George Vanderbilt’s “little country home” is a sprawling French Renaissance chateau with 250 rooms. Spanning 175,000 square feet, America’s largest home has 35 bedrooms, 43 bathrooms and 65 fireplaces.
You get to see only a fraction of the home on your Biltmore tour but it’s still impressive.
The dining room is magnificent.
This Louis the XV bedroom is where George and Edith Biltmore’s only child was born.
There’s a swimming pool, bowling alley and full gym.
The kitchen is huge.
There are multiple rooms devoted to the laundry.
There are many nooks and crannies with gorgeous light that seem to call my name.
Of course, the library is my favorite room with this wood paneling, floor to ceiling bookcases and ambiance lighting. There’s even a secret passage that leads to the bedrooms for the convenience of anyone wishing to find some bedtime reading.
I would spend all my time in this room if I lived here.
Touring the Biltmore is hard work if you have difficulty walking or climbing stairs. They do have an elevator to make it handicap accessible and shuttles from the parking lot if you wish to ride.
Want to read more? Check out this post about the estate gardens! We packed a lot into our North Carolina adventure so keep checking back for more stories!
Make the Journey Fun 
Always a “trip” to see how the fabulously wealthy choose to live. Well, they did employ a lot of people.
They were great for the local economy and their jobs paid well. The audio tour talked about hiring local skilled laborers at New York City wages. All the same, he built that house before he was even married and they had only one child. It seems a smidge excessive!
I do eventually want to write about his land management philosophies but figured people would be ready to read about something else this week!
I’ve always wanted to tour this house. How far is it from Arkansas? Clicks over to Google maps. Oh wow! Only 600 miles? Seriously? I need to make that happen some day.
Do they give any reason as to WHY you only get to see a fraction of the house on the tours? Any examples of what you do NOT get to see? Certain FLOORS that are not open to the public?
I would spend all my time in that library, too.
It would take hours to see the entire thing and it would be a logistical nightmare to monitor that many people over a much larger space. You get a great sampling of the home though. Plus, they do offer a behind the scenes tour for people willing to pay more. You should go!