The Biltmore House is one of the largest privately owned house in America. It was built forGeorge and Edith Vanderbilt between 1889 and 1895. The architecture was inspired by theFrench Renaissance Châteaux as Château de Blois, Chenonceau and Chambord. Andnowadays it has become a major tourist attraction in North Carolina, with 1.4million visitors each year. During our exchange trip we had the opportunity to visit this amazing historical estate-turned-into-a-museum
After lunch, we took a bus to move around the estate and get to the Biltmore house. All of us were really impressed by the size of the estate which is spreading out over several miles.
When we arrived, we were surprised by this giant house which strongly looked like our castle of the Loire Valley but in a more modern way. It is a beautiful house which looks more like a castle than a house. We first arrived in the hall of the house where there was an angel statue, surrounded by lot of plants under a glass roof. It was so pretty. Then, we visited the dining room with its big chimney and some tapestries on the wall, even if it is a big room, it is still darker than the other rooms. We couldn’t believe that only a family lived there because it is as big as a reception room.
The library is an impressive room because the walls are full of books, these are old books with a leather blanket. In the middle of the room, you can’t miss the numerous sofas and chairs to sit on and read a book. If we looked up, we could admire a replica of a renaissance painting on the roof, which was beautiful. There were also countless bedrooms (35) and George Vanderbilt’s gilded room was designed by Richard Morris Hunt and is connected to his wife’s room.
In the hall we also had access to the music room where a magnificent piano was standing, surrounded with art pieces. The lightning was incredible and the sun was shining through the whole room.
In the basement we visited many rooms. The ones that struck us the most were the indoor swimming pool, the bowling room and the gymnasium. There was also a room where they kept firearms and where they smoked. we could also admire the pool room, and even if it was really dark in there, the atmosphere made us feel like we were in the 1890’s. An other room that was striking was a room with strange paintings on the wall, there was a film being
shown and a sport to take pictures. The drawings on the walls were quite abstract and really strange but it made the room more interesting.
When we arrived to the kitchen and pantry area, we met an old man who started talking to us in french when he heard us speaking french. He was very nice and he told us a lot about the Biltmore House and asked where we were from in France. Apparently he knew our region thanks to the wine, and he had been a teacher in Angers, which is quite a coincidence since it’s really near Saumur. It was a really fun encounter!
When we finished the visit of the house we headed towards the garden and the greenhouse.
For that we crossed all the garden but because of the season everything was dead … However we had an incredible view of the landscape ; we could see the Blue Ridge Mountains and a beautiful view on Asheville’s valley. All we could see was the property of G.Vanderbilt.
Then we arrived in front of a big alley which led us to the greenhouse and we went inside. The climate was hotter and more wet because of the diversity of the plants to conserve. The greenhouse was divided in differents sections, we began by the « westerns plants » we saw some beautiful orchids and poppy and many other flowers. Then we continued in the exotic area and we saw bamboos, ferns, hibiscus and to finish we went in the desert section
and we saw a lot of differents kind of cactus.
The greenhouse was so huge we took a lot of time to visit it and also a lot of pictures and sometimes we met other french people. It was the occasion to warm up a bit because this friday was the coldest of our trip.
After finishing the tour of the house, the garden and the greenhouse, we went to the gift shops, we tried on funny hats, tasted some dressings with pretzels, and we chatted with the cashier in one of the shops, she tried speaking french and we taught her how to say hello and how to introduce herself. She was super nice like everyone that we came across at the estate.
Before leaving the estate we took a group picture with the house in the background, Jessica had to go all the way up the stairs to take the shot but the result is worth it!
It was a very great day and I think we all had a lot of fun and learned a lot of things.Moreover the weather was amazing, it allowed us to take beautiful pictures.
We are glad that we could visit the estate because at first we were not sure we could make it!
Valadour Nolwenn, Moreau Elise, Oriol Prémarose
