The employee clubhouse
Provided by Biltmore Company
In 1933, the Employee Clubhouse opened in Woodcote, managed by Marjorie Edwards. Marjorie was not paid a salary; rather she made a profit from the meals she served. Marjorie’s responsibilities as a hostess were to keep the house clean, and to serve weekday lunches to the Dairy staff and anyone else who lived and worked on the estate as well as the occasional estate visitor. There was a huge dining room, as well as a large screened porch in the back where she served meals in the summer. Marjorie planned and oversaw the preparation of the meals and bought most of the food from the market in Biltmore Village. She had a cook to assist her.1
Every Wednesday night there was a square dance for dairy and farm workers. A small five-piece band provided music. On Friday nights there were round dances, which were preferred by the department heads. And employees could bring guests. There was also a large room for ballroom dancing to recorded music provided by the Clubhouse. Outside there were tennis courts and horseshoe rings, and during the summer the men rushed through their lunches to play horseshoes.2 Employees sometimes held parties or dances at the Clubhouse on the weekends and the men had softball teams. There were movies and Bible study classes for the boys, and “always Biltmore ice cream for refreshments.” The girls met at the Clubhouse to learn crafts like basket weaving and crocheting. There was even an Easter egg hunt.3
Sometimes the employees went out on the island in the Lagoon to have picnics. “They had little boats that would take us across and bring us back.”4 “The fourth of July celebration was a real blast for the employees.”5 Judge Adams, Beadle, Mr. Freed and John Cecil always attended, and there were games, prizes, and a picnic lunch “with plenty of slices of watermelon.”6
