#1 Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina

This summer my family and I went to North and South Carolina. The first place that we stopped was the Biltmore Estates, which is the largest privately owned home in the United States. It was finished in 1895 as a home for George Vanderbilt. The estate is on 125,000-acres. The intent was to build a functioning estate, with gardens and animals, that was self supportive, as well as a get away for Vanderbilt's family and friends. http://www.biltmore.com/our_story/our_history/default.asp

The house is absolutely enormous, and full of history.
My sister and I spent most of the day wandering around
the main house, which has an indoor swimming pool and
bowling alley. Later, we took a shuttle to the winery/farm.
While my parents went to the winery, which use to be a successful dairy farm, we wandered the farm building that had been turned into a museum/petting zoo.


Biltmore is my favorite place I've been because its so full of history. It is so well preserved; it is almost like you are looking into the house in the twentieth century, and there is so much that can be learned from it, about the past.