Biltmore Estate

Front Cover
Arcadia Publishing, 2005 - 128 pages
Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina, has captured the fascination of people everywhere for over 100 years. Created in the 1890s by George Washington Vanderbilt, a member of one of America's wealthiest families, the estate combined a 250-room French Renaissance-style chateau with 125,000 acres of gardens, forests, and working farms. Biltmore House served as Vanderbilt's primary residence for almost 20 years. After Mr. Vanderbilt's death in 1914, life at Biltmore continued for his wife Edith and daughter Cornelia. In 1930, Cornelia Vanderbilt Cecil and her husband, Hon. John Francis Amherst Cecil, opened Biltmore House--the largest private home in the United States--to the public, firmly establishing the Asheville area as a major tourist destination.
 

Contents

Acknowledgments
6
The Creation of Biltmore House and Gardens
19
Transforming the Land
41
A Model Village
63
Escape to Nature
91
The Roaring Twenties
107
Copyright

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About the author (2005)

A lifelong resident of Asheville, author Ellen Erwin Rickman is Director of Museum Services at Biltmore Estate. She oversees historical research and the preservation and interpretation of Biltmore's impressive collections of fine and decorative arts. Rickman has been employed at Biltmore Estate since 1986.

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