Visiting Biltmore Estate

A few years ago I had the opportunity to visit the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC.  The original owner who oversaw the construction was George Washington Vanderbilt II.  Construction started in 1889 and ended 6 years later in 1895 and is still the largest privately owned house in the United States.  With insane specifications like 178,926 square feet of floor space (135,280 square feet of living area), 34 individual bedrooms and 43 bathrooms, guests are given maps of the houses floor plans with directions on which way to proceed through the house.  

I really enjoyed how each room had a different and unique theme that the Biltmore’s had decorated with antiques and artwork from around the world.  The estate also includes a huge indoor swimming pool, full size gymnasium, and bowling alleys in the basement level.  With all the different rooms and hallways to wander, its recommended you give yourself 5 hours to fully see the estate.  

After walking the inside of the mansion for a few hours, I was ready to go outside and see the garden, which turned out to be one of my favorite places on the property.  I was simply underprepared for how enormous, yet well manicured, the different gardens were.  There are companies of landscapers who only work in the Biltmore gardens.  You can see why when if you walk the 30 miles of paved walkways through 8,000 acres of beautifully managed gardens and woodland. All of this boarders the property’s 250-acre deer reserve.  

I enjoyed taking in all the sights of excess and beautifully crafted architecture, but I couldn’t shake the feeling of such obscene excess of wealth in what I thought was used to create this mans personal castle, a shrine to his families heritage and wealth.  It was a very different time back in the late 1800’s, but I still can imagine a lot of ways the Vanderbilt's could have used their wealth to help others who were not as fortunate. And I think actually seeing the estate in person reinforced this idea.  That being said, I would recommend touring Biltmore estates just to see such a magnificent achievement of human architecture.