The Biltmore Estate,
Where even the catfish are elegant
October 6, 2011
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| Albino Catfish glides smoothly across the Bass Pool |
Another historical house under our belts... this time, the gilded Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina. Looking like an escapee from the Loire Valley, it emerges from the forests of the Smoky Mountains in cathedral-like splendor.
I believe I have mentioned before that if we can't take pictures it's like — We Weren‘t Even There. Visiting the Vanderbilt Biltmore Estate interior was just such an experience. Yes, the rooms were enormous and sumptuously furnished. There were elegant appointments such as Napoleon’s chess set, clumps of etchings by Dürer hanging about, a magnificent library, a seven story high ceiling in the dining hall, six or seven Sargent family portraits, a few Renoir's, (See the Renoir wanna be in our photo gallery.) a winter garden, 47 bathrooms... But without our photographs to look at and study for details, the largest home in America is just a beautiful blur to me... (The discussion about taking pictures and their meaning is reserved for another day.)
However, the grounds and gardens at Biltmore were fully open to our photographic plundering. It all felt somewhat familiar to us as Bernie and I had walked in Frederick Law Olmsted’s Central Park almost every day for 15 years and loved every curving path, open vista, elaborate little shelter and rustic bridge the park gave us to enjoy. The gardens, woods, and walkways at Biltmore were also designed by FLO. We went back to the estate a second time to just see the landscaping and formal gardens and to take pictures - All beautiful. The approach road, the woodland walkways, the bass pond and lagoon...it was like walking in Central Park again.
Olmsted Touches at Biltmore Estate (L) and in Central Park (R)
(click on the image to enlarge)
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Open Vistas: Across the Lagoon to the House and Across the Turtle Pond to the Castle |
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Man-made islands to enhance the visitor’s viewing experience |
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Naturalistic Bridges |
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Rustic Boat Houses... At Biltmore’s Bass Pond there lives an albino catfish, while in Central Park big orange carp have jumped at our hands when we put bread in the water. |
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Formal Gardens and Conservatory. Conservatory Water in Central Park was built to reflect a conservatory that was never built. |
The day we left, there were half a dozen gardeners planting over 16,000 chrysanthemums in the formal garden. The colors were arranged to create two dragonflies commemorating a show of Tiffany Glass being held on the grounds.
Another pleasant surprise that came with the price of admission was unlimited tastings at the winery on the estate. A bit of a happy bar scene seemed to be in progress when we arrived. Shortly after our first tastings, we hooked up with our new BFF’s - Mature Irish siblings visiting the United States... And the four of us moved smoothly from the tastings to the wine bar to the bistro...
Been there too, and was totally awestruck! Actually, the whole North Carolina mountain experience was interesting, Asheville especially. I hope you continue to have fun!
Ilo-mai
