How Did Our Christmas Tradition Begin?
It took six long years to complete America's largest home, which George Vanderbilt officially opened on Christmas Eve, 1895. He waited six years to open his biggest gift. Fortunately, you don't have to wait at all. The joy of that first holiday at Biltmore continues today with Candlelight Christmas Evenings, November 7, 2008–January 3, 2009.
Although George Vanderbilt moved into Biltmore House in October 1895, the house did not officially open to guests until Christmas Eve of that year. Great efforts were made to ensure all (or most!) would be ready by this special day. Mr. Vanderbilt was still a bachelor during the first Biltmore Christmas and his mother, Maria Louisa, presided as hostess.
Correspondence between Vanderbilt and his staff indicates that planning was intensive and no detail was left unattended. Managers debated which nearby county had the best holly and the most desirable mistletoe, while staff scouted for the perfect candidate for the Banquet Hall Christmas tree.
Visit during Candlelight Christmas Evenings and learn what the holiday season was like back in George Vanderbilt's day with entertaining stories from our hosts. In the Oak Sitting Room, we share estate holiday traditions and talk about George and Edith’s travels. Hear the classic tale 'Twas the Night Before Christmas and learn about Santas from around the world in the Chippendale Room.
Delve deeper into Edith Vanderbilt's generous spirit in the North Tower Room as a host reveals how Edith chose gifts for estate employees. Then view estate history from a different perspective with servants' stories in the Servants' Sitting Room
Chauncey Beadle writes estate manager, Mr. Charles McNamee:
"I quite agree with you that we should have a very large tree for this occasion; in fact, I think a twenty foot tree in that large Banquet Hall would be rather dwarfed".
When George's mother, several of his brothers and sisters and their spouses, and assorted nieces and nephews arrived, they were greeted in the Banquet Hall by a splendidly tall tree laden with gifts for estate workers. At the foot of the tree was a table piled high with family gifts. Because of this, the Banquet Hall has always been the focal point for Christmas celebrations in Biltmore House.
The family and guests gathered around the forty-foot Banquet Hall table for elaborate dinners served both evenings. Mr. Vanderbilt's niece Gertrude kept a series of Dinner Books in which she recorded the seating arrangements of all of the parties and dinners she attended as a young woman, and she was one of the guests at the first Christmas dinner here in Biltmore House. Gertrude kept two Dinner Books in 1895, and the Christmas meal at Biltmore House was the 193rd formal dinner that she attended that year. In her diagram of the dinner, she listed 27 Vanderbilt family members. It was said to be the largest gathering of the family since the death of William Henry Vanderbilt, George's father, in 1885.
In addition to the grand meals and festive décor, stockings hung on mantles, plum puddings and mince pies were served, and George's mother read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas' to the children. All in all, it must have been a grand time—one article even stated that the family exchanged gilded and jeweled Christmas cards!
Create your own holiday tradition during Candlelight Christmas Evenings.