Saturday, July 9, 2011

TOURING BILTMORE INDUSTRIES

The main purpose of our L.I.N.T. outing was to tour the historic Biltmore Industries.
It was established in 1901 by Misses Vance and Yale who wanted to develop activities to keep young boys out of trouble. Under the patronage of the Vanderbilt's it grew to be a successful business, creating fine hand made crafts.

Vicki arranged a private tour for us....in areas not open to the public....we felt very privileged to be able to step back in time.


Huge stone buildings still contain some of the massive machines used to produce Biltmore Industries famous 'homespun' woven wool fabric. This one of the dye vats which is a tall as I am.



The looms were HUGE......our guide explained that they were set up with over 1,000 threads each.




Most of the equipment were not in well lighted rooms but these machines were.....rows and rows of machines to spin wool into thread.

Their cloth was highly prized.....several U.S. Presidents visited to obtain material to be made into clothing.

It was an amazing day, filled with so much stimulation and friendship. Surely no matter where you live....there are places to explore? Grab some girlfriends....go visit some galleries, museums, or hey....what about this idea...... visit a quilt shop!

1 comment:

Carol Sloan said...

I love to see the different photos that you and Judy post when you visit the same place!