Biltmore Estate: A Must-See in Asheville

Biltmore Estate is the oldest privately owned estate in North America. The rich history, elegant grounds and beautiful home make it a must-see while in Asheville. 

A Little Background

• Construction of Biltmore Estate began in 1889. George Vanderbilt had visited Asheville and decided it’s where he wanted to have his country home. He purchased 125,000 acres of land and built the home with 250 rooms, 35 bedrooms, 43 bathrooms, and 65 fireplaces. 
• Unfortunately, in 1914 George Vanderbuilt died of complications due to an appendectomy at age 51. Following her husband’s death, Edith sold ~87,000 acres of the estate to the United States Forest Service for less than $5 an acre. 
• In 1930 Biltmore Estate was opened to the public in order to support tourism in Asheville during the depression and to preserve the Estate. 
• Biltmore Estate is still privately owned by descendants of George Vanderbilt.

Visiting the Estate

My favorite moment of the stop was coming around the corner to this view!

Biltmore House

The Statue of Diana.

When you first enter the Estate there is a 3 mile driveway that takes you through the beautifully manicured grounds. There are walking paths and hiking trails throughout the property.

If you park in lots A or B you see the Statue of Diana- and your first view of the Biltmore House from high on the hill. As you walk down the hill you can see the beautiful fountains and marvelling detail of the house. On the left side is a porch with trees, vines and florals entwined around the beams.

The only thing more spectacular is the view of the Appalachian Mountains on the north-west side of the building.

Gardens and Conservatory

Biltmore Estate is famous for it’s Gardens and Conservatory, situated on the south-west side of the building. We spent about 30 mins walking around the gardens, and peeking in the conservatory windows (You don’t have to do this if you go during the day).

The Gardeners at the Estate change the florals and shrubbery in the gardens for each season, featuring plants that are currently in bloom. Unfortunately, visiting in July, we just missed the roses which I have heard are award-winning.

The conservatory is a large brick building with rooms of different temperatures and humidities to host different types of plants. While we there they also had a railroad feature with miniature replicas of the different buildings on the estate.

The Conservatory.

Bass Pond

Bass Pond.

A short drive from the main house is the Bass Pond and Waterfall. On one side of a small bridge is the clear pond surrounded by trees. When there is an excess of water the steep drop off on the other side results in a waterfall.

Antler Hill Village

This was another fun stop on our self-guided tour of the Estate. Antler Hill Village sits below the the Inn on Biltmore Estates. The winery, small shops, a pub, an ice cream shop, and a small farmyard all sit around a square with a bandstand. There was live music while we were there, a regular occurrence on evenings from Friday to Sunday.

Free as a Bird by Patrick Dougherty.

Antler Hill Village also hosted a live Art Feature: “Free as a Bird” by Patrick Dougherty. This is a sculpture of willow branches that took 3 weeks to weave.

Tickets

Tickets are required for entrance into Biltmore Estate. To get into the house they run about 75$ per person. They are slightly cheaper if you only want to see the Gardens and Grounds. If you are looking for the “exclusive experience”  tickets are upwards of $200-$300 (not exactly for those on a budget). 

If one person purchases an annual pass ($250), after 5pm a full carload of people can visit the Gardens and Grounds. This is definitely worth it if you have several people or are planning to go multiple times – this is what we did. 

For additional ticketing information- click here. 

We were so happy that we stopped at Biltmore Estate while in Asheville. It was so fun to learn about the history and admire the beauty of the oldest (and largest) Estate in the United States. If you’re going to be in the area, I would absolutely suggest making time (and budgeting) for a visit!

If you’re looking for other AWESOME places to visit in Asheville, check out my post:

20 Things to Do in Asheville North Carolina!