiques and medieval/Rennaisance tapestries from Europe, including Napoleon's chess set. Biltmore was the first home in the South to be electrified in its totality when it was built, and the home has central heating, huge furnances in the sub-basement, every modern amenities of the time.

When George Vanderbilt died he left his estate to his only daughter, Emily Vanderbilt. In an effort to honor her father, Emily deeded 83,300, 098 acres, to the United States government  in 1914 to be forever known as the Pisgah National Forest in honor of George Washington Vanderbilt. Today the Pisgah National Forrest is a model of modern forestry practices and open to the public for fishing, camping, hiking (it is a part of the Appalacian Trail), and other outdoor amusements. 

Biltmore is open daily for visitors, except gor Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years. There are two hotels on property, a winery (Biltmore's own label), horseback riding, and hiking. Biltmore is truly a gift to the American people and should be onm everybodies bucket list of things to see and experience.

Source List

Covington, Howard E. Jr. Lady on the Hill: How Biltmore Estate Became an American Icon. 

       Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 2006.

Foreman, John , and Robbe Pierce Stimson. The Vanderbilts and the Gilded Age: Architectural 

       Aspirations, 1879-1901. New York: St. Martins Press, 1991.

Kiernan, Denise. The Last Castle: The Epic Story of Love, Loss, and American Royalty in the Nation's

       Largest Home. New York, NY: Atria Publishers, 2017.