The Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina, is the United States’ largest home. This home has 250 rooms, measuring 178,926 square feet. Built by George Vanderbilt in the late 1800s, the French Renaissance chateau is breathtaking. If you have the opportunity to visit, I highly recommend taking the time to do so. But, to me, the home is second to the gardens and landscape. Secondly, the garden’s design led to the birth of America’s Forestry Program earning western North Carolina the title “The Cradle of Forestry.
Vanderbilt hired Fredrick Law Olmsted, the founding father of American landscape architecture, to design the gardens around the Biltmore Estate. Olmsted famously designed Central Park, Prospect Park, and other major parks throughout the country and rarely designed private estates. Vanderbilt’s property for the Biltmore was different than most and required an eye for large-scale design. Unlike most parks and gardens, the Biltmore Estate’s property origi