Crabtree Falls

Sunday, April 28, 2013

The Biltmore Estate


Samantha Brown had taken a hiatus from her show on the Travel Channel, but apparently she's coming back with something new.  Not long ago she was in Asheville.

Here's an article about the Biltmore accommodating the President during his 2010 trip.

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/05/25/3267238/born-for-biltmore.html#storylink=cpy


Orchids will herald the start of Biltmore's bloom season, March 21 through May 31. The stunning floral displays - featuring nearly 100,000 tulips - across the estate celebrate the majesty of Fredrick Law Olmsted's legacy as Biltmore's master horticulture planner. To plan your trip, check Biltmore's seasonal Bloom Report to see what's coming into color. Biltmore's restaurants will feature special menu items, with the Winery offering a commemorative spring wine and wine seminars.   Explore Asheville

And for music lovers - Biltmore's Summer Concert Series


The Biltmore vineyard is actually one of over a hundred in North Carolina, so it's not necessarily special.  In fact, historically, NC, at one time, grew more grapes than any state in the country.  What stands out to me is that when there was a rebirth of the industry in North Carolina, the owners and operators of the Biltmore turned to French winemakers to produce a quality product.  They needed their advice, first, and then they needed an expert - someone actually from France - to actually come over to the Biltmore Estate to show them how it's done. 

Some other notable examples of thinking (an acting) outside the box:  the Japanese during The Meiji Restoration, the young Russian czar Peter the Great's tour of Europe, Silicon Valley recruiting computer programmers from India during the dot.com revolution, Brazil becoming a world leader in alternative energy, some Georgia farmers (US state) tapping into the growing international olive oil trade, the Chinese turning more to a state-capitalist system that is now simply out-pacing the whole world, and North Carolina looking at M.I.T in Boston (and Silicon Valley) as a model for merging government, science, business and education into a Research Triangle, etc. 

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