Lady on the Hill: How Biltmore Estate Became an American Icon

By Howard E. Covington Jr. and The Biltmore Company

Book Overview

Lady on the Hill: How Biltmore Estate Became an American Icon

It is the epitome of Gilded Age splendor: the largest private home ever built in the United States, a French ch teau graced with more than 50,000 priceless furnishings and objets d'art, set in an enchanting rural paradise, designed by America's foremost nineteenth-century landscape architect. A National Historic Landmark, George Vanderbilt's dream home welcomes visitors to experience its glorious past as well as its exciting future. Once described by David Rockefeller as a "white elephant," what makes Biltmore Estate as popular a destination as Monticello, Mount Vernon, and Colonial Williamsburg?

Lady on the Hill tells the inspiring story of the thirty-five-year effort to restore this fading beauty to her former glory--all without a penny of government funding or outside foundation grants. Central to this true-life tale of rebirth against the odds is George Vanderbilt's grandson William A. V. Cecil, a well-mannered, highly educated man who, when caught up in an idea, becomes a whirling dervish, generating enough energy and enthusiasm to motivate everyone around him. And, according to author Howard Covington Jr., Cecil gets a week's worth of ideas before he's done with his Monday morning shave.

In the late 1950s, attorneys, financial managers, and tax accountants were united in advising Cecil and his brother, George, to sell off the estate's 12,000 acres in order to create a suburban subdivision. Cecil quietly ignored this advice and came up with a better idea: over the next four decades, he would turn this down-at-the-heels mansion that was a drain on the family business into the most successful, privately preserved historic site in the United States, perhaps even the world.

Cecil succeeded beyond even his wildest dreams. Not only did he raise the money needed to begin and continue a painstaking, decades-long restoration of the house itself, but he also achieved a goal that even his grandfather had found elusive. He made Biltmore Estate a self-sustaining, working enterprise that included a vibrant tourist destination, a working winery and vineyard, and a farming operation; employed hundreds of people; and attracted hundreds of millions of dollars to the local economy every year.

Lady on the Hill tells a lively tale of eccentric, upper-crust characters, seemingly insurmountable obstacles, and one man's determination, innovation, loyalty, and stubborn persistence to succeed against the odds. It also provides a brilliant, if unorthodox, model for anyone involved with the preservation and restoration of a historic home.

"What William Cecil has accomplished at Biltmore Estate is one of the great preservation success stories of all time. He has set a high standard for what all historic house museums strive for: magnificently preserved buildings and grounds, engaging interpretation, and--perhaps most challenging of all--economic self-sufficiency. It is no surprise that Biltmore Estate is widely recognized as one of America's finest places to visit."
--Richard Moe, President of the National Trust for Historic Preservation

"Biltmore is a glorious national historic landmark that, through creative vision and entrepreneurial management, preserves and provides insight into a way of life in the early 1900s. Bill is the imaginative and multifaceted leader who has built this great monument to enrich his community. George and I admire his dedication and success."
--George and Abby Rockefeller O'Neill

"Bill Cecil and his team at Biltmore Estate have sure proved that they know how to build a successful business. They did it the old-fashioned way: embrace a bold idea that others said could not be done and--through commitment, determination, and hard work--bring it to life. Their achievement against the odds is inspiring, and their vision and perseverance are valuable lessons to us all."
--Don Logan, Chairman, Media & Communications Group, Time Warner

"If George Vanderbilt did nothing more than engage the two most prominent and storied designers of their time, architect Richard Morris Hunt and landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, to carry out his vision of a European estate in the southern Appalachians, he would have created an American icon. The beauty of the method by which the estate was executed and, even today, the meticulous attention to detail, in the presentation and care of the estate by William Cecil, have brought history to life."
--Gary J. Walters, Chief Usher, The White House

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0471758183
• ISBN13: 9780471758181
• Release Date: March 2006
• Publisher: Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, John
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.4" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Fantastic Book, full of details

If you have ever been to Biltmore, this is a must read. It makes the house more a home. Less a museum. You will understand the hardships to make this such a wonderful US "must see".

Beautiful

We grew up visiting The Biltmore and this book is very acurate. The details, pictures and biography of this home is outstanding! Makes me want to go back again to see things we have missed!

Lady On the Hill

Lady on the Hill is a fantastic book. Anyone that is interested in historic preservation will find it enjoyable. People that have been to, or plan to go to Biltmore Estate should definitly read it. The history of the Vanderbilt and Cecil family to maintain the property as a private residence is amazing. I have been to Biltmore several times and had no idea that almost from its completion "how to maintain it" has been a question, and at times a problem. The book is an interesting glimpse into one family's creative endeavors to maintain a family home and in the process create an entire tourist industry.

Lady on the Hill

I've read and studied regarding the lives of the Vanderbilt families and the Biltmore inparticular. This is truly one of the BEST books I've read. We've all learned about the house and George Vanderbilt's ideas and thinking on building Biltmore. This book describes the life of his wife Edith and their daughter Cornelia after his death and what they had to go through to keep Biltmore after his death. The research is absolutely amazing. For anyone who is interested or obsessed with The Biltmore, this is a MUST read.

An Amazing Private Restoration

The real surprise about Biltmore is not that it was built, the rich-rich back in those days had lots money to spend on things like this. Instead it is that Biltmore has been brought back from being a somewhat shabby Grand Dame back into splender. Over the decades it was restored and brought up to date, but even more important it, and its surrounding were turned into a profitable enterprise that shows that all these old houses do not have to be turned over to the government to survive. The estate incorporates some 12,000 acres near Asheville NC. In the late 1950's the smart money advisors recommended that it be sold off for a suburban housing development. Instead George Vanderbilt's grandson William Cecil began the project that lasted for forty years to bring the estate back. It now produces wine and visitors to the area. He has become as or perhaps even more popular destination than Monticello, Mount Vernon or Colonial Williamsburg. This is the story of how Mr. Cecil made the whole thing happen.