Visiting the Biltmore Estate

We spent an entire Saturday at the Biltmore Estate. Several months ago, when I bought the tickets, I wasn’t sure what all we would see or how much time we would need. Now I know why it costs almost $100 a person, not only do you get to see a beautiful home set in a beautiful location, but you also get a history lesson, a wine tasting, beautiful gardens to explore and acres and acres of land to drive or hike. There are also several restaurants and shops.

Here are some interesting facts about the estate and its owner.

• George Vanderbilt II built the house from 1889 to 1895. It remains one of the most prominent examples of Gilded Age mansions.
• Vanderbilt was born in 1862 in Staten Island, New York and was the grandson of famed industrialist and philanthropist Cornelius “Commodore” Vanderbilt.
• Biltmore House is America’s largest home spanning 175,000 square feet, which is more than four acres of floor space. The 250-room French Renaissance chateau includes 35 bedrooms, 43 bathrooms, and 65 fireplaces.
• Biltmore House had electricity from the time it was built, though initially with DC, due to Vanderbilt’s friendship with Thomas Edison. 
• While the current acreage is approximately 8,000 acres, during George Vanderbilt’s lifetime it was approximately 125,000 acres and included property later sold to the federal government to create Pisgah National Forest, one of the first national forests east of the Mississippi.
• In order to facilitate such a large project, a woodworking factory and brick kiln, which produced 32,000 bricks a day, were built onsite. A three-mile railroad spur was constructed to bring materials to the building site. Construction on the main house required the labor of about 1,000 workers and 60 stonemasons
• Biltmore opened to the public in 1930. The family lived in a wing until the 50s, then it became only a historic house museum.
• In 1942, 62 paintings and 17 sculptures were moved to the estate by train from the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. to protect them in the event of an attack on the United States.
• The basement, which is the largest in the U.S., features activity rooms, including an indoor, 70,000-gallon heated swimming pool with underwater lighting, a bowling alley, and a gymnasium with once state-of-the-art fitness equipment. The basement also holds the main kitchen, pastry kitchen, rotisserie kitchen, walk-in refrigerators that provided an early form of mechanical refrigeration, the servants’ dining hall, laundry rooms, and additional bedrooms for staff.

You can see more photos here.