Day 70 - North Carolina

Day 70

Dec. 20

Asheville, NC

Dear Miss Smith

    Today is the last day of our trip in North Carolina. It seems like we just got here yesterday, but I think we saved the best for last. Today we had a quick breakfast, and then headed to Biltmore Estates for the day. We drove down the long three mile approach road, and even from a distance the place looked big, but as we were driving closer it kept growing, and growing, by the time we got there it was HUGE!

Grand Banquet Room

    When we arrived we went in to tour the house. We were told that the house has over 4 acres of floor space. We also learned that George Vanderbilt had it built for his summer home, and that his estate used to have 125,000 acres, including Mt. Pisgah. I probably don't need to mention that he came from a wealthy family. Everything was decorated for Christmas. The Grand Banquet Room was 72 feet long by 42 feet wide with a 70 foot high ceiling.

On one side of the room there was a triple fireplace. The fireplace was so tall that I think I could have stood up in it, and the mantle was so high that even if I stood on my toes, I would not be able to reach it. It must have been a little difficult for them to hang their stockings there at Christmas time, or maybe they hung them on one of the other 64 fireplaces in the house. I wonder how they decided which one to use. In the middle of the room there was a long table that had thirteen chairs on each side and one on each end. They must have liked having lots of company. I wonder if any of the Vanderbilt's guests ever got lost when they went to use one of the 43 bathrooms, and ended up spending the night in one of the 35 bedrooms, and getting found in the morning by one of the 80 servants? Since I can't ask them, I guess I'll just have to wonder.

Winter Garden

    One of Kristina's favorite places in the house was the Winter Garden. It had a marble floor, and there was light coming down on the many palms, ferns, flowers, and poinsettias through the windows in the domed ceiling.

Library

Billiard Room

Priscilla's favorite room in the house was the Library. Kristina and I also really liked the Library. It had walnut paneling on the walls, and a black marble fireplace, but I think the best part about it was all those books. We were told that there are over 10,000 volumes! I don't think that they ever had any trouble finding something new to read. There was also a small spiral staircase and a ladder in the room, so that you could get to the top bookcases. We were also told that George Vanderbilt spoke eight different languages fluently, and that the books in the library are in eight different languages. I think that if we had been allowed to read the books in the library, that we could have spent the whole day there just reading, but we weren’t allowed to, so we went to look at some more rooms.
    One of the rooms we looked at was the Billiard Room. One of my favorite things about this room was that it had hidden doors in the paneling of the wall next to the fireplace.

Edith Vanderbilt's Room

Another room we saw was the North Bedroom. We were told that this was George Vanderbilt's mothers bedroom before she died, and that later when he married Edith Styvessant Dresser, it became her bedroom. We also got to see George Vanderbilt's bedroom. It was the South Bedroom, and had a great view of his 125,000 acre estate. Later after his death, his wife Edith sold 87,000 acres of the estate to the United States Forest Service, for less than five dollars an acre. Later some of the land that they had left was developed into the town of Biltmore Forest, and some was sold for the Blue Ridge Parkway. We were told that the estate today has about 8,000 acres.

Louis XIV Room

Main Kitchen

We also got to see the bedroom where George and Edith Vanderbilt's only child Cornelia Vanderbilt was born. It was the Louis 16th Bedroom. The bedroom was large and very pretty. We were told that Cornelia later married John Francis Amherst Cecil, and had two sons; George and William. We were told that her second son William was also born in this room. It seems like Cornelia must have named her sons after her father, George, and her grandfather, William. I wonder if George Vanderbilt named Cornelia the feminine version of his grandfather's name, Cornelius Vanderbilt.
    We also got to see the three kitchens; the Pastry Kitchen, the Rotisserie Kitchen, and the Main Kitchen. There was also a bowling alley. We were told that a servant would sit up above the bowling alley, and would set up the pins again when
the pins were knocked down.

Unfilled Indoor Swimming Pool

They also had an indoor swimming pool. The Breakfast Room, which they used for more informal dining, had Spanish leather on the walls. I really enjoyed seeing the Music Room also. During our tour we got to see rooms on the three different floors of the house not including the basement. We were told that the house has 250 rooms.
    After the tour, we made gingerbread houses with the pastry chef. That was really fun. Looking at all those gingerbread houses sure made us hungry, so we decided to go have lunch.

Our table was the third stall from the right

We went to eat at what used to be the stables, but has since been turned into a restaurant; the Stable Cafe. I know what your thinking. Yes, it has been cleaned since then. The food was delicious! They had so many special holiday options on the menu, that it was hard to decide what to eat.
After lunch we took a quick walk through some of the gardens: the Azalea Garden, the Italian Garden, the Bass Pond, and the English Walled Garden. There were other gardens too, but because it was so cold outside we didn't walk through them all.

Tapestry Gallery

    Later when it was starting to get dark we went back to Biltmore house for their Candlelight Tour. The house was full of traditional Christmas music, from the many ensembles, choirs, and soloists playing and singing. There was even music from the pipe organ in the Banquet Hall. I think I could have stood there listening to it all night, but I was curious to see what the rest of the house looked like with all the Christmas decorations at night, so we went to take a look.

George Vanderbilt's Room

The house was beautiful! All the fireplaces had a cherry fire roaring in them, and the candles gave a soft glow to the rooms. It almost seemed like we were stepping back in time, if it wasn't for all those Christmas trees loaded with electric lights. There were so many Christmas trees throughout the house, that we decided to have a contest, to see how many Christmas trees each of us could see before we left that night. I carefully kept count throughout the evening, but before we went to bed that night, I forgot how many Christmas trees I had seen. Priscilla also had been keeping count of how many Christmas trees she had seen, but she forgot about the contest halfway through the evening, so Kristina ended up winning the contest.

Grand Staircase

Even though I have forgotten how many Christmas trees I had seen, I have not forgotten how tall the Fraser fir was that they had set up in the banquet hall. It was 35 feet tall. We stopped for a little while to listen to the Christmas music in the Winter Garden. It was wonderful. Then we went to finish looking at the rest of the house.

While we were walking up the grand staircase, I looked out one of the windows that was facing the front of the house. There was a 55 foot Norway spruce decorated on the front lawn, with a fountain splashing behind it.

    While we were looking around, we were told that the estate took just over six years to build, and that it was opened on Christmas Eve 1895 to guests and friends. We also were told about a Christmas tradition started by George Vanderbilt in 1895. All the estate employees, workers, and their family's, were invited to the house on Christmas morning for a Christmas party. There were presents for them on the Christmas tree, and they had cakes and ice-cream. This tradition has been continued ever since that first Christmas at Biltmore estates. We also learned that George Vanderbilt's mother, used to read Christmas story’s to their guest's children, around a large table filled with delicious food. I really liked how the rest of the house looked at night with all the Christmas lights. I especially liked how the Music room, and the Library looked with all the candles, and the fires glowing. The evening was over all too quickly. When we left, we drove out of the Lodge Gate, which was decorated with white Christmas lights, and looked very pretty. I’ve really enjoyed our trip to North Carolina, and I hope we will do it again some time.

From,

Katelyn

P.S. I hope it’s warmer next time we come.

Day 68 - North Carolina

Day 68

December 18

Charlotte, NC

Dear Miss Smith,
    I am sure this won’t be a very long letter as I am yawning already and it is quite late. Everyone has gone to bed except me and I hope to follow them soon.

    Today we visited the Billy Graham Library. It is quite a place, Miss Smith, and you should have seen the bookshelves! But, lest you think this is just a library, it is also a museum, restaurant, and more.
    We started out with a tour of the Graham home were Billy lived from age 9 until he headed off for college. The house is a two-story Colonial house built of bricks and looks like it should be in Williamsburg, or some other such place. But it did have indoor plumbing.

    Our next place to visit was the museum where we discovered so many interesting facts about Billy Graham’s life. This is housed in a large barn-shaped building and the entrance is through a large cross. This building also houses Ruth’s Attic Bookstore which was a lovely place to visit. It was hard not to buy stacks of books, but as you well know, there would be no room in the RV for them. I did buy a book or two and, when the girls weren’t around, I bought them each a necklace for Christmas. But don’t tell them.
    Oh, I forgot to mention that the day before yesterday we stopped by a Christmas Tree farm and purchased a small one for the RV. It smells so lovely, and I bought an ornament from the bookstore.

    Sometime during the middle of the day, I can’t now remember if it was before or after we visited the bookstore, we stopped to eat lunch at the Graham Brothers Dairy Bar. There is nothing quite like a hot lunch on a cold winter day. It was hard to decide just what we wanted, but I ended up with the Grilled Chicken Sandwich and chips, with a homemade cookie for dessert. We ate in a cozy place that looked just like a horse stall only with a table and bench seats instead of straw and a horse.

    Since it is Christmas time, we got to go see the live nativity outside, and after it got dark we took a carriage ride behind some lovely horses, after which we warmed up with hot chocolate before wandering around a little more.
    Then it was time to head back to the RV where we took the dogs for a run and prepared a late supper. Then I cleaned up the kitchenette while the girls took the dogs out once more before bed.
    Now I must head to bed myself, Miss Smith. I have been yawning for the past twenty minutes and I’m afraid I’ll fall asleep right here if I don’t crawl into bed soon.

Sweet dreams,

~Priscilla

Day 62 - South Carolina

Day 62

Dec. 12

Charleston, SC

Dear Miss Smith,
    Wow. We saw some pretty cool places today! It was quite the full but fun
day:)

    We were all up and on our way early because we knew there was a lot to see! Our first stop was Drayton Hall. Drayton Hall is a beautiful brick house located outside of Charleston. It has survived the American Revolution, the Civil War, a local earthquake in 1886 and large hurricanes. It's one of the only Pre-Revolutionary houses that stand in close to their original condition today, and is the only plantation on the Ashley River to survive intact. Through the years, it had been passed down through 7 generations of Draytons, and served as a rice plantation, a military headquarters, a site for strip mining, and a country retreat before being bought by the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 1974. The Trust decided to preserve the site as is, instead of restoring it to look like a certain time period like many other places do. Quite the history, huh?

    We took the house tour, which lasted just over 45 minutes. The house had beautiful wood floors and walls. In one hall there was a marble mantle which was original to the house!

A couple rooms had plaster ceilings, which were pretty cool. One of these plaster ceilings was the original 1742 ceiling for that room. The basement was all stone; walls, floors and all!





    Once we finished looking around the grounds, we ate lunch as we headed to our next stop, the Magnolia Plantation.

There is so much to do there! We started with the tour of the house which took us through ten rooms.
    We explored the slave cabins and spent some time in the Zoo and Nature center, then headed to the gardens. The gardens were amazing. It must be unbelievably beautiful in the warmer months!! Definitely a place to come back to!

    The Swamp Garden was probably the coolest part of it though. Trees growing from the water . . . egrets and herons . . . lots of bridges and dikes. And you're right in the middle of it all. I took lots of pictures!

    By the time we finished our walk through there, we decided we wanted to give our feet a break though, so we took the Nature Train. The ride took us over the plantation and it was a good way to get a sample of every bit of the place. We even saw an alligator! Before leaving, we stopped at the Peacock Cafe and got something warm to drink. It was warmer than usual today but we were still getting a bit chilly after being outside most of the afternoon!

    Now we're enjoying our last evening at the Cottage. It's been really nice having a cozy place to come to the last several evenings :) Only one more day in South Carolina! It's gone really fast!

-Abigail

Day 60 - South Carolina

Day 60

Dec. 10

Charleston, SC

Miss Smith,

            We got up early today so we could finish the drive to Charleston. Our first place we stopped was Boone Hall Plantation.

Boone Hall Plantation

We only spent a few hours there so we could go everywhere we wanted to, but we could have spent longer. The house was beautiful.

Middleton Place

            After that we went to the Middleton Place. The house museum was neat.

The furniture and furnishings were beautiful. We went to the garden afterwards. The flowers were pretty. They had some white flowers blooming that were just gorgeous.

 

Middleton Gardens

            Eventually we tired and decided to go to our cottage. We stayed at the Cottages on Charleston harbor. The cabins were roomy.

Soon we settled in for the night.

My favorite part of the day was when we took a tour of the Middleton house. Got to go now.

Sincerely,

Susanna

Day 58 - South Carolina

Day 58

December 8

Lexington, South Carolina

Dear Miss Smith,
    Our stop today was the Lexington County Museum! It's not actually a museum in the usual sense of the word, but a 7 acre area in the heart of Lexington that consists of 36 historic structures and buildings! The "museum" (It seems weird to call it that, since it's not all contained in one building.) has several restored houses and their outbuildings, barns, a school, and also a post office!The post office is the original Lexington County post office and is believed to have been built around 1790!

Leaphart/Harman House

    After browsing through the exhibits in the main museum building and exhibit hall, we headed outside to the first house, the Leaphart/Harman House. This house was built some around 1800 and has been home to only two families in it's 200 year history. I thought the brick chimney was really cool. It has a diagonal pattern in the bricks! We were told that that diagonal pattern is the last remaining example in the county.
    From there we debated where to head next. Across the street were several houses, the post office and school, while on this side was the John Fox House, the most notable building in the museum, and all it's outbuildings. We ended up deciding to cross the street first.

Corley Log House

    After stopping in the post office and school, we headed to the oldest documented house in Lexington, constructed in 1771: the Corley Log house. The original owner, Laurance Corley, owned the land that became the town of Lexington! The log cabin consisted of one downstairs room and a loft. Wow, I think I would have gone stir crazy in the winter! It was so tiny and not really any windows!

Daniel Koon house

    The Daniel Koon house made me think of a little model house for some reason. I think maybe because of the green shutters and white siding . . . and the fact that it was small. :)

Hazelius House

    The coolest part of the Hazelius house was the corner where you could see evidence of an attempt to set fire to the house by Federal troops in 1865. That, and learning that this house was the location where Charlie Tillman wrote the gospel song "Give Me That Old Time Religion!" :)

John Fox House

    The John Fox House is really a neat looking house, two stories tall with a long porch with white pillars along the front of the house, and a row of windows above the porch roof on the upper story. It was the first building in Lexington County to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The house features furniture and other artifacts made in Lexington County that show how the house would have been set up around the middle of the nineteenth century. It has six bedrooms, but originally had more!
    We could have spent more time walking around and taking a closer look at all the outbuildings but instead Priscilla thought it would be a good idea to start the drive to Redcliffe and get part way there.

 We did check out a few of the buildings though before leaving. The Wadlington Pigeon House is a very unique looking building! It's octagonal shape with a peaked roof, and 112 access holes. I guess the octagonal ornamental architecture style was popular in the 1850s, but it's kinda rare to find now. There's only one other pigeon house from that period still known to exist in South Carolina.

    After all that walking, it felt good to sit in the vehicle! Actually it put me to sleep for a while. We're now at an RV park where we'll spend the night. And Priscilla just informed me that she and Susanna are going to take the dogs out, so I think I'll stop writing and join them.

Hope everything is going well there!

-Abigail

Day 39 - Alabama

Day 39

Nov. 19

Dauphin Island, AL

Dear Miss Smith,
We got up today and after breakfast first thing, Miss Priscilla said I could wear one of her hats. Priscilla has a bunch of hats so it was hard to choose from them all, but I finally choose Lady Diane.

We then drove to Mobile the city where the Conde-Charlotte Museum House (also known as the house of five flags) is.

Five flags have flown over this house- French, English, Spanish, American & Confederate

The house was very interesting it had French rooms,

French

English rooms,

British

and confederate rooms.

Confederate

We decided to take one of the 45 minute tours so we could learn as much as possible. Elizabeth’s and my favorite rooms were the confederate rooms because they were decorated with our favorite color pink.






We had a quick lunch and then drove to USS Alabama.

The USS Alabama was used during WW2. Did you know Miss Smith that the USS Alabama is 680 feet long? We walked on the decks. It was huge. We also saw the aircraft collection. They had tons of planes there. We saw the mess hall, and pavilion. My favorite thing that we did today was walking on the decks.

We then drove to the Dauphin House Bed & Breakfast

where we’re spending the night. I made Miss Priscilla the promised homemade bread today. It turned out pretty good. It’s getting late I guess I better get some sleep.      

Sincerely,

Susanna

Day 35 - Alabama

Day 35

November 15

Tuscaloosa, Alabama

Dear Miss Sarah,

We spent most of the day at Helen Keller’s birthplace in Tuscambie, Alabama. Helen Keller was blind, deaf, and mute.

Helen & Anne

We first explored Ivy Green, the house. It was called Ivy Green because of all the English ivy that grew there. We saw the parlor, the dining room and two bedrooms downstairs. Upstairs were the trunk room, boy’s room, and last Anne and Helen’s room. 

We also saw the exhibits in the museum room. Outside we saw the cottage and boxwood circle where Helen used to play as a child. We had to see the very pump where Helen learned her first word. Then we looked at the memorial stone. Almost being time to go we hurried and saw the New Zealand gate. They also had lots of gardens.

My favorite part was seeing the water pump. This water pump opened up Helens mind to new things.

We left and headed to Josh and Anna’s house (Friends of Bekah's.) in Tuscaloosa for the night. They grilled for us. We all liked holding the baby so much that we had to take turns. I think Priscilla enjoyed it the most. After playing with the kids we played some games. Need to go, it’s getting late.

Sincerely,

Susanna

P.S. Please share this with Miss Smith since no one else can write her today.

Day 33 - Mississippi

 Day 33

Nov. 13

Clarkco, MS

My Dear Miss Smith,
    I realize that I wrote a letter to you last night, but Amy said that if I would write you this evening, she would write you tomorrow.

    It has been a lovely day. We got on the road early in spite of the lateness of the preceding night. Our first stop of the day was in Biloxi to see the last home of Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America. The house was shrouded in a light fog when we arrived, but that quickly burned off when the sun came up a little more. We all loved the outside of the house with its pillars and high veranda. Inside was just as lovely. The house is called “Beauvoir” which is French for beautiful view because the third owner of this house loved the view of the Mississippi Sound from the front porch. I had wondered why it had that name.

    There is a statue of Jefferson Davis with his son Joseph and another boy, Jim Limber behind the house. I believe it was dedicated in 2010.

    After spending much time wandering around the gift shop, we purchased a few things and then went on our way. Each of us now has a penny with Jefferson Davis’ head on it instead of Lincoln’s. I’m contemplating the idea of attaching a pin to the back of mine and adding it to my 50-States hat. I have not decided for sure, however.


    Heading on, our next stop was just north of Lucedale. There we visited the Palestine Gardens.

Oh, Miss Smith, everyone of us enjoyed this stop immensely. The gardens are a miniature replica of the Holy Land. It is a one yard/one mile scale and we were able to see the Dead Sea, Bethlehem and Jerusalem and took a journey to Ceasarea Philippi.
Getting to see what everything looked like, the hills, the streets, the walls around the cities, all made the Bible much more real. There has been a lot of hard work put into this garden and it was well worth our visit. I’m sure we could have remained there much longer, but we had to continue our trip.

    It was several hours later before we reached Clarkco State Park where we had decided to spend the night. It is near Quitman, if you would like to find it on your map. Oh, it is a lovely place. Quiet and peaceful after the noise of the cities. There is a lake and our RV is parked under tall trees.

It wasn’t quite dark when we arrived and everyone was glad to get out of the RV. The dogs were no exception. We have been so busy in cities that this place is a delightful retreat.

    We all agreed to build a fire and roast hot dogs for supper with s’mores afterwards for dessert. It was chilly, so warm jackets were welcome. Penelope couldn’t decide if she wanted to lie down beside Lydia and Natalie or over near me. There was no indecision with Timber; he was overjoyed to be outside with Amy once more.
    Now I have retired to the RV to write as the light of the dying campfire is not bright enough to see. It was with a great deal of giggling and excitement that Amy, Natalie and Lydia came in to get warmer jackets and for Amy to get one of our lanterns. They said they were going to go for a walk with the dogs. I have no fear for them since Timber went along, and I imagine it will be a while before they come back for the novelty of such a walk in the dark with only the light of a lantern will no doubt keep them energized for some time.

    Now, Miss Smith, how are things back home? Is Bekah helping you at all? Are the dogs doing all right without me? I do hope Patches and Perky are staying out of trouble. You haven’t re-organized all my books again, have you? I know I will be gone for a year, but how I will ever find my books on my return remains to be seen. Amy tells me that Bekah had told her that for each state we visit, you post the map of it on the bulletin board and put a colored pin in each place we visit. That is a charming idea and I wish I had a place to do that here. I will just keep my notebooks going, however. I have a feeling they will be full long before we complete our trip. If that is so, I will simply mail them to you to be filed until my return and create new ones.
    But I am growing sleepy. The girls and dogs have not returned yet, but I am going to retire. I’m sure I will hear all about their adventures in the morning. Sleep well, Miss Smith.

With love,

~Priscilla