Since moving South a little over a year ago, as I’ve mentioned before, I’ve decided to explore more Southern destinations.
The latest trip involved meeting up with a pair of dear
friends from Pennsylvania to explore the Cherokee Indian Reservation, NC and The Biltmore in Ashville, NC which is about a two-hour
drive from the Greenville, South Carolina area.
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| The beautiful Biltmore |
We decided to stay at the Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort and we very much liked our spacious rooms. However, when we arrived at 2:30 p.m., we were asked to pay an extra $20 for early check in. I can’t say that’s a great way to start a relationship, but it is what it is I suppose.
Facts about Harrah’s
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| The casino floor |
The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) owns Harrah's
Cherokee Casino Resort as a tribal enterprise. Caesars' own current materials
explicitly describe Harrah's Cherokee Casinos as “An Enterprise of the Eastern
Band of Cherokee Indians.” It was North Carolina’s first casino, opening in
1997.
Gaming revenue supports the tribe, with money going towards healthcare, housing and other tribal programs.
The property, which sits at the entrance to Great Smokey
Mountains National Park, contains 222,600 square feet of casino space, 3,270
slot machines, 160 table games, and about 1,830 hotel rooms.
With a place that large, it was easy to get lost--and we
did, several times. It certainly deepened my appreciation for cell phone
communication.
I discovered later there was also an UltraStar
Multi-tainment Center with 24 bowling lanes, an arcade and three bars onsite.
The standout among the restaurants for me was Amici Italia,
which I wholeheartedly recommend. The chicken marsala was delicious, along with
the risotto and sumptuous green beans--a vegetable that is not usually my first
choice.
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| Delicious dinner at Amici Italia. |
Build Time in for the Biltmore Visit
Biltmore requires a timed entry reservation every day and
tickets start at a pricey $90 per adult.
If you stay at Harrah’s and account for traffic, I recommend
hitting the road 90 minutes before your reservation. Once you arrive at the
property, you’ll have to park and take a shuttle to the house.
Guests who enter the Biltmore are given a device to hold against their ears to learn about each room as they make their way through the house.
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| One of the first rooms visitors encounter. |
You'll learn that the Biltmore was built by George Washington Vanderbilt, a grandson of railroad and shipping magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, one of the wealthiest Americans of the Gilded Age.
Captivated by the Blue Ridge Mountains, George wanted a
private country retreat for himself, his family and friends. He hired RichardMorris Hunt, who designed the house in the French Renaissance Revival style.
He also employed Frederick Law Olmstead, the landscape architect
behind New York’s Central Park, to design the garden and grounds.
But George Vanderbilt envisioned something far more
ambitious than an elaborate mountain retreat. Biltmore was designed as a
self-sufficient estate combining an enormous family home with gardens,
agriculture, forestry and scientific land management.
He also incorporated electricity, indoor plumbing, elevators, a telephone system and a fire-alarm system in the house when it was built.
The Collections
George deliberately collected European antiques, American pieces, art, tapestries, books and decorative objects and had the house designed around some of them.
His love of reading is evident in his library which now contains more than 10,000 books.
A painting titled “The Chariot of Aurora,” by Italian artist
Giovanni Pellegrini, consists of 13 canvases and measures about 64 by 32 feet.
Vanderbilt bought it for the Library, and Richard Morris Hunt actually designed
the room to accommodate it.
The longest room in the Biltmore house is the tapestry
gallery. The 90-foot-long room showcases Renaissance era tapestries.
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| Tapestry Room |
One room I found particularly interesting was the Oak Sitting Room due to the unique furniture I encountered for the very first time.
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| English Knole-style furniture. |
The English Knole-style sofa and chairs are equipped with adjustable arms that could be raised to accommodate bulky period clothing, convert the seat into a day bed, or control drafty air. I've since seen similar ones on Etsy for close to $3,000 and on Charish for more than $7,000.
When we saw the bedrooms, we were all surprised at how small the beds appeared, so when I returned home, I looked it up and apparently it's an optical illusion due to the scale of the rooms.
You learn something new everyday.
On the lower floor of the Biltmore were the swimming pool, gym and bowling alley, all created for recreation when little else was available.
A Pioneer in Land Conservation
George Vanderbilt was also known to be a pioneer in land conservation and hired Pennsylvania native Gifford Pinchot to create the first large-scale forestry management plan in the United States.
He supported the establishment of America's first forestry school on his property to train professionals in sustainable land management.
After his death, his wife, Edith Vanderbilt, carried out his wishes by selling a large portion of the forest land to the federal government, which subsequently became part of the Pisgah National Forest.
Good Eats
Upon completion of the tour, we headed to The Stable Cafe and enjoyed a very good lunch in which was once the stables of the house. Pictured here is the chicken salad croissant. One thing is for certain, the Southern people really know how to make a good chicken salad.
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| Chicken salad croissant at The Stable Cafe. |
Located in the same building is the gift shop and various other shops selling everything from souveniers, to gourmet food, wine and apparel.
We finished our trip with a free wine tasting on another part of the property and ended up with two dry reds which will go great with pasta and steak.
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| The gentleman who conducted the wine tasting was very informative. |
All in all, the combination of Harrah's Cherokee and Biltmore made for an interesting getaway from the Greenville area. There was plenty to see, eat, and, in my case, more than enough square footage to get lost in.
