Biltmore House, Asheville, NC

By Claire

Yesterday, we drove from sea level into the mountains that so captivated the original owner of Biltmore House.  We were blessed with increasingly lovely views of the change of seasons as we drove up into Asheville. 

Asheville is located in the Blue Ridge Mountains at the confluence of the Swannanoa River and the French Broad River.  Following the arrival of the railroad in 1880, Asheville became a renowned health resort and the destination of choice for a select group of rich and famous Americans.  The climate of Asheville is a humid subtropical climate, resembling the rest of the southeastern U.S., but with noticeably cooler temperatures due to the higher altitude.  In 2007, Asheville was named one of the top seven places to live in the U.S. by Frommer's Cities Ranked and Rated.  It was also named one of the world's top 12 must-see destinations for 2007 by Frommer's travel guides.

Last night we found something unusual:  a Cuban restaurant in a southern town.  We had already passed on the Thai place that offered catfish and fried chicken in their dishes.  I guess it was southern Thai.

Before dinner drinks:  Cuban coffee, cordidito, for Chuck and a Mojito for Claire

 

We both ordered the Cuban bowl:  plantains, rice, beans, corn and pulled pork

 

Up bright and early this morning, we arrived at the Will Call office of the Biltmore House to pick up our tickets.  They were a horrifying $49 each and that was with a $10 discount for ordering them early.  But, they included much more than just the house.  

Some facts about the house:  It is a Châteauesque-styled mansion in Asheville, North Carolina, built by George Washington Vanderbilt II between 1889 and 1895. It is the largest privately owned home in the United States, at 175,000 square feet and featuring 250 rooms, including 99 bedrooms. I'm not sure if that includes the 43 bathrooms.  The dining room alone is 3,000 square feet.  Let's just say it's huge and magnificent.  The estate included its own village, today called Biltmore Village.

Inside the house, was a heated swimming pool, a gymnasium with changing rooms, showers, a rowing machine, parallel bars, Indian clubs and medicine balls.  There is also a bowling alley.  The laundry room contains a belt-driven barrel washer as well as a dryer.  There is a pastry kitchen, a rotisserie kitchen, and a main kitchen.  Vanderbilt had a passion for books and his library contained nearly half of his 23,000-volume collection, attesting to the 1900 quote from a New York journalist that Vanderbilt was "the best read man in the country."  Because he had inherited his wealth, he had the time and resources for his passions which also included art collecting and travel all over the world.  He traveled to Europe 60 times.

 

George Vanderbilt was a bachelor when he opened Biltmore House on Christmas Eve, 1895; he fell in love with Edith Stuyvesant Dresser in 1897 when they found themselves on a ship to Europe.  They were married in Paris in 1898 and toured Europe on their honeymoon.  They had one daughter, Cornelia, in 1900.  He died of complications during an appendectomy in 1914 at age 51.

Side view looking over forest

Blue Ridge Mountains in the distance

 

Frederick Law Olmstead designed the extensive garden, advising Vanderbilt to have a park, small garden and forest. The estate was originally 195,000 acres and includes a 15 acre Azalea garden, a rose garden with 50 varieties, an Italian garden featuring classical statuary and three formal winter gardens, a shrub garden that consists of more than 500 varieties, a spring garden, and a 4 acre walled garden.

 

Conservatory

 

Inside the Conservatory

 

Gardener's Cottage

 

One of many bridges throughout the park

 

Bald Cypress with strange growths beneath

 

Chuck in the Boat House on the Bass Pond

 

Boat House

 

 

You can walk for miles

 

Bass Pond -- bridge in the distance was seen in the movie "Last of the Mohicans"

  

Another bridge to cross

 

Interesting lily pads in the Italian Garden

Close-up of circling stairs

 

View from loggia

 

Chuck on the loggia

Loggia

Our tickets included a visit to Antler Hill Village & Winery with free tastings and a look at one of George's famous cars, a 1913 Stevens-Duryea, one of only 10 in existence.

 

Antler Hill Village with pleasant live music playing in the small pavilion. Above is the Inn on Biltmore Estate.

This was our last stop.  We were lucky to have another picture-perfect blue sky and sunshine day; yesterday was cloudy and rainy most of the way on our 6-plus hour drive from Wrightsville Beach.  We were among the first visitors to enter the main house at 9am and finally left the grounds at 4:30pm.  We had not seen everything we had hoped; but, we were both bone-tired and eminently satisfied.  It was well worth the long drive out of our way.

If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero

Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina

By Claire

We arrived at Wrightsville Beach to visit my mom and to see the place she has moved into with my sister, Dana, and her husband, Tom.  It was nice to have several days off from driving and seeing the sights.  We spent a fair amount of time on the beach, even swimming Sunday morning.  The sand is fine and very white.

Ocean view from the condo

 

Three Daughtrys at the other house

Tom and Dana

 

The beach 

 

Cute guy I found along the way

 

Cute gal he found along the way (Chuck comment)

 

Sunrise this morning

 

We left a little after 8 am this morning and with a quick stop for lunch, made it to Asheville, NC at 2:45 pm.  It was an easy drive.  We are now in the mountains where we will visit Biltmore House, tomorrow.  This was really off the beaten path for us and way out of our way--it's west of Wrightsville Beach, very close to Tennessee--but Chuck has never seen this place and I still remember being so impressed with it when I saw it 21 years ago.

We drove into the town with a plan to do a 1.7 mile historic walk.  The map they gave us made no sense so we just wandered around.  This photo shows that we are finally really seeing the colors and it also shows a church that boasts an unsupported dome that you can't see in this picture.  We came "home" to rest up and relax for our big day tomorrow.

 

The cure for anything is salt water - sweat, tears, or the sea ~ Isak Dinesen

Shenandoah Valley and Jefferson's Monticello

By Claire and Chuck

Claire:
I need to comment on our wonderful, 4 course dinner last night.  It was a perfect setting--quiet, elegant--until I heard the voice.  Yes, the cell phone voice.  A guy, sitting alone, was speaking loudly into his cell phone, telling someone about his mother's fall and the excruciating details of her injuries and medical problems. For example:  "Yes, my mother had a fall today and she's in the hospital.  She's confused and may have A URINARY TRACT INFECTION.  I visited with her for awhile and they ran some tests to see if she has a URINARY TRACT INFECTION.  We'll get the results tomorrow about the URINARY TRACT INFECTION."  Blessedly, he finally finished his conversation and put his attention on his dinner.  Other than that...

We lounged around this morning, leaving around 9:30.  If only we'd known.  Our destination was Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's home at the end of Skyline Parkway in the Shenandoah Valley.  The day promised to be gorgeous, with bright blue sky and lots of sun.  Perfect.  Except we missed a turn and found ourselves on the Zachary Taylor Highway.  We discovered this AFTER sitting in a one lane construction zone waiting for our turn to continue.  Which meant that after turning around we had to sit in it again.  At this point, we were beginning to panic.  We had tour reservations for 3 pm and according to Vicky, we were not going to make it.  I pulled out my cell phone and found the dreaded "searching..."  No signal.  For miles.  And miles.  The good news was, it was beautiful, but only 35 mph and naturally, we just wanted to hightail it out of there.  I mean, after 3 hours, haven't you seen enough?  How about driving behind a behemoth motor home.  It's like driving with a wall in front of you.  In spite of this, we did see some great things even though the colors have not reached their peak; the change of seasons officially started today and goes through October 25.

One of the lovelier sights of our trip down the Shenandoah Valley

 

 Skyline Drive, Virginia

 

Still Truckin'

 

 Colors just beginning to come in

 

 Pretty, pretty

 

 The sole tunnel on Skyline Drive, Mary's Rock

 

 Jaunty driver with sporty vehicle

 

We had a beautiful, clear day as you can see

 

 More color

 

Color

 

At 3 pm, exactly, we blew out of the valley and into the land of civilization and a cell phone connection!  Fortunately, they told me we could do the 4 pm tour instead.  We arrived, grabbed our tickets and even had time for a quick snack at the café before jogging up the stairs to catch the shuttle. 

Chuck:

I lived in Washington, D.C. for six years but never took the time to visit Monticello.  Today, I was able to achieve that goal.  Thomas Jefferson was a brilliant and unique individual; among his many talents was that of inventor and innovator.  A self-taught architect, he took 40 years to construct and revise Monticello.  He also planned the University of Virginia.  On a lesser scale, he designed many household gadgets for his home.  He seemed to love clocks and had several of his own innovations throughout the house; unfortunately, inside photography is not allowed.  One of his devices was an ice house that could keep ice frozen for up to 11 months.  In his study, he had a lazy susan bookholder that allowed him to read among 5 books by simply flicking a wrist.  But, the most fun invention was a double dumbwaiter for bringing up wine bottles from the cellar to the dining room--on both sides of the fireplace. 

Cabin Jefferson and his wife lived in during the construction of Monticello

 

 Monticello

 

Fish pond

 

Front view

 

Privy--1 of 2--inside were chamber pots

Kitchen

 

Grounds

 

We joined a garden tour after the house tour.  This is the garden pavilion.

 

 

Kitchen gardens

 

Another view

 

West lawn, or what we would call the front yard

 

Section of the flower garden bordering the West Lawn

 

 View across the West Lawn

 

Grave of the third President of the U.S.  This is a family gravesite, owned by Jefferson's descendents to this day.  Note that Jefferson chose not to include President of the United States among the achievements listed on his monument.  Instead he listed:  Author of the Declaration of American Independence of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom and Father of the University of Virginia.  It is interesting to note that TJ died 50 years to the date after the signing of the Declaration of Independence--within hours of the death of his friend and sometime adversary, John Adams.  I have always enjoyed knowing that his initials and my son's are the same--though I am the only person who calls him TJ. 

 

Our Greek Platter.  Fry's Spring Station was a fortunate discovery, prior to reaching our hotel.  We opted to share this and a pizza.  We wanted to eat outside; but, it was cool, so we sat beneath a heating lamp and nursed our hot tea while we waited for the main course.  We were greatly surprised when we were visited, in turn, first by our waiter, then the manager and, finally, the chef--each asking about our satisfaction with the meal and engaging in general conversation about our visit.

Ingredients piled on pita bread--delicious

 

The remainder of our scrumptious Margherita pizza

 

I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered at the White House - with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.  ~ John F. Kennedy  "Remarks at a Dinner Honoring Nobel Prize Winners of the Western Hemisphere." April 29, 1962.