On The Road to Asheville North Carolina

Asheville North Carolina is known for its scenic Blue Ridge Mountains and the incredible Biltmore Estate - both of which we have visited on our first two days exploring this small but vibrant city!

Sara and I at Looking Glass Falls, Pisgah National Forest

Back story - we had originally planned on flying to CA and driving up and down the coast visiting the various National Parks - with the price of gas out of control and inflation everywhere, we switched gears. Our dear friends Bart and Vickie Shore had moved to Brevard NC last year and had been asking us to visit for about that long! The timing worked out at both ends, so here we are for the week! After that we’ll be driving to Shenandoah National Park to complete our fill of visiting a couple National Parks.

Bart Shore, Sara and I along Blue Ridge Parkway

Upon our arrival Monday, Bart graciously drove us through Pisgah National Forest and just a small portion of mile-high peaks, cascading waterfalls and hundreds of miles of trails. It is also home to the first piece of land purchased that led to the creation of the National Forests in the eastern United States. It was my first look at the Blue Ridge Mountains. Even through the clouds, the site was majestic.

Today, Sara and I had the pleasure of visiting the Biltmore Estates, the largest privately-owned house in the United States and the third largest in the world! The current property is 8,000 acres - that’s 12.5 square miles - to put it in perspective, it’s about three times the size of Oak Park, IL!

We started our tour at the extensive gardens which were designed by ***Chicago connection*** Frederick Law Olmsted! Known as America’s foremost landscape architect, in the Chicago area he first designed the parklands and curvy streets of Riverside, then worked for the South Park Commission, which gave birth to Washington Park and Jackson Park and Midway Plaisance. He developed master plans for the University of Chicago and his crown jewel, along with Daniel Burnham, was the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893. His final and most revered work, the landscape design at Biltmore.

Portrait of Frederick Law Olmsted at Biltmore Estate

Biltmore Estate Gardens - Italian Garden

Stop and smell the roses - Biltmore Gardens

Witherspoon hybrid Tea Rose - Biltmore Garden

We spent the most time touring the Biltmore home. George Vanderbilt began construction in 1889. The French Renaissance home opened in 1895 with 250 rooms, including 35 bedrooms, 43 bathrooms, 65 fireplaces, a bowling alley, pool and exercise room! The home is still owned by Vanderbilt’s descendants - in it you’ll see the family’s original collection of art, furniture, tapestries and more.

Billiard Room inside Biltmore House (table weighs more than one ton!)

Dining Room (Banquet Hall) inside Biltmore House - 70 ft. high ceiling, table seats 38! Flemish tapestries are from the 1500s.

Breakfast Room Biltmore House - Secret door behind the two Renoir portraits to the right! It was to allow servants to enter with hot meals!

The library at Biltmore house has more than 22,000 volumes!

William Amherst Vanderbilt Cecil Family Portrait - Biltmore House

Who’s who in the family portrait - Biltmore House

Swimming Pool - Biltmore House (rumored to be haunted!)

Little known fact - in 1942 the music room was secretly home to dozens of paintings and sculptures from the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. to protect them in the event of an attack on the United States during WWII.

It took 6 years and over one thousand laborers to build Biltmore with materials such as limestone from Indiana to marble from Europe.

Mt. Pisgah was once part of the estate. When George Vanderbilt died unexpectedly in 1914 at the age of 51, his wife Edith sold 86,700 acres to the U.S. government; the land became part of Pisgah National Forest.

View of Pisgah National Forest from Biltmore House overlook

Vanderbilt’s grandson, William Cecil took over management of Biltmore in 1960. In 1971 Cecil began steps to create a vineyard. This included converting the dairy structure into a state-of-the-art winery which opened to the pubic in 1985. Today, it is said to be the most visited winery in the U.S. Of course we had to do a wine tasting!