The Biltmore Estate is the largest private home in the United States.  It was built in the style of a French Chateau.  it is a creation of George Vanderbilt.  One must visit this home and tour it to appreciate its cultural and historic value.  Hand carved stone and wood are everywhere in this structure.  Unfortunately, photos are not allowed inside the home so you will have to go there to see it.  Linda and I believe it is an experience worth planning an entire major vacation around.  Other attractions in the North Carolina and Tennessee area near Asheville afford the traveler an overload of opportunities to amuse themselves.

This pic shows the relationship of the front of the house with what were the stables.  The stables are visible just past the Fox news van near center.  The men who worked for the estate lived in the upper floors of the stables.  Today the stables have been converted to shops and restaurants.

This is the main entry to the building.

This is the back of the home.  You can see a covered porch area that is much larger than this picture shows.

This view is from the "back porch".   The Biltmore Estate once consisted of 125,000 acres.  Today the home and 8,000 acres are all that's left intact.  Because of the expense of taxes, the heirs had to liquidate most of the acreage.  The majority of the land was donated to the National Forest system. 

The formal garden and greenhouse area is especially interesting.  Even in November the grounds were beautiful.  We hope to go back during the summer to see the gardens at their zenith.

This "little" house was off to the side of the garden area and was once the estate's grounds manager's home.

There are miles of trails on the estate designed for bicycling or walking.

You can see the transition from the first photos to the last.  We spent most of the day there and ended our visit with a wine tasting at the winery and a fantastic meal at one of the restaurants on the estate.

We had lunch at one of the restaurants in the stables.  If you look carefully at this picture you can see that the booths along the walls were created from the original horse stalls.

No kidding.  If you are ever within 1,000 miles of the Biltmore Estate, you must go there!!  Better yet, plan a trip now and spend some time in one of America's most interesting attractions.