We're talking 101 bedrooms, 40 toilets... You get the idea! The family still owns the mansion and the grounds (over 25000 acres... they sold 90000 acres to the United States during the depression to create more cash) At that time, the family also started opening the mansion up for tourists and tours to help the local economy. The family also was a family... none of the snooty stuff you often associate with those with money. We spent about 5 hours on the grounds... which also included a tour of the Biltmore winery which was developed in the 70's.
We rented those little handheld tour recordings that really helped give more detail on what we were looking at. Interesting note, the animals heads on display in the billiards room, well, they weren't really from Mr Vanderbilt's hunting prowess... but were from a taxidermy in Tacoma... yes I said Tacoma... We were not allow to photograph inside the building... so no pics from the inside!
The gardens were beautiful as were the surround lakes and hillsides... they were all designed by Fredrick Law Ohlmsted... the same man that heavily influenced Fircrest's design... Interesting tidbit, right? Anyway... some pics of the grounds....which are very 'natural' for the most part.
For such a huge house, there really were not massive gardens like I would have expected... I mean, there were big gardens, but the real beauty was in the surrounding hillsides and mountains (that's what they call them... we would call them hills...heehee)
Loved this lone tree with it's leaves turning....
The Sunflowers were so pretty... have to take pics of those!
Statue of Cedric their St Bernard and their daughter Cornelia
Had some lunch then toured the winery... the above pic is the wine library... below explains it...
What an amazing mansion & estate! Terrific photos, can just imagine what the inside looks like. And a wine library to boot! Nice....
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