Rhythms and Beats - Asheville, North Carolina

Villa di Vino - Asheville, North Carolina

 

Aside from the breathtaking architecture of the Biltmore Estate, the second runner up for my favorite part to this visit was the winery!  Tucked away in the small hills just above the sunflower fields, the vineyard village was brimming with life from the live bands playing in the afternoon light and the bees swarming around the autumn blooms before the end of the season. 

I probably should feel guilty about my visit to the Biltmore winery.  Upon entering the tasting room, I almost made it through the entire selection of the reds under the recommendations of my first host, but he had to end his shift.  He politely introduced me to his relief and she took over by pouring me her favorite!  Basically went through the red selection once more and dabbled with a few of the white wines, only to have my host taken away from me again!  She handed over the responsibility to one of her fellow co-workers who had no bouts about repeating what the two predecessors had done and went through the list once more!  Having consumed what was most likely a hardy bottle of wine to myself, I decided to call it quits and finish my tour of the estate.

Biltmore Arboretum - Asheville, North Carolina

Buzz of the Biltmore - Asheville, North Carolina

 

Complimenting the grandeur of the Biltmore Mansion, the gardens match the beauty of the great estate.  With Vanderbilt wanting none other than the best for his dream home, Frederick Olmsted was hired to design the gardens and landscape of the Biltmore.  Some of Olmsted's notable works include Central Park, Prospect Park, Niagara Reservation, and the grounds of the Capitol in Washington DC.

 

With ample acreage to cover, numerous gardens are spread across the grounds of the Biltmore.  Styles of these gardens vary from Royal Palaces of England and Chateaus of France, and hints of Asian Gardens along with plants from various parts of the world. 

Simple Stones of Biltmore - Asheville, North Carolina

 

With the vast size of the estate, hundreds of masons and carpenters were needed to undertake the construction of this great masterpiece.  Built with more than 11 million limestone bricks, this mansion's construction was nearly complete after six years.  Mr. Vanderbilt wished for his dream home to be like the grand homes of Europe and drew many his design ideas from the Waddesdon Manor, a home of one of the Rothschild barons, and the Chateau de Blois. 

The Biltmore - Asheville, North Carolina

Built as a "little mountain escape" by George Washington Vanderbilt, grandson of great American Industrialist Cornelius Vanderbilt.  The Biltmore Estate in Asheville is the largest privately owned home in the United States.  Spanning nearly 180,000 square feet with about 250 rooms to get lost in, this mansion is one of America's most treasured homes. 

It was hard for me not to burn up 16 gigabytes of card space with all the architectural wonders throughout this estate.  George Vanderbilt intended on creating an American masterpiece out of the Old World.  Aside from the magnitude of this house's size, the next piece to jump out at me was the walls to the spiraling staircase.  The idea was taken from one of France's most prominent homes, Chateau de Blois, known for its most renowned feature of the spiraling staircase.  Despite the fact that the Vanderbilt family was and still is today one of the wealthiest families in American history, George nearly spent his inheritance to build this manision - estimated to be more than 100 million dollars - in the late 1880's mind you!  Designed by the architect that had drawn up many of the other Vanderbilt homes, Richard Morris Hunt led the construction of this grand American Chateau.  I would like to know what was going through this architect's mind at this time!  Working under within one of the nation's richest family which, personally, I believe had a little competition going on who could out-do who as far as "houses" went!  The exterior masonry alone had my jaw hitting the ground more than once throughout my tour of this Blue Ridge chateau even though it feels as if I stepped into Old Europe.

The Rivermill - Columbus, Georgia

What is known today as the Rivermill was orignally the Columbus Power Mill, which started as a partnership between three men in 1897. By 1909, the main mill, two powerhouses and the dam had been completed along with what was basically a labor camp just north of the mill known as "the old village". In the matter of ten years, the company expanded the mill by 1,000 or so feet eastward, nearly doubling the size of the mill space. The mill hit it's pinnacle in production following the end of the Second World War with more than 3,000 textile workers. As the economy "turned south" for the Southern states in the 1970's, the mill faced hard times until closure on the 20th of March, 1998, after Bibb Mill filed bankruptcy.

While sitting idle, the mill was almost entirely destroyed by carnage brought on by a fire in it's 100 year old timbers.  Rising from the ashes, the Mill was reconstructed and now serves as a local venue for weddings and other events as well as apartments from downtown dwellers in what once was Columbus' prime cotton mill on the Chattahoochee River.

Along the Trail - Providence Canyon - Columbus, Georgia

 

Providence Canyon State Park is considered to be one of the Seven Wonders of the State of Georgia.  One of its wonders are the ghosts that Mankind has left behind.  Although the contrasting colors of this park seem completely natural, this "little grand canyon" was a creation of Man's farming malpractices.  The skeletons of these cars are one of the many reminders of our influence on our surroundings but also how our surroundings can slowly overcome what we leave behind.

 

Finding the small things in big places always puts a smile on my face, although the little spider made a friend jump side-ways about 12 feet!  If I were to recommend a time of the year to visit the park it would be during the springtime.  One, all the flowers are in bloom and secondly, the heat wave has yet to strike in the South and it will be 'moderatly' warm!