One of the best things about being a Biltmore passholder is the ability to pop over to the estate any time we want to. We did just that this past weekend to view the special exhibit that is in the Conservancy through September 29th. I had wanted to take a look at it but just had not worked in a trip so last Saturday we planned an early morning trip to Asheville for some other things and since we were in the area we popped in.

Last year we took a look at the railway exhibit that was constructed in Antler Village and we loved it. We have not made it over to that exhibit this year but I am pretty sure it is the same exhibit. You can see some pictures of that exhibit by clicking here.

So sit back and look at some of the fun pictures I took and read some fun facts provided by the Biltmore staff that describe some of the fun facts involved with this unique exhibit.

“Luxuriant” bamboo, as Frederick Law Olmsted called it when planning George Vanderbilt’s gardens and grounds, was harvested and used as the roofing material on the Biltmore House replica. Grapevine was also collected and fashioned into Biltmore’s iconic gargoyles. 

It took 1,700 hours to construct the 10-foot-long replica of Biltmore House, compared to… the 6 years it took to build the 250-room Biltmore House in the late 1800s.

It took 6 artists to build the scale model of Biltmore House, compared to the 1,000 workers it took to build Biltmore House in the late 1800s.

It took 5,000 tons of Indiana limestone to build Biltmore House in the late 1800s, compared to.the 25 types of items harvested from estate grounds to create replicas of Biltmore House and other buildings. This included horse chestnut, magnolia leaves, hickory nuts, lotus pods, bamboo, pine cone scales, acorn caps, winged bean, star anise, grapevine, honeysuckle, ash bark, oak bark, pine bark, elm bark, hickory bark, eucalyptus leaves, day lily stem, rose of sharon, cedar branch, walnuts, stewartia, wisteria, turkey tail fungus, and contorted Filbert.

There are 6 separate railroad tracks running through the Conservatory carrying locomotives and railcars around the buildings. The trains cross bridges and trestles on varied levels and through multiple rooms.  

7 artists created all of the replicas in the Conservatory. It took 3, 745 combined hours to construct the 8 estate building replicas that are in the Conservancy exhibit.

It only took one week to install both of the exhibits in the Conservancy and in Antler Village which is amazing to me. There is a lot of work in these exhibits and the Biltmore staff is so good at offering new experiences for visitors every single year. It is worth a trip or two to see what is new.

My readers know of my love of the Biltmore by now and I am always happy to share some of the things that we see when we visit. Come back next week and see some of the beautiful plants that are in the Conservancy surrounding the railway exhibit. Remember to leave me a comment for our Comments for a Cause for the month – Find Your Anchor.