I still have so much to cover from my road trip to Tennessee! It was two months ago now, but I want to still share what we did to help guide some of you traveling to the area, and to also keep a history for my family. My brother is in Eastern Tennessee, and when he told me they were just an hour from Asheville, North Carolina, I wanted to make sure we went while we were visiting. When I realized the Biltmore House was there, I really wanted to go, because I remembered touring it as a child on one of our family road trips. So, I made it happen.
{top picture taken by me, bottom in collage from the Biltmore website}
My sole memory from my childhood trip was that there was a bowling alley inside the home, but there were so many other cool features. Â
My biggest awe inspiring moment was realizing this was built in the late 1800’s when my great grandparents were living in a log cabin in the mid west.I know people live in varying conditions now from mansions to shanty’s as well, but I didn’t even think places like this could have been created without the resources we have today. I guess I forgot about the castles of old, too. It was pretty cool, and fancy, lets just say that!
This time around, it was fun to see the house through my adult eyes, and to listen to the history of the home, and each room, as we toured with audio and stories from the family that lived there: the Vanderbilt Family. My kids were even impressed by everything in the home, and even my youngest (5) kept her attention. We went with my brother, his wife, and their three kids, and I will admit that the 18 month old didn’t care for the audio tour, nor did she care about the roped off partitions in front of her. Â We were asked not to take pictures inside the home, so here are a few of us around. Cousins helping cousins.
We were asked not to take pictures inside the home (see the Biltmore website for more of a sneak peek) but I snapped a few with my phone for historical purposes. In the top right picture below, you can see the audio devices my kids are holding up to their ears. About the size of a remote control, we listened about details from room to room.
Above is the indoor pool and bowling alley, I snuck in a few indoor pictures because I had to document these two cool features!
From my kids, what they remember:
5 year old girl, “I liked the pool because it was really deep. Even though I couldn’t touch there, if you were a giant, you could stand in the pool and you don’t even have to swim.”
9 year old girl, “i loved the library with a secret entrance to their bedrooms. I also liked the balcony and the backyard.”
11 year old boy, “I liked the trap door that went from the living room to the basement.. It was disguised as tile. Â There was also a humongous pipe organ in the dining room that was cool.”
13 year old boy, “I liked the indoor pool,they had to empty it every time they used it. Â They had ropes hanging for people who didn’t know how to swim, they could hold onto it. I also liked the dumbwaiter in the kitchen where the servants could place the food and it took it up to the dining room.”
From my brother:
“I loved the library and the black marble fireplace. I just wanted to peruse the old books and sit for hours to read.”
It was very educational for me, and I highly enjoyed the home tour. Besides the home though, it’s got 8,000 acres of property, including gardens and even a little petting farm. We had to drive to part of it, and it rained the day we went, so we didn’t get to explore the gardens too much.
Next time you are passing through Eastern Tennessee or North Carolina, I highly recommend touring the Biltmore House! We could have spent more than a day there, but got our fill (with littles) in 3-4 hours.
On our drive back to  my brothers house, my youngest went in their car, and I had so much fun bonding with my big kids over silly jokes, hash tag conversations, and teaching them some good old country songs from back in my day.
Also on this trip, I’ve covered our time in Nashville and Memphis, check those out on the links!
