Asheville: America's largest house

At the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Asheville is home to the largest privately-owned residence still standing in the United States, built by an heir of the Vanderbilt family.

The centre is explored on foot; Biltmore Estate requires a car.

The Biltmore Estate, built between 1889 and 1895 in the style of a French Renaissance château, remains with its over two hundred fifty rooms the largest private house in America.

Around the villa, the gardens designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, the same landscape architect of Central Park in New York, extend over hundreds of acres cultivated.

In the historic center, the Downtown Asheville district preserves one of the richest concentrations of Art Deco buildings in the American South, among galleries and independent cafés.

As evening falls, the city's live music scene, known for the tradition of Appalachian bluegrass music, animates the downtown bars.

The Biltmore Estate required six thousand workers for construction and materials transported via a railroad line built especially for the construction site, a colossal undertaking for its era.

The Vanderbilt family sold much of the original estate's land to the federal government, which today forms the nucleus of the Pisgah National Forest surrounding Asheville.