Candlelight Christmas at Biltmore (11/16/2021)

Tuesday, November 16, 2021

Using flight credits, we flew to Asheville, NC today. It's been a long time since we have traveled  by plane without having to make connecting flights!

Biltmore Village, located near the entrance to the Biltmore
Estate, was established as a "company town" for
estate workers, and was designed to resemble an
English country village with shops, train station,
church, school, and hospital, among other services

Lunch was at the Corner Kitchen (2004), once visited
(2010) by the Obamas, in a house (c 1895) that belonged to
the parents of Charles Waddell, the civil and electrical engineer
who designed and installed an electrical heating system
for George Vanderbilt at the Biltmore House

Kent tried a new Sierra Nevada IPA, Hazy Little Thing IPA

The Corner Kitchen is a Farm to Table
restaurant; the Gypsy Queen Falafel Wrap
with Bacon Pea Salad

Fried Green Tomato BLT with Bacon Pea Salad
(the waiter said, "BLT and P")

It was recommended that we visit the Grove Park Inn, so we made our way up Sunset Mountain. We arrived at the shaded side of the hotel, and were told our options were valet parking, or self-parking for $25. Whoa! A picture may be worth a thousand words, but $25?!

We drove along winding roads on the mountainside,
passing impressive Grove Park "cottages"

Finally, across the Grove Park Golf Course, we had
a glimpse of the Grove Park Inn (1912-1913, by
Fred Loring Seely, son-in-law of Edwin Wiley Grove,
in Arts and Crafts style including furnishings from
the Roycroft Artisan Community in East Aurora, NY)

After 16:30, we headed to the Biltmore Estate for the main event. While it took five minutes to drive to the entrance of the Biltmore Estate, you were to give yourself 45 minutes to reach the house along a three-mile winding road through a managed forest, conceived by Frederick Law Olmsted. As the landscape architect, Olmsted designed not only the entrance/approach drive, but all the formal and informal gardens, and also the layout of the Biltmore Village.

Rampe douce, a double terraced staircase that leads
to a grassy hill above the front lawn, had three
crumbling fountains in the main wall

The rampe douce walls were already lined
with lighted luminaria

View of the Biltmore House from the rampe douce; this
building is the largest single-family home in the country,
and the largest privately-owned house in the world
(being still owned by the descendents of George Vanderbilt)

A fountain is centered on the front lawn (KSS)

Biltmore House (1889-1895, by
Richard Morris Hunt, in French Château style
with French Gothic details)

A peek into the Italian Garden with a lotus pool

Wisteria arbor on the open loggia, and a view straight
down the Italian Garden

Fountain head on the loggia wall (KSS)

View from the South Terrace of the Biltmore House
and its wisteria arbor on the open loggia

The former stable and carriage house
now house a bakery and café, and shops

Tiffany-style lamp in the shop

It's getting dark and almost time for our
Candlelight Christmas Audio-guide Tour

Attempt at night photography with a nearly full moon (KSS)

The advantage of a "candlelight" tour is that you can see the lighted Christmas displays. The disadvantage is that it is too dark for photos.

The Billiards Room had two custom
oak billiard tables (1895)

The Banquet Hall with Organ Loft

Push button light switches

Breakfast Room with two paintings (the small ones on
the right) by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Young Algerian Girl
(c 1882) and Child with an Orange (c 1882)

Winter Garden with a pianist
playing holiday tunes

Tapestry Gallery decorated trees

One of three tapestries in the Tapestry Gallery,
The Triumph of Faith (1525-1535 in Flanders);
there are many tapestries throughout the house

Mr Vanderbilt's Bedroom fireplace;
yes - real fires in many of the fireplaces

George Washington Vanderbilt was the youngest child of industrialist William Henry Vanderbilt, and grandson of Cornelius Vanderbilt, who built his wealth in railroads and shipping. George Vanderbilt loved reading books, traveling, and collecting.

The Oak Sitting Room contained peculiar pieces of furniture,
with high backs and adjustable sides, based on the Knole 
Settee at Knole House in Kent, England

Mrs Vanderbilt's Bedroom in Louis XV style

George Vanderbilt was 36 years old when he married 25-year old Edith Stuyvesant Dresser in 1898 in Paris. In 1900 they had a daughter, Cornelia Stuyvesant Vanderbilt.

Third Floor Living Hall was for the guests

Santa on a vintage tricycle (KSS)

The Tyrolean Chimney Room, a guest room
named for the 18C Swiss porcelain tile overmantel

Louis XV Room with Rococo style furnishings
and velvet wallpaper and bedding

The Louis XV Bath is one of 43 bathrooms

A basement room painted by Cornelia Vanderbilt and
her husband, Honorable John Francis Amherst Cecil,
for a New Year's Eve party in 1925

Bowling Alley that used servants
to set up the pins

Swimming Pool was heated with underwater lighting

Servant's Bedroom

A Biltmore Gingerbread House in the Main Kitchen

The "Brown Laundry" (named for the brown enameled sinks)

The Drying Room with electric-heated drying racks for sheets

Biltmore House at night (note the luminaria!)

Next: Van Gogh Alive and Antler Hill Village.