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Meeting Video Conference from Biltmore Estate Thursday, October 21, 1999 Guest: Nancy Cooper
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Participants:
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| Teachers Connect: Today's Town Meeting is
from Biltmore Estate in Asheville.
Nancy Cooper is our guest and is the School Host Program Crew Leader. She has
worked at Biltmore for the past four years leading and training staff to lead children's
groups through the home. Thank you Nancy for sharing with us today. Do you have any
opening comments? Biltmore Estate: Thanks for letting me be here to chat! I am looking forward to answering any and all questions!! |
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Bennett School: Jamie wants to know if there are any ghosts there? Biltmore Estate: Sorry, Jamie, I don't have any of those to share with you...Wish I did! Are you a ghostchaser? Bennett School: Yes... We are all part of the Ghostchasers Project... We are very interested in ghosts...... Teachers Connect: Hi William NCDPI: We dropped in for a moment during our training at dpi for Wise Owl. |
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| Bennett School: Travis wants to know how deep is the pool?
Biltmore Estate: Travis, the pool was eight to nine feet deep when it was filled. Bennett School: Nakeita wants to know the purpose of building such a large house... Biltmore Estate: Nakeita, Mr. Vanderbilt built this to welcome all his family and relatives and to be a great place to display his collection of art and furniture. There sure was plenty of room for everyone and everything! NCCAT: When do you begin to decorate the house for Christmas? Biltmore Estate: We have begun decorating already! Christmas at Biltmore begins November 6! |
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 Our guest, Nancy Cooper answering questions on the Loggia.
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Bennett School: Pate wants to know how many bedrooms are in the house...... Biltmore Estate: Pate, in Biltmore House there are 35 family and guest bedrooms, as well as 43 bathrooms! Fifty servants took care of keeping it up. This summer we restored and opened four new bedrooms, the Artists' Suite. NCCAT: Will you make the huge gingerbread house again this year? Biltmore Estate: NCCAT, we sure will have a gingerbread house! Come see it! Bennett School: Scott wants to know how many square feet is the house.... Biltmore Estate: Scott, the House is 175,000 square feet of space... a lot of room! |
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NCCAT: How do you make such a H-U-G-E house? How long does it take? Biltmore Estate: Six years of effort went into building this House, and it took about 1000 men to build it! Bennett School: Jordan wants to know how many people can sit at the dining room table.... Biltmore Estate: Jordan, the Banquet Hall table seats 64 people when it is fully extended... 64 of your closest friends! Bennett School: Justin wants to know how wide the house is...... Biltmore Estate: Justin, I don't know how wide the House is, but my guess would be about 250 feet, maybe? |
 Our moderator, Glenn Gurley |
 Teachers Connect, Shirley Corcoran |
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 NCDPI |
 Transylvania |
NCCAT: How many people visit the Biltmore House each year? Biltmore Estate: NCCAT, we had about 950,000 guests last year. Bennett School: James wants to know how many fireplaces is in the house....and does the house still uses them.... Biltmore Estate: James, Biltmore House has 65 fireplaces, some of which we have gas logs in now so we can use them without smoke damage and other problems. NCCAT: Who owns Biltmore House now? Biltmore Estate: Biltmore Estate is owned by the grandson of George Vanderbilt, William Cecil. It is a privately owned estate. |
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Bennett School: Christopher wants to know how many different trees are on the property.... Biltmore Estate: Good question, Christopher! Our landscape curator says there are several hundred! NCCAT: Nancy, what are some of the interesting stories you've learned about Biltmore House and about the Vanderbilt family over the years you've been at Biltmore? Biltmore Estate: I remember a story about Mr. Vanderbilt from a lady who had been a servant here as a child. She was carrying a tray into the Banquet Hall, full of food, and she dropped it all over the floor! Mr. Vanderbilt got down on the floor and helped her clean it all up! He was a very kind man, according to many former employees. Bennett School: Chris wants to know if the Estate has ever been robbed...and if so ....how many times? NCCAT: And if has been robbed, how did the thieves get in? Biltmore Estate: Of course, when you have a house with lovely items in it, some people might be tempted to think about taking things, but we have a great staff of folks who keep everything safe. |
 The Forests of Biltmore Estate. The image, logo, and name of Biltmore Estate are registered trademarks and cannot be used by outside parties without permission from the Biltmore Company. |
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 The Banquet Hall The image, logo, and name of Biltmore Estate are registered trademarks and cannot be used by outside parties without permission from the Biltmore Company. |
NCCAT: When did the Vanderbilt's last live in
the house? Biltmore Estate: The last time anyone lived in the House was in the late 50s. The House was opened to visitors in 1930, so the family moved into the Bachelor's Wing of the House, in an apartment they created. Bennett School: Tony wants to know what room are you in now and how large is the largest room there.... Biltmore Estate: Tony, right now I am sitting on the Loggia (lo zhia), a lovely porch on the back of the House that looks over the view of Pisgah National Forest. The largest room in the House is the Banquet Hall, 42 feet by 72 feet, and 70 feet tall! Bennett School: Jessica wants to know how many chandeliers (spelling??) and are they electric...... Biltmore Estate: Jessica, There are several chandeliers, including the one in the Grand Staircase (four stories long!) and two in the Banquet Hall; yes, they were electric when Mr. Vanderbilt had them installed. |
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Bennett School: Brandy wants to know how many people used to live in the house (family size)..... Biltmore Estate: Brandy, believe it or not, Mr. Vanderbilt was single when he built the House! However, he had met the future Mrs. Vanderbilt, and so he probably was thinking ahead! They had one daughter, Cornelia. Later, Cornelia and her husband, John Cecil, lived here with their two sons. Bennett School: Jason wants to know how many staircases are there in the estate...... Biltmore Estate: Jason, there are three main staircases, and some other smaller ones. Bennett School: David wants you to describe what the forest is like.... Have you ever been walking through it? Biltmore Estate: David, the forest that was created here by the landscape architect, Frederick Law Olmsted, is beautiful! There are paths among trees, there are ponds and creeks; there are many deer and other critters that live on Biltmore Estate. They like it here too! |
 The Main Staircase and its four story chandelier. The image, logo, and name of Biltmore Estate are registered trademarks and cannot be used by outside parties without permission from the Biltmore Company. |
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 The Walled Garden The image, logo, and name of Biltmore Estate are registered trademarks and cannot be used by outside parties without permission from the Biltmore Company. |
Bennett School: Ashley wants to know how many gardens does the estate have? What is your favorite? Biltmore Estate: Ashley, there are so many, I'm not sure which one is my favorite. There is one called the Shrub garden that has many flowering bushes; the Walled Garden has rows and rows of tulips in the spring and mums in the fall; the Azalea Garden has many bushes of azaleas, and lots of stone benches to sit on. Come enjoy them! Biltmore Estate: One thing you may be interested in is that Mr. Vanderbilt started the first school of forestry here on his property; that area is now called the Cradle of Forestry. Transylvania Count: Next month we will feature the Cradle of Forestry and hopefully tie in some of the history. Mt. Pleasant Elemen: We lost connection but we have some questions you may have already answered- Mt. Pleasant Elemen: How wide and tall is the house? Biltmore Estate: Mt. Pleasant, I think the House is about 250 feet wide. It has four floors and two basements. |
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Bennett School: Travis wants to know how big is the bowling alley? Is it still used? .Biltmore Estate: Travis, the bowling alley is about 90 feet long. It has two lanes, wooden balls with two holes. No, we can't use it now, though it sure sounds like it would be fun! Mt. Pleasant Elemen: Do they still use the swimming pool? Biltmore Estate: Well, Mt. Pleasant, it would be nice. The only problem is, it leaks like a sieve! Bennett School: Tony is interested in how long it takes to clean the estate..... Mrs. Smith our art teacher wants to know if Pat Wilson still works at the estate .... She was our art teacher around 11 years ago.... Biltmore Estate: Tony, we have a team of people who clean the House all the time. They alternate rooms, because there's no way they could do them all in one day! Mrs. Smith, I'm not sure if Pat Wilson works here or not; we now have 1,088 employees! |
 The Bowling Alley The image, logo, and name of Biltmore Estate are registered trademarks and cannot be used by outside parties without permission from the Biltmore Company. |
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 The Winter Garden
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Bennett School: Chris wants to know if there are any indoor trees..... Nancy and all the Teachers Connect Staff..... We have to go to lunch in a few minutes.... Thank you for sharing with us today.... Goodbye from Chatham County. Biltmore Estate: Chris, we do have a room we call the Winter Garden (see the photo to the left), with many palms trees in it. Right now we are putting lots of poinsettias in there as we decorate for Christmas. Bye bye Chatham County! Mt. Pleasant Elemen: When was the last time a member of the family lived in the house? Biltmore Estate: The last time someone lived here was in the late 50s. Mt. Pleasant Elemen: How many windows are there? Biltmore Estate: Depending on how you count them, the number will vary. There are a whole lot! Just ask the folks who clean them! |
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NCCAT: We have about three more minutes for this Town Meeting. Does the Biltmore Estate have any closing comments? Mt. Pleasant Elemen: Who was the last person to live there? Where do most of the family live now? Biltmore Estate: Mt. Pleasant, the folks who lived here last were Mr. Vanderbilt's grandson and his family; now they live in more convenient modern houses around Asheville. Biltmore Estate: Just that this has been great fun! You guys asked great questions, and I hope I can meet you in person someday, right here at Biltmore House! Mt. Pleasant Elemen: Thanks so much- glad we FINALLY got reconnected- Bye from MPES! Biltmore Estate: Come see us, everybody! It's great! Teachers Connect: Thank you Nancy we have all enjoyed today! Just to let everyone know -- our next Town Meeting will be at Reed Gold Mine, where the first gold discovery in the US was made. Check out the TC town meeting page for the Reed Gold Mine Web Page. Please mark your calendars! |
 NCCAT |
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