CAU > Seminars and Study Tours > Asheville: 19th Century Rich

Asheville: 19th Century Rich

March 20-24, 2005

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The Biltmore, the Vanderbilts, and the Nineteenth-Century World of the Superrich

March 20-24, 2005
The Grove Park Inn Resort, Asheville, North Carolina
Glenn C. Altschuler and Isaac Kramnick

Overview

Set in its secluded park among the rolling foothills of North Carolina's Blue Ridge Mountains, the Biltmore estate was, and remains today, the largest, and one of the most lavish, private homes ever built in the United States. A gargantuan trophy house, this private mountain getaway of George W. (youngest son of William Henry Vanderbilt and grandson of Cornelius, the Commodore), was meant to be, and still is, more than an eye-popping symbol of its owner's wealth and status. It signified--to neighbors, visitors, and the nation--America's arrival as a world economic power and the spread of the country's new wealth to even the remotest corners of the rural South. No doubt of little concern to its residents and their house guests, the Biltmore also provided proof to contemporary critics and commentators of the hubris and pretentiousness--not to mention the questionable taste and ill-concealed aristocratic airs--of the newly labeled robber barons of post-Civil War America.

What did the Biltmore truly signify? What did politicians, writers, ministers, and philosophers of the day think? What moral codes and social principles encouraged the Vanderbilts and their colleagues to build such palaces, even in places where the overwhelming majority of their neighbors were dirt-poor? Did they or any of their fellow barons ever harbor doubts about such display? And, because it's too tempting a question to avoid, how do Americans today respond to places like the Biltmore? After all, the era of "ask not what your country can do for you" is long gone, and today's moguls would certainly admire--if not mind owning--the Biltmore.

Faculty

To help us enjoy, examine, and assess the Biltmore in its time and ours, CAU favorites Glenn C. Altschuler, the Dorothy and Thomas Litwin Professor of American Studies and dean of the School of Continuing Education and Summer Sessions, and Isaac Kramnick, the Richard J. Schwartz Professor of Government and vice provost for undergraduate education at Cornell, will lead CAU's first foray to the Blue Ridge. In daily lectures and discussions, guided visits to the Biltmore and other sites in and around Asheville, and throughout our stay at our own "private" estate, the Grove Park Inn, we'll enjoy the great beauty of this area even as we ponder the place of the Biltmore, the Vanderbilts, and the robber barons in American thought and culture.

Program Cost and Travel Arrangements

The program fee of $1,685 (per-person, double-occupancy) includes all lodging and meals at the Grove Park Inn, all site visits, ground transportation, admission fees, escort services, taxes, gratuities, and the full educational program. The supplement for single occupancy is $355. Participants will be responsible for their own transportation to and from Asheville, but Stone Travel of Ithaca will be happy to assist you with travel arrangements if you like.

Physical Requirements

This is not a strenuous program, but we will be walking at various times over uneven ground and climbing steps. Weather this time of year should be very pleasant, but rain showers and cool evenings are always a possibility.

Map

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