"In every aspect of our business, our number-one priority is
to preserve the property," says Kathleen Mosher, Biltmore Estate's
public relations supervisor. "We're never going to do anything
that violates that principle."
Accordingly, precautions are taken to protect the house, built
by George Vanderbilt and opened in 1895, from not only the hordes
of guests but also the dozens of decorators and staff. To begin
with "only selected members of staff are allowed to touch any
of the objects in the house," Mosher says. And even they are required
to wear cotton gloves before touching some items. And because
they're dealing with antiques, the decorating staff must work
around the furniture, rather than moving it, and wear plastic
booties to protect the fragile Oriental rugs. Housekeepers must
lay screens over the rugs before vacuuming. "We have a lot
of rules and regulations," Mosher says, "to prevent
any damage to the house."
Only 364 Shopping Days Left
To get a glimpse at how Biltmore pulls off its massive holiday
event, you have to turn the calendar back one year. That's when
the floral staff starts preparing for the next Christmas season.
"We begin with the little actual documentation we have of Christmas
celebrations at Biltmore a century ago," says the Estate's floral
designer, Cathy Barnhardt, who has been supervising Christmas
decorating at Biltmore for more than two decades. "This includes
a few newspaper articles and receipts showing purchases charged
to the 'Christmas Tree' by Mrs. Vanderbilt."
Though photographs of the Estate's early years are plentiful,
there are no photographs marking early Christmas festivities.
So Barnhardt and her floral crew turn to magazines, such as Ladies
Home Journal and The House Beautiful, for articles
that will educate them in Victorian decorating. To prepare for
this year's theme, reflecting a child's holiday dreams, Barnhardt
and her crew drew on turn-of-the-century literature on childhood.
"We're not attempting to do a 100 percent, authentic Vanderbilt
Christmas," King says. "First of all, we have only limited documentation
about Christmas at Biltmore. What we try to do is use things that
would have been found in the time frame that the Vanderbilts were
here."
For decorating, Barnhardt uses a variety of materials, from live
wreaths made by the Estate's landscaping staff to hand-blown German
glass ornaments. There are no original Vanderbilt ornaments. Most
were made of glass, and few of those survived the century. And
while Christmas trees in the Vanderbilt era probably would have
had candles, visitors to Biltmore House's evening programs will
not see lighted candles on any of the trees.
Two Trees
What visitors will see is a huge Christmas tree–a 40-foot
Fraser Fir set in the Banquet Hall. The search to find the perfect
tree–actually two–never ends. "Because we need a certain
height and size," Mosher says, "we're identifying trees a year
in advance. There's someone constantly looking for us." Both trees
come from the Newland region of North Carolina.
So you may be asking, Why two trees? Because the firs dry quickly,
the first tree has to be replaced at the end of November. It is
a mammoth task, on both occasions. Raising the Banquet Hall tree
takes about 16 hours, ending at around 4 a.m., King says. It requires
the teamwork of 30 men, who carry in the tree with limbs tied
and prop it up on one end. Workmen use ropes and pulleys to bring
the tree upright.
To remove the tree four weeks later, work begins at 3 p.m. The
house is closed for the evening program on the night the trees
are switched. Workmen use an electric chainsaw to cut the standing
Banquet Hall tree into manageable pieces. The logs and limbs are
hauled to an organic dump on the property. The new tree is raised
and decorated without any interruption for guests arriving the
next morning.
A Marketing Miracle
Winter wasn't always accompanied by the flurry of activity and
lavish decorations at Biltmore. "We used to close," King says.
"The gates were locked to guests from December 15 until February
1. The employees took a two week vacation, then on January 1,
we would come back and do what we euphemistically called spring
cleaning."
Then, in 1975 the company decided to stay open through the winter
as an experiment to help defray preservation costs. "It was
truly a financial decision," King says. "The employees
were on the payroll, we had to heat the house, we had to light
it, so we figured we may as well stay open. We figured any money
coming in was better than none at all."
Marketing Christmas was an afterthought, King adds. "It
was sort of slapdash thrown together, but it went over well,"
he says. "The next year we thought we ought to put more thought
in it, and more money." So management did, spending about
$50,000 in 1976 and marketing the event as Christmas at Biltmore.
That first Christmas a few thousand people turned out. Then,
in the early 1980s the American Bus Association named Christmas
at Biltmore as one of its top 100 events nationwide. "When
that happened, it was like somebody flipped a switch," King
says. "It [Christmas at Biltmore] started growing quite dramatically."
Operationally, things changed rather dramatically, too. In the
days before it became the hugely successful event that Christmas
at Biltmore has become, floral designer Cathy Barnhardt recruited
her mother and friends to assemble ornaments, bows and other decorations
to recreate the glittering style of the Gilded Age Christmas.
She now manages a staff of eight to ten in the busiest period
and recruits from other departments. Barnhardt even conducts a
decorating class to train them.
Today, a couple hundred thousand turn out to gaze at the more
than $1 million in decorations. Which brings to mind a couple
of comparisons we neglected to mention at the beginning of our
story. Visitors during the holiday season to Biltmore House: more
than 200,000. Your house: varies. Charge to gaze at the decorations
at Biltmore: $34.95 ($37.95 Friday and Saturday nights). Your
house: a warm smile and good cheer. Happy holidays to you all.
While December at Biltmore House is bustling with visitors, January,
February and March are the Estate's quiet months. In December
of 1998, for example, Biltmore counted 122,000 paying guests.
By contrast, January of this year saw a little less than one-seventh
of December's visitations--18,000 guests. "On most days [during
the slow months]," says Rick King, Biltmore Estate's vice president
of house and gardens, "the employees outnumber the guests."
The winter months are a favorite among employees. Special Projects
Coordinator Gina Elrod says she enjoys hiking Biltmore's trails
and gardens during the winter. "The landscape was designed to
provide year-round interest," she adds.
"I recommend January and February to a lot of people," King says.
"If you're a flower person, those months may not be the best time
of year. But if you can appreciate a barren landscape with lots
of contrasting light and dark elements, the winter months are
a good time to visit. It's almost a lonely type of loveliness.
I find it much more emotionally dramatic than when the plants
are in bloom."
And because they're not as busy, Biltmore employees have more
time to converse with guests. It's a good time to get staff members
to share their favorite stories about the house. While employees
are not exactly twiddling their thumbs, they are often "thrilled
to have someone to talk to," King says.
Moreover, you have the run of the house in winter. (As an annual
passholder living in Asheville, I visit the house often when few
others are around. I enjoy the opportunity to explore the rooms
without bumping shoulders with other curious guests.) An added
bonus for winter visitors: You can often find a parking space
in front of the entrance to the house. There's never a line--for
a steamy cup of hot chocolate or anything else.
Even during the busy months, there are ways to experience solitude
similar to winter's. If you arrive at the Estate after 3 p.m.
and before 5 p.m., you'll gain not only free entrance the next
day but sufficient time to explore the house in relative solitude–the
front door closes at 6. By late afternoon, most of the guests
have finished their tours and are on their way home –Ralph
Grizzle
----
This article is the first in a series of four that will look
behind the scenes at Biltmore Estate. Coming in March, we take
a look at the gardens of Biltmore and the Estate's ongoing fulfillment
of Frederick Law Olmsted's vision. In July, we look at how Biltmore
has remained true to George Vanderbilt's goal of Biltmore being
a self-sustaining estate. Our September issue will provide readers
with a behind-the-camera view of movie-making at Biltmore.
