There is no ‘keeping up with the Vanderbilts’

Saturday morning we had breakfast at the hotel, and we headed out to Biltmore. It was very crowded, but we avoided some holdups by buying our tickets online. We also saved $6, so I recommend that for sure.

We were able to get tickets to go into the main house right away, so we jumped in line. Once inside, Jon noticed a roof top tour that sounded pretty cool ($15). We toured the first floor on our own where we saw an incredible banquet hall, complete with pipe organ and two seats built into the wall that were very throne like. There were also several moose and elk mounts up on the walls, but we were told George Vanderbilt wasn’t actually a hunter, and he ordered the taxidermied beauties through mail order. One of my favorite rooms was on the first floor, the winter garden. An open room just off the main entrance, the winter garden room is open to the sky by a huge sky light, and citrus trees grow there inside all winter. Our roof top tour took us out onto the ledges with the gargoyles, onto balconies, and even into the attic. The views of the changing leaves were incredible. On the balcony just outside G. Vanderbilt’s bedroom our tour guide told us that when the property was purchased, Vanderbilt literally owned everything he saw from his bedroom window, as well as one-mile on the other side of Mt. Pisgah. Just after his death, his widow sold a lot of the land to the federal government in order to create Pisgah national forest, thus the view is actually better today than it was at the time it was bought when much of it was barren, used farm land.

Our tour dropped us off on the second floor right where we had left off in our self-guided exploration. There were just so many rooms and closets, servants’ quarters, a bowling alley, an indoor pool, multiple pantries, walk-in refrigerators, changing rooms, and more. There are 65 fireplaces but only 16 chimneys, giving testimony to the intricate flu system within the house. There is a contra postal staircase, an architectural technique that is actually used a lot in sculpture to counter balance heavy materials so that they support themselves. The indulgence in wealth and opulence was grotesque, but the use of natural materials, unique and antique furnishings, the plumbing, electrical work, and feats of engineering and planning were nothing short of amazing.


Photo 1: Gargoyle with human tushie.
Photo 2: Jon and I in the walled garden@Biltmore.