Biltmore Estates

A Day at Biltmore Estates

         If you ever are in the western part of North Carolina, I highly suggest that you take a day to go and visit the biggest family estate in the United States of America. It's named Biltmore Estates, the estate is said to be "8,000 acres" and on that massive piece of land you can find a large man-made forest, a farming village, the Bilmore Estate Winery, an inn, the Biltmore Garden, and last but definitely not least, the Biltmore House.
         I went to visit the house today, and it's not the first time I've been there. There's just something about the place that makes me want to keep going back for more, even though I'll just see the same thing over and over again.
         It was George Washington Vanderbilt III who paid a visit to the quiet location of Asheville, NC in 1888 and started purchasing land, and a year later construction on the Biltmore home began. It took exactly six years to complete just the house.
         There are a total of 250 rooms and each one as grand as the next. Of course I only had the chance to see 70 of the 250 rooms, including their bathrooms, which isn't even a fourth of the house. If I wanted to see more of the place I could pay an extra $15.00 to "go behind the scenes" which is something I'll want to consider next time.
         There are two ways you can choose from, when you start your tour through the house. You can just use the booklet guide they hand you, OR you can pay an extra $7.00 and get a pair of headphones and a have a guided tour that way. I paid the extra $7.00, and boy was it worth it. I've done it before without, but with the headphone you see and learn so much more than you would by just walking through it with the booklet.
         After preparing myself for the headphone tour, I dialed the number for the first room, obviously the number one. From there I was on my way. I started off in the Entrance Hall, then walked past the Winter Garden, located in the center of the Entrance Hall, and then made my way into the Billiard Room. Each room had a story to tell the the headphones told that story with such realism that you thought you were almost being given a tour by the Head Butler of the Biltmore House.
         Like I said there were about 70 rooms that I toured through so I'm not about list all 70. That you'll have to discover for yourself by going there. However, I will tell you that my all time favorite part of the house is the Basement. That's where you get to see the Vanderbilts' very own bowling alley, indoor swimming pool, and gym. There were other rooms down there too, but those three were my favorite places in the entire mansion. I could just imagine being a guest back in the late 19th, early 20th century, and being able to just take the elevator down to the basement and go bowling with the George Vanderbilt.
         Anyway, after walking through the entire house, which takes approximately two and a half hours to complete, I was so hungry. So I went with my family to dine in the Stable Cafe. It's called this because back when the house was built, it was actually none other than the stables where they kept all of their horses. Don't worry it hasn't been that way for decades, so the smell of horses is long gone, and it's replaced by the fantastic smell of Bourbon Barbecued Spare-ribs. I myself had the rotisserie chicken, which was an excellent choice. It really hit the spot, but of course I saved room for an ice-cream cone from the Ice-Cream Parlor.
         So all in all it was definitely NOT a day wasted. I highly recommend everyone to come and explore this piece of great American history at least once in their life. And if my opinion of it didn't sell you, you should watch the movie "Richie Rich", the one with Macaulay Culkin, because the house that he lives in, in the movie, is none other than...Biltmore House.