From the author of the New York Times bestseller The Girls of Atomic
City comes the fascinating true story behind the magnificent Gilded Age
mansion Biltmore--the largest, grandest residence ever built in the
United States.
Orphaned at a young age, Edith Stuyvesant Dresser claimed lineage from
one of New York's best known families. She grew up in Newport and Paris,
and her engagement and marriage to George Vanderbilt was one of the most
watched events of Gilded Age society. But none of this prepared her to
be mistress of Biltmore House.
Before their marriage, the wealthy and bookish Vanderbilt had dedicated
his life to creating a spectacular European-style estate on 125,000
acres of North Carolina wilderness. He summoned the famous landscape
architect Frederick Law Olmsted to tame the grounds, collaborated with
celebrated architect Richard Morris Hunt to build a 175,000-square-foot
chateau, filled it with priceless art and antiques, and erected a
charming village beyond the gates. Newlywed Edith was now mistress of an
estate nearly three times the size of Washington, DC and benefactress of
the village and surrounding rural area. When fortunes shifted and
changing times threatened her family, her home, and her community, it
was up to Edith to save Biltmore--and secure the future of the region
and her husband's legacy.
The story of Biltmore spans World Wars, the Jazz Age, the Depression,
and generations of the famous Vanderbilt family, and features a
captivating cast of real-life characters including F. Scott Fitzgerald,
Thomas Wolfe, Teddy Roosevelt, John Singer Sargent, James Whistler,
Henry James, and Edith Wharton. The Last Castle is the unique American
story of how the largest house in America flourished, faltered, and
ultimately endured to this day.
