A Tour of Biltmore House
by Sandra Russell
by Sandra Russell
Last weekend, my sister agreed to drive me to a memorial service. She
wanted to see a grand mansion located a few miles away from that event, and so
we went. It was on her "bucket list" to see The Biltmore House dressed up in lights for
Christmas. We got there early in the morning of our scheduled tour. The
driveway to the house was over two miles long, much of it lined with low
limestone walls, and neatly trimmed grass in front of thick forested hills. The
entire estate takes up 8,000 acres and the views and vistas are grand.
After our tour we saw signs along the road not noticed on the way in -
"Goats at work", then we saw a pasture of goats sort of lying idle.
But thought must be the groundskeeper’s goats? All I can say about the house
itself is that it is huge and beautiful, after climbing some of the steep
stairs and feeling the muscles in the back of my legs stiff the next day, could
only imagine what strength it would have taken to be a maid in that house,
running water and chamber pots, laundry and firewood up and down those stairs
all day!
I did enjoy seeing the
greenhouses both in the house and further afield. More steps and brick
pathways had us stepping through three sculpture gardens and a pergola covered
in grapevines. It was a misty morning and cool, so the clear light and warm
temperatures of the greenhouses filled with all manner of color combinations to
see was a contrast to the foggy grey skies of early morning. Flowers, flowers,
and more flowers; bulb flowers, orchids and shrubs bearing purple and pink fish
shaped flowers, pineapple plants and bamboo stalks gave the feeling of being in
summer, in some exotic location.
When driving home the next day and looking at the Tennessee mountains,
we laughed at how much the scene looked like Chinese scroll paintings, the
mountains rising so sharp and upright against the deep ravines and the clouds
of the sky sitting all around us. It's been a long time since I was in the
mountains, so used to our rolling hills of SE Ohio. The six-hour drive took us
far from what is familiar. I have included a couple of photos I took with my
phone of the Orchids at the greenhouse.
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| Biltmore House, Asheville, North Carolina USA Photos by Sandra Russell |
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