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Two roads diverged in a wood, and I - I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference. ~Robert Frost

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Biltmore Elegance

Well, the road trip is almost over......but not before we took a side trip to Asheville to visit the Biltmore Estate!  Look at this magnificent beast!!

George Vanderbilt officially opened his home, Biltmore, on Christmas Eve 1895.  Can you believe this was a single-family home?!
The grounds were absolutely huge and beautiful!  A true American castle!
The home features 250 rooms - can you believe it?!
And the Vanderbilts only had one child - what did they do with all of those extra rooms???
No pictures were allowed inside (to my utter disgust), but here is the front wall (where I took the frontal shots above).
There is a huge spiral staircase inside that is gorgeous - it's right on the left of this picture where the diagonal lines are.  AMAZING.
This is the view from one of their many balcony/piazza areas.  I would love to be looking at the Blue Ridge Mountains on my balcony!
This is what the beautiful balcony looked like - just stunning.
"V" for Vanderbilt.
The whole estate had beautiful scenery - the property was huge (8,000 acres).
This was their side little garden/piazza area - would be a pretty place for weddings or something like that.
What a fantastic place to visit - I want to go back at Christmas-time when it's all decorated!

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