The Biltmore Mansion

When I was about 16 years old, I was fortunate enough to go on a GS trip that made a stop in Asheville and saw the Biltmore Mansion for the first time. But this was my wife’s first trip and I suspect, we will be back to visit Asheville and the Biltmore. The grounds are completely dog friendly and Esther was thrilled with how many people stopped to pet her as we walked.

The story of the Vanderbilts is a fascinating one. They are one of the great American dynasty stories of wealth built, spectacularly spent, and ultimately gone within a few generations. Cornelius was the original self-made guy. He was born poor on Staten Island and built his fortune first in steamships and then in railroads. By his death he was worth approximately $100 million, making him the richest man in America at the time (equivalent to roughly $2-3 billion today). He was famously ruthless, barely educated, and had little interest in culture or philanthropy.

Cornelius left nearly everything to his son William Henry, who doubled the fortune to $200 million within eight years. He is known for this famous quote “the public be damned” when asked about his responsibilities. William Henry’s children are where the dynasty really bloomed culturally and where the spending began in earnest.

George was the youngest and while his sibling built showpieces in Newport, Rhode Island, he chose the Blue Ridge Mountains to create a working estate, similar to what you would find in Europe. He hired architect Richard Morris Hunt and landscape architect, Frederick Law Olmsted. It is ironic how Olmsted keeps coming up in this Substack. The Biltmore took six years to build and employed hundreds of workers. George truly loved Ashevill and built up a village, church and infrastructure for his workers. Luminaire is their spring light show that tells the story of the mansion.

With our admission came a complimentary wine tasting. Some of the grapes are grown right here though I had to wonder if the vineyards were not the most impacted by the hurricane since they were right on the banks of the river that runs through the grounds. The wine was amazingly good and not particularly expensive. We also spent almost a half day on the garden walk!

The Vanderbilt fortune was essentially gone within three generations. The mansions were expensive to maintain, the heirs were numerous, and the family had a gift for spending rather than compounding. By the 1930s the family was in serious financial difficulty. George’s daughter Cornelia and her husband opened Biltmore to the public to generate revenue and it has been a successful private tourist attraction ever since, still owned by George’s descendants.

When the family gathered for a reunion in the 1970s, Gloria Vanderbilt, the fashion designer and mother of CNN’s Anderson Cooper noted that not a single Vanderbilt present had any significant wealth remaining. From $200 million at the peak to essentially nothing in about 80 years. Gloria made her own money. Her son, Anderson Cooper is George’s great-great nephew, and he has spoken and written extensively about the family’s extraordinary rise and fall.