Biltmore Timeline
1862 George Washington Vanderbilt is born in New Dorp, Staten Island, New York, on
November 18.
1885 George’s father, William Henry Vanderbilt, passes away.
1888 George Vanderbilt travels to Asheville, North Carolina, with his mother. He falls in
love with the area and begins purchasing land for his grand estate.
1889 Ground breaks on the construction project that will be Biltmore House, George’s
new home.
1895 Biltmore House is complete! George celebrates and shows off his new home to
family and friends with a formal holiday party on Christmas Eve.
1896 Maria Louisa Kissam Vanderbilt, George’s mother, passes away.
1898 George falls in love with Edith Stuyvesant Dresser and proposes. They marry on June
1 in Paris, France.
1900 Cornelia Stuyvesant Vanderbilt is born on August 22 at Biltmore House. She is
George and Edith Vanderbilt’s only child.
1914 George Vanderbilt dies unexpectedly in Washington, DC, on March 6 due to
complications following an appendectomy.
1915 Edith Vanderbilt begins consolidating her husband’s estate. She enters negotiations
with the federal government and sells 87,000 acres. This transaction creates the heart
of Pisgah National Forest.
1920 Edith sells 1,500 acres from the estate. This land is developed into the prestigious
residential park known as Biltmore Forest.
1921 Edith sells Biltmore Village.
1924 Cornelia Vanderbilt marries the Honorable John Francis Amherst Cecil at All Souls
Church in Biltmore Village.
1925 Cornelia gives birth to son George Henry Vanderbilt at Biltmore House. Edith
Vanderbilt marries for a second time to U.S. Senator Peter G. Gerry.
1928 Cornelia’s second son, William Amherst Vanderbilt Cecil, is born at Biltmore House.
