The estate is 6950.4 acres or 10.86 square miles with Biltmore House, the main residence, at its center, a mansion built by George Washington Vanderbilt II between 1889 and 1895 and is the largest privately owned house in the United States at 178,926 square feet of floor space.
It's a big house with a very big front yard and an even bigger back yard.
We went to see the house at night for its holiday season candlelight spectacular.
Here is a photo of my daughter Randie inside the one of the ornate dining halls.
Here are some additional pics I picked up from the web for an additional look at the house. (One day, I will learn to take decent pics with my own damn phone.)
It was a beautiful experience with live music from a chorus, a chamber orchestra, a pianist, a harpist and a guitarist. The house was a glow with light and color, evoking what I'm sure must have been the warm surroundings the Vanderbilts experienced in their heyday.
We toured the house until past midnight. Then we returned the next day to tour the grounds.
Here is a photo of Randie posing dramatically from the back of Biltmore House with the majestic range of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the background.
We walked the winding trails on the property and while the beauty of nature was a wonder to behold, I'm still aching all over several days later.
Once back at the house, we did some shopping. Here is a very weird looking Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus from the Carriage House store.
And here are Andrea and Randie enjoying a tasty beverage at the Stable Cafe where we had lunch.
We were supposed to have dinner at the cafe the night before in advance of our candlelight tour of the main house. The story of why that didn't happen is a misadventure best left untold or at least shunted off to its own post.
Over all, we had a good time hangin' with the ghosts of the Vanderbilts.
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