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December
Issue/Our State/1,350 words
To
Light A Fire
A
look at some of most notable fireplaces, mantels and hearths around
the state.
By
Ralph Grizzle
Intro
Section
It
was with a gnawing sense of sorrow that I converted my wood-burning
fireplace to a gas-burning one last year. I still miss the smell
of burning wood. I miss the crackle of blazing logs and the sweat
that it took to split a cord of wood. But the old fireplace was
in need of repair, and when it came time to choose between gas
and wood, I opted for the more convenient of the two. I've regretted
that decision ever since.
There's
just something about burning logs that can't be replicated by
machine-made ones. Real logs not only knock the chill off the
toes but also soothe the soul. I find it hard to look into the
blaze of dry oak without feeling a sense of serenity and inner
warmth.
Moreover,
fireplaces have always served as the focal points of a room. For
children, of course, the chimney serves as that magical chute
by which Santa arrives. For adults, the opportunity to decorate
a mantel during the holidays is a but a bonus.
An
old issue of Harper's Bazar (later spelled Bazaar)
once claimed that a room without a mantel had but the dignity
of a tent. Martha Stewart would probably agree. Holly, mistletoe
and other evergreens certainly can help to add a sense of dignity
and warmth to the home on cold winter days.
This
holiday season, there are lots of opportunities in our state to
warm your body by a real fire and to appreciate some of the craftsmanship
that goes into decorating fireplaces, mantels and hearths. Here
are but a few of the places you may want to put on your list.
The
Grove Park Inn Resort, Asheville
(South
Fireplace photo)
Whenever
the temperature drops below 40, you can bet there will be a blazing
fire in the South Fireplace at the Grove Park Inn Resort. Here,
you'll want to join the others by pulling up a rocker and cradling
a warm drink in your hands.
The
Inn's Great Hall has two fireplaces, both designed to burn logs
up to eight-feet long. More than 120 tons of boulders were required
to build the fireplaces, which rise two stories, and feature openings
nearly six-and-a-half feet high.
"The
scope of the fireplaces were in keeping with the scope of the
Great Hall," says David Tomsky, spokesman for Grove Park.
"The Hall was designed to be like a big, cozy den, and you
can't have a big cozy den without a fireplace."
In
the old days, the two fireplaces heated the entire Main Inn, upstairs
guestrooms and all. Nowadays, when the South Fireplace is ablaze,
the Inn gets so warm that air conditioning is required to keep
the upper guestrooms from becoming too toasty.
Biltmore
Estate, Asheville
(Banquet
Hall Photo)
The
Biltmore Estate boasts 65 fireplaces. It's a safe bet that many
of them were blazing when the Estate opened Christmas Eve 1895.
There's even a triple fireplace in the Banquet Hall, the largest
room in the house. The heat from these fires could keep warm a
dinner party of 64, which is the number that the oak dining table
could accommodate. Flanked by armor dating from the 1400s to 1800s,
the triple fireplace features on its overmantel a bas-relief panel
titled, "The Return from the Chase," carved by acclaimed
Viennese sculptor Karl Bitter.
(Music
Room Photo)
Though
part of the House's original planned design, the Music Room was
not completed until 1976. When workers began to fulfill architect
Richard Morris Hunt's vision for the Music Room, they found the
fireplace mantel stored below the stables. Hunt had designed it
himself. Carved into it were Albrecht Dürer's initials and
life dates.
Above
the Music Room's mantel hangs a 19th-century printing
of the woodcut known as the Triumphal Arch, which Holy Roman Emperor
Maximilian I commissioned from Dürer around 1515. Depicting
military and political events, it measures about 10 feet by 10
feet and includes references to the emperor's prowess as a hunter
and linguist, and a family tree peopled with mythological characters.
(Breakfast
room photo)
This
Christmas season, more than 225,000 guests will tour the bedecked
Biltmore House. If you're one of them, you'll no doubt want to
marvel at the Breakfast Room fireplace with its surround of Wedgewood
Jasper tiles.
(Billiard
Room photo)
Look
for the hidden doors on either side of the Billiard Room fireplace.
They provide a quick exit to other rooms in the wing.
(Tapestry
Gallery photo)
A
painted limestone fireplace hood modeled after those in the Chateau
de Pierrefonds near Compiegne, France, provides a colorful setting
for 16th century Flemish tapestries in the Tapestry
Gallery.
(Library
photo)
The
Library Room features a black marble fireplace surround and walnut
overmantel, both carved by Karl Bitter. Above the fireplace, the
figures of Demeter, goddess of the earth, and Hestia, goddess
of the Hearth, flank a 17th century tapestry.
Tryon
Palace, New Bern
Fireplaces
weren't known until the late Middle Ages, when they replaced open
central hearths as a means of heating rooms and large halls. In
1624, Louis Savot, an architect employed in the construction of
the Louvre, made significant improvements to the fireplace. He
developed one in which air was drawn through passages under the
hearth and behind the fire grate. The warm air was then discharged
into the room through a grill on the mantel.
The
British Royal Governor, William Tryon, must have known about the
efficiency of European fireplaces. He had his Ionic and Georgian-influenced
fireplaces shipped from London to his Colonial palace in New Bern.
On
January 12, 1769, Tryon wrote the Earl of Hillsborough, saying,
" . . . there is great elegance both in the taste and workmanship
in the Chimney Piece for the Council Chamber, executed by the
able artist."
Burgwin
Wright House, Wilmington
True
to Colonial Christmas tradition, fruits and vines native to coastal
North Carolina adorn the mantels at the Burgwin Wright House,
built in 1771. The one exotic exception was the pineapple. "But
because they had to be imported, pineapples were expensive,"
says Ann Hanson, who helps manage the house. Unable to justify
the cost of buying a pineapple outright, some Colonialists rented
them for the holidays.
Quaker
Meadows Plantation, Burke County
(I
have requested a photo)
Built
in 1812, Quaker Meadows Plantation, recently restored and opened
to the public, boasts a cherry and walnut mantel imported from
Charleston. The oldest plantation home in Burke County, Quaker
Meadows was built by Captain Charles McDowell, namesake of the
famous Revolutionary War General.
Sidebar:
Mantel Mania
You
won't be asked to sit for dinner, but you can visit the Biltmore
Estate's Banquet Hall, which features a 40-foot Fraser Fir during
the holiday season. While you're there, be sure to take note of
the mantel decorations, or chimney ornaments as they were once
known.
Some
of these ornaments may take the form of a circle of evergreen
adorned with a red velvet bow or holly and ivy draped across a
mantel with stockings hung below. The candles of Advent might
be nestled in a ring of fresh boxwood. These are all wreaths of
one form or another, symbolizing the holiday season.
The
tradition of wreath making goes well beyond Christmas cheer, dating
back to ancient cultures around the world and signifying love,
protection, friendship, life and rebirth. "Some cultures
believed that holly, mistletoe and other evergreens could be brought
indoors to shelter the sylvan spirits from the cold of winter,"
says Cathy Barnhardt, Biltmore Estate's floral supervisor. "In
England, wreaths of holly are laid at family grave sites during
the holidays to represent the continuous circle of life."
Barnhardt
notes that the floral staff will use more than 200 wreaths to
decorate the Biltmore House this season.
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