Asheville, NC – The Biltmore Home – Blog 3 of 3…
Howllo Fellow Basset Hound and Biltmore Home Lovers…Wow – the Vanderbilts has some serious beauty surrounding them. I am so glad it is a public park now. It is not free of course but you can buy yearly passes. I know we would if we lived within a few hours of the place. Just so massive and would offer year round entertainment.
Grandma, Daisy Lynn and I decided to have a leisurely morning at the DoubleTree and order room service for a late breakfast that would also serve as lunch. We had all day to explore and we are not a pack that likes to race out the door…
In fact, we enjoy the extra pillows and dreams of bacon…
Since we had dinner reservations at Cedric’s Tavern I decided to where my Cedric and basset hound shirt!!! NICE…
On this trip as a whole we were blessed by the weather gods. It was so pleasant surrounding the Blue Ridge Mountains. Just a dream for us since we had Daisy Lynn and everything revolves around Daisy Lynn!!!
The Valet parking rocks. Make sure you read all of my blog postings to get all of the details. They are all in order at the top of this post.
The basset hauling vehicle was about 20 steps away from this front of the house shot. Can’t believe I did not get a better picture of it…
I was so impressed with this photo shoot I forgot – but check it OUT!!!
Come on…This is a bloggers dream…See the details of that railing I put her behind? Yep, I am good like that!!! LOL – too funny. Daisy Lynn can’t take a bad picture.
I took all of these pictures while Grandma was in the home doing her tour. We have both been in the home and it was not a huge part of our visit. There was an exhibit of period clothing and it was interesting and so nicely done. It was fun.
Traveling with a dog makes the Biltmore a place that is extremely well suited to visit. While I went into the home for a look see Grandma and Daisy Lynn rested over in our favorite area called the Library Terrace.
They had water and shelter and beauty. Grandma and Daisy Lynn were part of the unofficial Library Terrace Tour. I just wish I knew the number of hands that petted her over the month we were traveling on the #Lilybooktour. All of us were so polite and took all the extra time that was needed to allow folks to visit with her. We knew that going in. It was like she was a magnet and she was drawing people towards her. She has such a strong energy field. So, basically – if we thought it will take an hour we planned on 2 hours. I always tell people who want a basset hound to plan on taking life in the slow lane.
We got caught in this Shopping area for about an hour. The line wrapped a few feet past this picture. It’s all good…We actually met some Droolers!!!
The Courtyard Market is really nice and right next to the house and the bathrooms.
TRAVELERS NOTE: When you walk into the area look for the table that is to the extreme left. It is undercover and right next to an exit door for a gift shop. When the door opens the AC leaks out. NICE!!!
The day moved so fast. We really wanted a group picture of our pack from the lawn with the home in the background. We were working on it when the Estate Photographer was leaving work. He was so enamored with Daisy Lynn from earlier in the day that he walked over to help us. OMDOG!!! Really? What a nice guy…
Can you even believe it??? So cute…If you see the white van to the left that is our basset hauling vehicle to the right of it. If you don’t valet you get shuttled to the parking lot which is about 10 minutes away. You can’t walk there.
I actually ran back up to the BHV and grabbed one of #bassethoundtown snoods that I will sell as the exclusive Biltmore Garden Snood. I will have that in our boutique soon. It is one of kind and made from Japanese Silk with a cherry blossom print.
Here is the picture the estate photographer took of me earlier that day in the home…LOL – I had to buy it…Grandma did not op for the session. What???
Me and my Cedric shirt. Very fitting indeed…
Now, More about Cedric…
“Like the fictional Lord Grantham on the PBS Masterpiece series Downton Abbey®, George Vanderbilt often had a beloved canine companion at his side. The first was Cedric, a St. Bernard who took up residence on the estate not long after the house opened in 1895.At that time, the St. Bernard was a relatively new breed in the U.S., having been first bred in Switzerland in the 1850s. Cedric came to Biltmore from Bar Harbor, Maine, the location of George Vanderbilt’s summer home Pointe d’Acadie.
Correspondence from guests staying at Biltmore indicates that Cedric had free reign over the first floor. He could often be found sunning on the Loggia or lounging in the Billiard Room or Library; he’s also seen in a number of pictures taken outdoors during Biltmore’s early days.
In addition to a nanny, close family friends Dr. Battle and nursery superintendent Chauncey Beadle, Cedric was the only attendant at a private family ceremony during which George and Edith oversaw the planting a tree to commemorate the birth of their daughter Cornelia in 1900.
By 1901, there was a whole family of St. Bernards living at Biltmore, including a mother, father and three puppies all “big and splendid,”
according to Joseph Hodges Choate, U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain and a guest on the estate in 1901.
George Vanderbilt gifted St. Bernards (believed to have been sired by Cedric) to friends and family. In 1902, George’s friend the Right Rev. William Croswell Doane—First Bishop of the Episcopal Church in Albany, New York—lost his faithful St. Bernard named Cluny, so George gave him a puppy named Balder. A few years later, George and Edith also gave a St. Bernard puppy to their nephew John Nicholas Brown, who named the dog Cedric.
Sadly, Cedric passed away in late 1902, prompting an anonymous Biltmore guest to pen the following ode:
Cedric Sonetto in Rondo
Nov 4, 1902
The Moses of your canine race
On Pisgah’s sapphire heights you strayed
Among her pink beds low you laid
Upon the high and lovely place;
You down to die where there is space,
Amid cathedral pine arrayed
With plumed crest and views that braid
Their columned stems with waving grace.
For your great body to lie down
Most fully housed, walk spreading skies
On beds of spicy needles, brown,
Fragrant; couched in majesty,
Rapt in deep solitude, a woven gown
Of shrouded mystery.
Today, you can see a cast-bronze statue of Cornelia Vanderbilt and Cedric by the late Asheville artist Vadim Bora outside Cedric’s eponymous tavern in Antler Hill Village.
Inside, be sure to check out the many photographs of Cedric as well the display of his impressive leather collar embellished with an engraved silver plate.”
Cedric’s Tavern is Dog Friendly at their outside dining area. It is just magical in the evening with all of their twinkling lights and delicious burgers. Daisy Lynn was exhausted and only woke up for a few bites of left over burger. We also shared a Biltmore cheese plate with Biltmore jams. It was sooooo good. All farm to table.
We left our Biltmore Park knowing that we would be back again some glorious day. But for now…
Good night and sleep tight you beautiful park you…
We need our rest because tomorrow the basset hound hauling vehicle is pulling out to Savannah, GA – y’all!!!
More loving adventure later…and I mean lots of adventures…Cat, Grandma, Daisy Lynn (Chaps and Emma ATB with Cedric…;)
