On Christmas Eve of 1895, George Vanderbilt opened the doors of Biltmore House to welcome family and friends into his home for the first official time. The following day he invited the estate’s many employees and their children into the Banquet Hall where they found a space filled with music, sweet treats and an enormous tree sparkling with lights and laden with gifts for all. In 1898, Mr. Vanderbilt was joined in passing out the presents by his new bride Edith, who was elated with the festive tradition and continued on each year thereafter finding new ways to share the joy of this season. 

Edith’s good friend Anna Wheeler, the wife of the estate’s veterinarian, often helped the Vanderbilts organize exceptional holiday events such as theatrical readings of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol for estate employees.  In an unpublished memoir, Anna reflected back on these special times and the many ways in which Edith carried the true spirit of Christmas year-round.

[Her] work among the mountaineers [and] the charm of her personality soon made her a friend of all who were fortunate enough to know her…. celebrations … were held in the banqueting hall of Biltmore House…. The brilliant tree, in its magnificent setting, the faces of those surrounding it, and the beautiful and gracious hostess are never to be forgotten.

A decade after George Vanderbilt’s death, Edith remarried, settling in Rhode Island and Washington, DC with her husband Senator Peter Gerry.  She dedicated much of her time to political endeavors, particularly to supporting those serving in the military and to promoting literacy and educational efforts.  And though she did not reside at Biltmore full-time, it’s touching to know that she, too, never forgot.  Nestled snugly among papers in our archives are many decades of holiday greetings sent between the former Mrs. Vanderbilt and estate superintendent Chauncey Beadle.  Edith wrote year after year sending her love and best Christmas wishes to those living and working on the estate.

To me, the century-old holiday traditions here illustrate how deeply the Vanderbilts treasured family and community.  Telegram after telegram in our archives serve as tokens of recognition that Biltmore was home for Edith Vanderbilt.. .and that this timeless, magical place was never far from her heart at Christmas-time.  Just as Edith wrote to those she held dear, we send you Best Wishes for Christmas and the New Year!

A flag containing an array of stars hangs in the Banquet Hall of Biltmore House to honor Biltmore employees who served during World War I. Its 53 stars represent each person – 50 blue stars mark those who returned home, and the three gold stars represent those who died in action.

Today, Nov. 12, 2012, we honor the men and women who have served our country, and those who were and are employed by Biltmore.

Edith Vanderbilt commissioned the flag, known as the Service flag, in 1920. These flags grew in popularity during World War I after Army Captain Robert L. Queissner of the Fifth Ohio Infantry designed and patented a flag to honor his two sons serving on the front line.

In 2005, Biltmore’s Museum Services team had a reproduction of the flag made, which had hung in the Banquet Hall for more than 80 years. It had deteriorated over time and eventually it could no longer support its own weight.

For many years, we knew that one of the blue stars represented Herbert Noble, an English butler who worked in Biltmore House. In 1930, journalist Louis Graves wrote:

“Herbert Noble had been employed at the Vanderbilt home before the war; he had begged to be released to go to England and enlist; and he had come back to America with his ribbon, his wounds, and his memories of the great adventure, and had found his old job waiting for him.”

Herbert’s star was the only one to which we could attach a name. Until last week, that is.

The Museum Services team recently discovered new information about the Service flag through ongoing cataloging and research of the many thousands of documents in the Biltmore Archives. Within these documents exists the elusive list of 52 employees – 49 men and 3 women – who are remembered by these stars. Not all worked at the estate, but some worked at Biltmore Estate Industries and Biltmore Hospital as well. Just like Herbert Noble, many of those who returned to the U.S. after the war went back to their jobs, as Edith Vanderbilt made sure their jobs would be waiting for them when they got home. The identity of the 53rd star, a gold one that is not on the list and presumably added later, is still a mystery.

So now the process of researching the names, positions and stories of those on the list begins.

Biltmore House hosts share the flag’s history with our guests every day, noting that the names have never been known or confirmed. It’s exciting to think that now they’ll be able to share this new discovery with our guests.