Today was a real treat, as we got to spend the day at the Biltmore Estate. For readers unfamiliar with America's Largest Home® (they've trademarked that), the Biltmore is a 130 year-old chateau built by the George Washington Vanderbilt, grandson of sociopathic robber baron, Cornelius. Whereas Cornelius owned the equivalent of 3 trillion dollars in today's money, George inherited only about a tenth of that, still enough to spend $189 million (in today's money) to construct and then lavish the 250-room, 175,000 sq. ft. house and grounds. George didn't do a whole bunch with the family businesses--he was a bookish auto-didact and dilatant who befriended experts like Olmstead and Hunt in order to hire them to work on his home. Some of the signage around the grounds has the gall to try to pass him off as an hard-working exemplar of the American Dream, but, no. He was an idle rich man of leisure who, while he could have done a lot worse (as many in his siblings and cousins did), could almost not have been born into more privilege.
If you can turn off the part of your brain which is considering how criminal it is for one person to be able to amass that kind of wealth to begin with, which is the same part that wonders how many stomachs could be fed with that kind of scratch, you will spend the day marveling at the beauty, ingenuity, and sheer architectural and technological genius at work in the creation of the estate.
Highlights: it has two Monets, two Rembrants, a handful of Whistlers and Singer Sergeants, Napoleon's chess set, and a collection of invaluable 16th century tapestries. It was the first place in America where forestry as a science was systematically developed. It's unique, fireproof salon was secretly converted into an erstaz storage facility for America's most famous works of art during WWII. Its original dairy farm has been turned into a winery with free tastings. There's a petting zoo with baby sheep and goats. Plus, you get to tour the servant's quarters in the basement for a real Downton Abbey feel.
The kids did a great job of being cool during the day--and it was really a whole day's worth of activity. The house tour featured a fun audio guide narrated by the Vanderbilt's dog, Cedric. James loved the billiard parlor, and was even pretty unfazed when he ran into a wall and spilled his milkshake all over the ground (and partly on an old man's pants). Juliet liked all of the tulips and the tropical plants in the greenhouse. We had a tasty meal at the pub (named after Cedric, the dog), and then enjoyed an hour or so petting sheep and goats at the working farm.
It's worth the price of admission and then some. They don't bilt 'em like that anymore.
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