Biltmore Reflections (pt. 3)
Early Days at Biltmore
When I started work at Biltmore, the curator was on vacation. No note. No list of projects. No communication. I had no idea what to do. I spent those first few weeks just trying to grasp what was in the eclectic collection. Also, I tried to learn my way around the 180,000 square feet of floor space. I frequently set off alarms as I wandered from one part of the House to another. I would call down to the guards, “Sorry! Me again!”
On one of those first days, several Biltmore staff joined me as I wandered through the House. They were welcoming and friendly, but they were also “testing” me. They would ask about various objects as we walked past them. What country is that from? What’s that made of? How old is that? I still remember that as we walked up the grand staircase, we passed one of the oldest pieces in the Biltmore collection, a medieval tapestry fragment. “How old is that?” I paused. I was quite confident that I at least knew the century. But I didn’t want to make a mistake. I said, “It’s very old.” Thankfully, everyone chuckled and no one pushed me for a more appropriate answer.