Special celebrations
Provided by Biltmore Company
Although the first Christmas parties for estate workers were held in the Banquet hall of Biltmore house, they later moved to the Dairy, most likely because of the ever-expanding numbers of employees required for the growing operations. Sarah Lanning surmised that the parties were moved from the house because the children were “messing on everything.”1 Sarah received as a gift a comb for her hair in 1906, when she was 13. Workers received this invitation to the “Estate Christmas Tree Festival” in 1909:
ADMIT
Bearer and Family
To Christmas FestivalBiltmore Estate December 15, 1909
You are cordially invited by Mr. & Mrs. George Vanderbilt to be present at the Estate Christmas Tree Festival to be held at the Main Dairy on the afternoon of Christmas Day at four o’clock sharp.Please present the enclosed card at the door.2
Edith, Cornelia and their chauffeur drove around the estate in their Packard stopping at all the houses to get the names and ages of all the children in preparation for the Christmas party.3 Edith is said to have known “everyone’s name,”4 and passed out gifts at the party held in the Main Dairy Barn in 1910.5 M. Rickman Capps recalled that the tree was decorated with “loads of toys, dolls, and [there were] stockings filled with fruits, nuts, and candy.”6 For one party held at Antler Hall, the tree was set up outside and the party was held outside also, because the weather was so warm. Planey Smith was the engineer for the boilers at the Dairy and Creamery and he played Santa for several years. Belle Taylor Ballard recalled that square dances were held at the Dairy barns on Christmas night in the early years of the twentieth century.7 Later parties often were followed with square dancing and ballroom dancing after the children went to bed.8
The Fall Fair was held on Shank’s [possibly a corruption of Schenck’s?] Hill for the farm and dairy workers and their families, with ribbons for best canned goods and vegetables, poultry, and crafts. Mrs. Wheeler noted that it was “molded on the same idea as the County fair.… It was also a social opportunity which all enjoyed and was climaxed by a real square dance.… One year a baby show was included but it was demonstrated that competition was best held with inanimate objects, so it was not repeated.”9
According to M. Rickman Capps, “The men made long tables, out of sawhorses and wide boards from the sawmill, to ‘display’ their prized possessions on…tomatoes, cabbage, squash, green beans, potatoes and the like. The ladies brought jellies, jams, canned vegetables, canned fruits… pies and cakes.” He also recalled three judges who gave out blue, red, and white ribbons as prizes. After the judging, everyone had ice cream and the men played horseshoes. The boys played “cross-eyed cat” ball while the girls played games like drop the handkerchief and “walk the line,” where a judge would stretch a rope on the ground and each girl was to walk the line as gracefully as she could.10
Joanna Taylor Patton, daughter of James Taylor, recalled that her mother entered the baking contests, while her father took vegetables and fruits to be judged. One year he won first place for the biggest pumpkin. Edith “went around and tasted all the cakes and pies,” but Mr. Vanderbilt stayed in the carriage and didn’t mingle with the employees and families.11 Bessie Pendergrass took pies, cakes and canned goods and recalled being in a potato race. “An empty basket was placed at the end of a long row of potatoes. We had to run and place one potato at a time in the basket. The winner received a blue ribbon.”12
Later Fall Fairs included barbeque picnics and prizes for games and canned goods. Cornelia often brought her pet skunk.13 The women still brought handmade items to show, while the men brought pigs and cows, and Edith continued to judge the competitions.14 Flonnie Bailey recalled that the fair was held “in the bottom at the river where the potatoes are grown now…People would take can[ned] goods, garden vegetables, give prizes. At the estate fair they had so many beautiful canned peaches, jellies, pickles, sweet potatoes, [and] all kinds of games — climb a stick pole for $20.00 — catch greased pig — sack races.”
Red, white, and blue crepe paper decorated the stands. Sewing competitions included embroidery, tatting, lace, pillowcases, scarves, and tablecloths. Prizes were also given for flower arrangements. All kinds of home-baked cakes — chocolate, lemon, strawberry, some with pink icing — were given as prizes. There usually were speakers expressing appreciation for the employees’ work and long benches to sit on. Men from the Creamery competed against the dairymen in tug-of-war contests. The prize for catching a greased pig was $10.00. In the evening there was a softball game between the Creamery employees and the dairymen. There was also an old-time string band and dancing. 15
Bill Allen, son of farm manager Ernest Allen, recalled, “…every fall they used to have a fair on the grounds here for all the employees and… all the women brought their… sewing, and canning, and gosh all kinds of stuff. We had them up there in the Horse Barn, right on top of that hill.” There was barbecued pork, and the fair lasted several days. The first day was for people to set up their entries, the second was for judging and games like greased pole. “They’d get a locust and peel it… Mr. [John] Cecil would always take an extra long pole, and he had a spike up there, and he’d put extra money ‘til somebody finally climbed it just to keep them going.” There were big tables and benches for the produce and canned goods, embroidery, and quilts. “They took great pride, and so many of them canned because you had to put away for the winter. And they’d work in the summer looking forward to placing their goods.…” There would be as many as 150 people in attendance.16
