Spring was in the air when we ventured to Asheville in western North Carolina with two other couples from Raleigh in early May. We met first thing on a Friday morning and loaded ourselves and way too many suitcases, bags and coolers into our friends’ Infinity QX80 for the roughly 250 - mile journey to the Blue Ridge Mountains. Asheville’s popularity is understandable, just for its physical beauty alone. From the depths of the ancient forests that blanket mountains to the banks of the French Broad River, natural beauty is a constant backdrop for this section of the country. These mountains are much, much older than the Rocky Mountains that lie in the western US. You can see their age just by looking at them – the soft, rounded peaks of the Appalachians reveal the millennia of weathering they’ve endured, in stark contrast to the younger, spikier summits of the Rockies. Making excellent time, the six of us arrived at the Inn on Biltmore Estate at close to the Noon hour, after the ladies partook in morning mimosas en route and all the passengers enjoyed muffins made with fresh-picked strawberries. Yum!
Fortunately, one of our rooms was ready so we happily took up our friends’ offer to store all the many pieces of extra luggage in their room for the time being as check in did not officially begin until 4:00 PM. What a place! Marble floors grace the lobby and oriental rugs cover the elevator floors. This AAA four-diamond property on the world-famous estate provides a truly memorable experience, offering spectacular views around every corner from its hilltop perch along with fine dining, a full-service spa and fitness center. The 210 guest rooms and suites are traditionally decorated in Nineteenth Century French and English manor style, spacious and nicely appointed with Keurig coffeemakers, robes, nightly turndown service and marble bathrooms. Unfortunately, our bathroom only had a single sink, which was somewhat of a disappointment considering the hefty rates they charge that don’t include admission to the mansion.
And that’s where we headed next. Our timed tickets for the estate tour were for 2:00 PM and so we took advantage of the 1 o’clock complimentary shuttle van service. As luck would have it, our group was able to enter the historic home ahead of schedule. Here’s a little background information. After visiting Asheville in 1888, George Washington Vanderbilt II began the process of building his "country home." Construction of the house began in 1889. In order to facilitate such a large project, a woodworking factory and brick kiln, which produced 32,000 bricks a day, were built onsite. A three-mile railroad spur was also constructed to bring materials to the building site. Construction on the main house required the labor of about 1,000 workers and 60 stonemasons. Biltmore House first opened to friends and family on Christmas Eve in 1895. Designed by architect Richard Morris Hunt, it’s the largest private home in the US at more than 175,000 square feet, which translates to over four acres of floor space, The 250 room French Renaissance chateau includes no less than 35 bedrooms, 43 bathrooms and 65 fireplaces. Still owned by Vanderbilt’s descendants, it remains one of the most prominent examples of Gilded Age mansions. Each room open to us on the self-guided tour was numbered and corresponded to an audio recording accessed by a handset given to each visitor. The ability to start, stop and resume the recordings at will considerably enhanced our experience.
Adjacent to the magnificent home are 75 acres consisting of a Conservatory and six formal and informal gardens designed by renowned American landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted who is also famous as the designer of New York’s Central Park. While the current size of Biltmore Estate is approximately 8,000 acres, the acreage during George Vanderbilt’s lifetime was approximately 125,000 acres and included property later sold to the Federal Government to create Pisgah National Forest, one of the first national forests east of the Mississippi. The still-private estate has been passed down to his descendants and features over 22 miles of trails to explore, so today’s visitors can enjoy this scenic “backyard” with a plethora of outdoor activities, including biking, carriage rides, hiking and horseback riding.
After all that "hard work," we returned to the Inn to gather on the Patio. The mountain views from this locale are stunning and we took time in the late afternoon to converse there over drinks and some well-deserved snacks (since we’d skipped lunch). Before long, it was time to get ready for dinner and we headed over to the Omni Grove Park Inn. I’d ordered an Uber X for our group of six but was sorely disappointed in how dirty the vehicle was. In fact, the upholstery was missing from the back of the driver’s seat exposing the polyester foam within. It also seemed to take an extremely long time to travel the three short miles between the two hotels, but maybe it seemed longer than it was since our driver was rather sullen and looked pretty rough. Regardless, we weren’t going to let anything spoil our evening and we were all smiles as we took our seats on the lovely Sunset Terrace. As the name implies, this is the spot to enjoy the setting sun with good food and drink. Although the Caesar Salad wasn’t to my taste, the Diver Scallops were very good and if you’re in the area and visit the restaurant, be sure to order wine with your meal. The Sunset Terrace has earned the Wine Spectator Award of Excellence on ten separate occasions. Conversation at dinner was lively and fun and we returned to the Inn for a nightcap in the Library Lounge, the perfect place to relax with such good company.
Saturday morning called for breakfast in The Dining Room, which was opened from 7:00 AM until 11:00 AM featuring an extensive buffet or entrées from the menu. Our server Isaac was super relaxed, telling us he recharged each day receiving his energy from the morning sun. (Hmmm.) We decided we wanted whatever he was having, but instead settled for off-the-menu selections. Freshly-squeezed Grapefruit Juice and French Toast with Canadian Bacon proved to be an excellent choice for me and we all left feeling refreshed and ready for the day ahead. The ladies then drove off to explore the Historic Biltmore Village next to the Grand Bohemian Hotel. It claims to be Asheville’s premiere shopping district, complete with cobblestone streets featuring local boutiques as well as shops carrying national brands. The gentlemen walked down to the Bike Barn and Outdoor Adventure Center where we rented bicycles for a two-hour period and explored some of the estate’s 20-plus miles of scenic bike trails, all the while dodging horses and riders competing in an endurance ride. Afterwards, we walked over to Antler Hill Village and stopped into Cedric’s Tavern, a cozy wood-lined English-style pub offering hearty fare and local craft beers. The six of us soon reunited for our three o’clock complimentary wine tasting as guests of the Inn.
George Vanderbilt’s descendant William A.V. Cecil began planting grapevines on the estate in the early 1970s, paving the way for the establishment of the Biltmore Winery in 1985. Today, the winery is an integral part of a Biltmore visit and claims to be America’s most-visited winery, hosting more than a million guests each year. I don’t doubt it because it was very crowded during our Saturday visit. However, I must give them credit as the vast tasting rooms consisted of a seemingly endless array of lengthy wine stations which were staffed by individual servers. Each of us was permitted to select up to five wines from among the winery’s most popular and award-winning vintages while our young but knowledgeable wine host shared a brief history of the vineyards and their wine-making operations. While I didn’t find any of my sampled wines to be as good as those we enjoyed on our Napa Valley tour (see my earlier posts titled California Here We Come! and Bacchus Would be Proud ), Biltmore has tested and grown numerous varietals on the estate, including Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Merlot, Riesling, and Viognier. Reservations are required for the wine tasting, but be advised they can only be made on the day of your visit.
Returning to The Dining Room for Saturday evening dinner, we found ourselves assigned to the same table we used at breakfast, now awash with the late-afternoon sun streaming in from the windows encircling the far end of the busy room. Elijah, our server, graciously opened the Chimney Rock Stags Leap Cabernet Sauvignon wines we brought along to complement our meals as it’s become our favorite since the group’s visit to their California vineyards several years ago. Each of us ordered the Filet Mignon as an entrée, but the orders were placed for varying temperatures and degrees of doneness. Kudos to the chef and staff as all the plates were presented at the same time and each was done to perfection. That’s no small feat! We had a wonderful time with plenty of laughs to go around and soon settled in for a good night’s sleep.
Although rain was originally predicted to fall each day during our visit, we never had a drop. Sunday was departure day and we returned back to Raleigh in good weather with new memories of a wonderful weekend in Asheville.
Until next time…safe travels.
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