Biltmore Day 2

Day 2 of our visit to Biltmore, started out at the Main House.  It is really impressive to see.  You travel up this wooded winding 2 mile road and all of a sudden, there it is.  You can't see it the entire trip up. 

I can only imagine what people thought when it opened in 1895.  As impressive as it is to see now, back then it must have been amazing to see.  The house had full plumbing and electricity from the first day it was built.

We decided that first we would walk up the giant hill in front of the home.  Doesn't look too bad from this shot.

This is really how far away we were.  It was a steep climb, but so worth the view.  And as we were the only ones up there, I had to set the timer on the camera to get this shot. 

They turned the old stable area into shops and small cafe's.  The area above the stables with the windows were the male servant quarters.  One thing I found interesting was the clock on top of the stables.

This clock was the main clock for all servants.  All of the clocks in the servant areas of the house were wired and linked to this clock.  That way, all clocks had the same time and no one would have an excuse to be late. 

We took a walk around the side of the house and into the garden area.  From here the house almost looks like a large home instead of the 4 acres of living space that it actually is!

You are not allowed to photograph the interior of the home.  They are trying to preserve how the home looked at the time it was lived in and even with the amount of people entering every day, they have done a great job.

Jeff and I also took a Behind the Scenes Tour of how the servants lived and worked at Biltmore.  It was my favorite part!  You learn to understand that wall color would let you know if you were in a servants area or a guest area.  We traveled to the basement to view the huge coal furnaces that heated the home.  Can't imagine having that job!

There isn't enough information that they can currently piece together in regards to what it cost to build the home.  However, there are two elevators in the home.  One is the servant elevator that stops at every level from the basement up.  From discussions with Otis Elevators, they know that elevator cost $250 fully installed back in 1894!

Day 2 will have to be split into two posts!  Wait until you hear about our dinner!  Oh my!