Friday we went for a walk around the beautiful neighborhood and grounds, then off to tour the the Biltmore Estate. Built by George Washington Vanderbilt II in 1895 it's the largest privately owned house in the United States, at 178,926 square feet and one of the most prominent remaining examples of the Gilded Age. Vanderbilt employed landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted to design the several thousand acre grounds. Olmsted is considered to be the father of American landscape architecture and was famous for co-designing many well-known urban parks including Central Park in New York City and Golden Gate Park in San Francisco.
Following our tour we spent the afternoon exploring downtown Asheville which included a comedy tour by bus of the city and the Friday Art Walk where all the galleries stay open late and serve wine and other appetizers. Much to our surprise, the town, the estate and the hotel were crowded as thousands of people from coastal towns in the path of Hurricane Mathew had also 'fled' to Asheville.
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