Biltmore Birthday Bash

For Ms. Hayes' birthday, she wanted to visit the famous Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina. George Vanderbilt started building the estate(house) in 1889 and it took six years to finish. There are 255 rooms, including a bowling alley, swimming pool, billiard room, gymnasium, 30 bedrooms, and 43 bathrooms. Can you imagine playing hide-and-go-seek in that house? There are even some hidden doors to get from one room to another.

Indoor swimming pool: the water was pumped four miles to the house from a mountain spring. The long black hose pumped steam into the water to keep it warm. The Vanderbilt's dog, Cedric, loved to jump in the pool when ever he could.

Bowling Alley: even though it only had two lanes many guests enjoyed playing while staying with the Vanderbilt's. The pins had to be set up by hand every time someone bowled.

George Vanderbilt's bedroom: each bedroom in the house was decorated very lavishly. In George's room each of the was was covered in 22carat gold. 

Nursery: Cornelia was born in this nursery along with her kids and grand kids being born in the same room.

Bedrooms: all of the bedrooms were elaborately decorated and themed. All of the curtains matched the beds and other furniture.

Kitchen: the house was very busy, but it included state-of-the-art technology to make the servants jobs  and time as efficient as possible. All of the pots in the kitchen are original to the house. This kitchen was the first in the area to have refrigerators.

Flower Room: the Biltmore was also famous for its gardens. Many of the flowers were cut and brought inside to decorate the home. The flowers were arranged in beautiful vases in this room.

The grand staircase was a beautiful way to travel through the four story home.

George was an avid reader, he had 23,000 books in his house and read an average of 80 books a year. Miss Hayes was a little envious of the library!  George married Edith Stuyvesant Dresser and they had one daughter, Cornelia. 

After a tour of the house we spent some time exploring the trails and land around the house.  We also made some time to have some homemade ice cream from the creamery at the estate. It was a wonderful day to spend celebrating a birthday! 

More adventures to come!