One for the "Bucket List" ( Sort of OT)

BillW

Happy Holidays and Season's Greetings to all Wallies near and far.  It's been a while since I posted in this part of HeatingHelp, but I thought I would share this info.

I just returned from a visit to Biltmore, George Vanderbilt's chateau in Asheville, N.C.  It is just incredible.  No words, artwork, picture or video can do it justice; it's beyond description. 250 rooms, built by Richard Morris Hunt set on 12,500 acres landscaped by Fredrick Olmstead.  It was decorated for Christmas, with a 35 foot tree in the dining room, with basketball sized ornaments, three masssive fireplaces at one end of that room, and an orchestra loft with a pipe organ at the other.  25,000+ books in the library, the fireplace there could hold a VW bug. Wedgewood fireplaces, incredible carvings and details. The Candelight Tour was spectacular, with Victorian costumed dancers and a live choir singing carols, followed by Bach and some more carols on that massive pipe organ.

The Butler's Tour took you thru the infrastructure.  The place was self suffcient, generating its own electricity with a steam powered generator, later replaced by a gasoline engine, which has been restored, and is a site to see.  It's about the size of a service van.  One of the original boilers still is used, converted to gas from coal.  The other two have much of the original coal firing gear still there, facsinating.  Pictures inside are forbidden, but there are some rare gems of radiators, still working, with the nickel-plated valves intact.  The ones in the servants area were plain 18 column, 3 row American Radiator, and the ornate ones in the owner's areas were 3 row 24 column A.A. Griffin Pat.1874.  They had a cross-hatched top that was cast as part of the radiator, very intricate, and a testament to the Dead Men who made the molds for casting iron.

The ammonia refrigeration plant is gone, but the electrical control room with all the "Frankenstein" knife switches and ornate dials is still there, as is the lightning arrestor system.

I won't bore you with any more details, but this is one of those "gotta see" places.  Christmas and the spring are the best times, if you want to tour a garden with 40,000 tulips in it, or an incredible rose garden in the summer.

I wouldn't recommed this for little kids, lots of walking & climbing stairs, and stuff they wouldn't understand or appreciate, except the Christmas trees.  Visit <a href="http://www.biltmore.com/">www.biltmore.com</a> for more info.