Asheville, North Carolina

Both friends and family suggested we pay a visit to Asheville, North Carolina, so we reserved a few nights at a nearby KOA. It had been snowing just the right amount - you know, where there's snow in the grass but not on the roads? We took the liberty to explore the trails of the KOA where we got our walking in and our snow fix all at the same time.

Asheville is probably best known for the Biltmore House, which opened on Christmas Eve of 1895 and is known today as "America's Largest Home."

Would you believe it got its name because they built more than anybody else? Well you wouldn't be far off. Heehee...



The Biltmore is a 250-room French chateau that weighs in at 175,000 square feet. It has 43 bathrooms - which was rare because most homes at that time didn't have one bathroom IN their home! It also has 21 rooms for servant quarters. Most servants were allowed 2 hours off every day, but were still on call. They received one afternoon and one evening off per week, and a half day every other Sunday. So who's house was it?


The owner was George W. Vanderbilt (grandson to Cornelius Vanderbilt - of Vanderbilt University and The Breakers in Newport, RI). He and his wife, Edith Stuyvesant Dresser, had only one child, Cornelia, who was born in the house in 1900. George Vanderbilt died in 1914 of complications from an appendectomy. Ten years later, their daughter Cornelia married the Honorable John Francis Amherst Cecil. The Cecil's opened the house to the public in 1930, and today it is owned by George W. Vanderbilt's grandson - William A.V. Cecil. The house employs 1800 workers to manage the estate.



Of course who owns a 250-room chateau and doesn't have land? The Vanderbilt estate consists of about 8000 acres, offering beautiful views of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Besides the house, there are approximately 75 acres of gardens, a winery, a farm, and a 213-room hotel all located on the estate. We spent the entire day exploring.

First off we visited "The House." The staff were in the process of taking down the Christmas decorations, and we could only imagine how much more beautiful it would have been while decorated.

Richard Morris Hunt was the architect of Biltmore. He made an architectural model of the Biltmore House to show Vanderbilt his proposal. It was built in 1889 and stands in the house on the original oak cabinet. By the way, Hunt also designed The Breakers in Newport, RI in 1893 as requested by another Vanderbilt - Cornelius Vanderbilt II. He also redesigned the Vanderbilt mausoleum at the Moravian Cemetery in 1885. Hunt was a busy guy - talk about a referral system!

Here's a sampling of what you'll find in the house:

• Original oak tables were made in 1895
• Vanderbilt loved books and collected more than 10,000 volumes in 8 languages.
• He also collected prints and has over 1600 woodcuts, engravings, and etchings.
• The nation's first bowling alley in a private residence
• A 70,000-gallon indoor pool was heated and still has its original underwater lighting.
• And a gym - where we saw wooden barbells, a cable weight machine (we used a modern version while training to climb the mountains!), and an 18th century rowing machine!

After touring the "house," we drove to the winery and did a red wine and chocolate tour - Yum! Who knew there was a science to properly pairing red wine with dark chocolate? Somehow they did it. And it was tasty.

Ice surrounding a chain near the River Bend Farm.

Without knowing it, we saved our favorite part of the estate for last: The River Bend Farm. It was once the center of the estate's farming community, and today gives a good glimpse into life in the early 1900's. They have craft demonstrations, barnyard animals, antique farm equipment, and a kitchen garden. Most of it was closed since it was off-season, but we got to visit the "family-friendly animals," as they call them. The small enclosure had a nice sampling: chickens, bunnies, goats, a donkey, and two horses. We even got to meet pygmy goats! We didn't even know there was such a thing. As adults, they were about 16 inches tall. They were cute and all, but I can't imagine milking them! Heehee.




The photo above is of Richie and Kieffer pear trees. The trees (not Richie) are trained to grown in this candelabra Espalier (pronounced es-pal-yeah) system. The system was developed to take advantage of the warmth next to the garden walls or the side of a building. It was was used to produce figs in ancient Egypt, and was popular in Europe in the late 1600's. It takes about 4 years to train them to this shape.

Monkey See... Monkey Do!