Biltmore Estate--Not Just a House

A family home in the mountains of North Carolina…what do you think of when you read those words? A cabin with a wide front porch and a dog lying sprawled in front of a rocking chair? A ski lodge with a high-peaked roof and fancy wood cut-outs hanging from the eaves? How about if I tell you that the “family” in “family home” is the Vanderbilts? Change your mental picture?

I recently visited Biltmore Estate outside Ashville, North Carolina. Even though I knew that Biltmore belonged to the Vanderbilt family, I wasn’t prepared for the splendor and elegance sitting in the North Carolina hills.

The estate is far more than just a house—although calling the main structure “just a house” is somewhat like saying that Stephen King is “just a writer.” The first encounter with the estate is at the gate, although calling the reception center a gate is kind of like…well, you get the picture.

The admission price of $33.00 is pretty impressive, too—but it certainly doesn’t seem to discourage visitors. We were there on a weekday, and still had to maneuver around lots of other tourists. We had to stand in one of several ticket lines for a little while for the privilege of giving them $66.00. The reception center also includes a scale model of the entire estate, which is handy for orienting yourself, and a small theater where you can watch a video giving an introduction to the estate.

This is, as you might imagine, a major operation. If you’ve done the little tours of, say the First White House of the Confederacy, or the Millionaire’s cottages on Jekyll Island, don’t expect the same kind of experience. This is big.

The 250-room house is a French chateau that covers four acres of floor space. Tourists are allowed access to about 60 of the rooms on self-guided tours that take about 1½ hours. For an extra fee, one can rent tape players with headphones and programs that give background information, although we found the 15-page guide given with our ticket to be more than sufficient. For those who wish additional information, there are staffers positioned all along the route; they were eager to provide any information requested, and seemed quite knowledgeable.

How can I describe the house? Many of the rooms are large and sumptuous beyond imagination. One room, for instance, has walls covered with embossed leather halfway down, red marble the rest of the way to the floor. Another—the banquet hall—has its own pipe organ. Most rooms contain intricate details in the woodwork and the ceilings. The library holds 10,000 books on its two levels. Everywhere, one can see priceless 16th century Flemish tapestries and art by famous names such as Sargent, Whistler, and Durer. Unbelievable!

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