Download or read book Around Biltmore Village written by Bill Alexander and published by Arcadia Publishing. This book was released on 2008 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: More than a century ago, George W. Vanderbilt transformed the sleepy crossroads settlement known as Best, or Asheville Junction, on the Swannanoa River into an idyllic model village near the entrance to his vast Biltmore Estate near Asheville. The initial concepts and design for Biltmore Village were the collaborative efforts of Vanderbilt, architect Richard Morris Hunt, and landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted. The finished village included more than 40 residences, a business district, a church, a school, and a hospital. It was centrally located among the developing towns of Victoria, Kenilworth, South Biltmore, and later Biltmore Forest. It characterized the elegance and prosperity of the building booms that flourished in the south Asheville area before and after both world wars.