Asheville, NC & Biltmore House

FRI., OCT 13 thru WED., OCT 18, 2023

We crossed into North Carolina and traveled 138 miles south to arrive at Campfire Lodgings located in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Asheville. The campground sits on 100 forested acres with a few trails woven into the grounds. Upon our arrival, we had to drive a winding 1/2 mile road to get to the top of Goldview Knob which is where Campfire Lodgings is located. Photos don’t do the 1/2 mile road justice. There were some narrow twisty turns! Signs along the road offer encouragement such as “keep going,”  “almost there,” “swing wide” and finally “welcome!” Once we reached the top, our reward was a nice deck that came with our site. In addition there were some amazing views for all to enjoy from the sunset patio at the campground. 

This is a gorgeous area, particularly at this time of year with cool temps and leaves changing! Gary and I had the added fun of Ellen & Wayne visiting us from New Hampshire. We spent time with them at their nearby house rental, and they visited us at our tiny home. Plus Cheryl & Joe got to meet Ellen & Wayne for the first time, and the six of us spent an enjoyable day together! Gary spent one-on-one time with his bro walking the Urban Trail in downtown Asheville. I got playtime with my sis, and the “Troy four” got to hang out and catch-up just like old times. 

The four of us also visited the amazing Folk Art Center of the Southern Highland Craft Guild. The Guild, established in 1930, covers the Appalachian Region of 9 southeastern states. The Folk Art Center is a combination museum with the best “gift shop” I’ve ever been in. It’s a must see if you enjoy handcrafts. The Guild has maintained a permanent collection since 1938. It includes over 4700 objects. It’s the second oldest Guild in the country behind the League of NH Craftsmen in New Hampshire. I feel blessed to have visited both! And later that day, Ellen & Wayne introduced us to the adorable town of Weaverville where we had a fun linner at the Twisted Laurel. 

On Monday, Oct. 16, (2023) Cheryl, Joe, Gary & I visited the Biltmore House, America’s Largest Home! Ellen & Wayne had visited previously so they sat this one out. Biltmore is enormous… and yet inviting and warm. No small achievement.

Some of the statistics are staggering: 250 rooms, 65 fireplaces, 43 bathrooms, and 33 guest bedrooms. Biltmore’s foundation walls are 29 ft deep and 14 ft wide. 10 million pounds of limestone and 132,000 board feet of red and white oak were used in the construction of the home.

George Vanderbilt officially opened Biltmore on Christmas Eve, 1895. The property once covered 125,000 acres, now it’s 8,000 acres… much of the property was sold to the federal government to create Pisgah National Forest. The 250-room French Renaissance Chateau required 6 years of construction and around 1,000 workers. Richard Morris Hunt was the architect. Frederick Law Olmsted was the landscape architect who also designed Central Park in NYC.

Per Joe, it cost $5,000,000 to build which is equivalent to $189,000,000 today. It was home to George, his wife, Edith, and their daughter Cornelia. The estate was opened to the public in 1930 as a way to generate income to preserve it. Today the 4th and 5th generations of George’s descendants are involved in the operations of Biltmore along with 2,400 employees.  

Gary described it as “this is about as close as we get to a castle in this country.” I think he’s right. So worth a visit… we were here many years ago during December but that tour focused more on the Christmas decorations than the house itself. On this visit, Biltmore was just beginning to be decorated for Christmas. They will have 69 Christmas trees in total when the decorating is complete… not to mention the 65 fireplace mantles decorated. Wow. 

Some interesting aspects of the home:

• The Banquet Hall has a 7-story high ceiling and Flemish tapestries dating back to the mid-1500s. Dinner parties would last several hours and could be 7-10 courses. Dinner was served at 8PM sharp!
• The library was George Vanderbilt’s favorite room in the house. He had a collection of over 22,000 books and he chose each one. Roughly half are on display in the library.
• The Tapestry Gallery is 90 ft long and covered in Flemish tapestries made of silk and wool that are 500 years old and took 5 years to design and 5 years to weave. 
• The bed in George Vanderbilt’s bedroom is a 400-year-old Portuguese Baroque-style 4 poster bed.
• There are 2,000 etchings, engravings and prints in the Biltmore collection. 450 are on display in the home. Not to mention paintings by Monet, Renoir, John Singer Sargent and others.
• The Third Floor Living Room was where the guests congregated before breakfast (8 am) and before dinner (8 pm) to visit with one another.
• Biltmore has one of the nation’s first bowling alleys installed in a private residence. A servant had to set the pins up and then somehow avoid getting hit by a ball being thrown. Automatic pin setters weren’t yet invented.
• Guests painted the basement walls. They look like murals.
• The 70,000-gallon indoor pool was heated and still has original underwater lighting.
• There were a dozen dressing rooms located by the gym and pool. It was a no-no to walk around in work-out clothes or bathing costumes.
• There was a fully equipped gym with parallel bars, weights, and “needle baths” along the back wall that were the equivalent of modern shower massages.
• Servants bedrooms were comfortably furnished, heated, and were private rooms, which was unusual for the time. Servants were paid well for the area and received one afternoon and one evening off per week and half day every other Sunday.
• A dozen workers staffed the kitchen.
• The home’s stables have been turned into The Stable Café. We had “linner” there. Awesome space!! 

The estate also has extensive gardens, a winery, and a rotating “multi-sensory experience.” This one was called Italian Renaissance Alive. We found it to be a bit gimmicky… lots of screens (on the walls and floor) in a theater-type building with rotating imagery. Nothing like our experience in France where we saw a multi-sensory experience of Van Gogh paintings in an underground quarry. Now that was amazing! 

We’ve enjoyed another wonderful stay in this fabulous city. We’ve been fortunate to have visited Asheville a few times. It was made even more special this time as we were able to re-connect with Ellen & Wayne! 

Now we move on to a state park in Gainesville, Georgia.