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Christmas at the Biltmore House might be the Christmas-iest Christmas to ever exist.
Everything is on a grander scale at Asheville’s top tourist attraction, a 250-room French Renaissance chateau—trademarked as “America’s Largest Home®”—built in 1895 by railroad heir George Vanderbilt. This year, it has 58 decorated Christmas trees, 282 candles, and 45,000 lights, said Biltmore Estate spokesperson Marissa Jamison. Sixteen-thousand feet of garlands deck its halls, as do 271 traditional poinsettias.
It takes 5 yards of ribbon just to kit out the festive bows for the giant marble lions that greet visitors at the entry. And any ribbon that is reused from one year to the next must be starched and ironed to wrinkle-free perfection, Jamison explained. Biltmore’s Yuletide finery rivals the set of any Christmas movie. (The Hallmark Channel actually debuted A Biltmore Christmas last year.)
Like many businesses in Western North Carolina, Biltmore closed after Hurricane Helene hit the region in September. Tours of the mansion, winery, spa, shops, two hotels, and horseback and carriage rides on its grounds stopped, and many employees were furloughed. But compared to surrounding Asheville, Biltmore’s 113 buildings suffered minimal damage.
The holiday season is typically the busiest time of year, with up to 6,000 guests, Jamison said. The Biltmore Estate was able to officially reopen for tourism on November 2, just six weeks after the storm.
But across the street from the stately entrance to the grounds is a different story entirely. Biltmore Village, a shopping district adjacent to Biltmore Estate, is set in a low-lying area south of the Swannanoa River. As with floods in 1916 and 2004, it was among the city’s most catastrophically flooded neighborhoods.
Biltmore Village still sits mostly dark, as power has not returned to much of the neighborhood. Only a few businesses on higher ground are open, primarily hotels and chains, like Starbucks. “There’s nothing to see here,” said Kevin Westmoreland, co-owner of Corner Kitchen restaurant. “I wouldn’t say it’s dangerous. It’s dirty in spots.”
The flooding meant its businesses lost not only October—the busiest month for Asheville tourism writ large, as leaf-peepers typically flock to the region—but are now losing the holiday season tourism as well.
In mid-December, Jamison said the Biltmore Estate is seeing about half its normal visitation for this time of year. But the contrast between the estate and the empty neighborhood next door shows the bumpy path the Western North Carolina city is now navigating. Asheville leaders may be imploring tourists to check out the parts of town that are open, but business owners in Biltmore Village wonder when—and if—they’ll be back.
Across the Street
Originally built to house Vanderbilt’s employees, the oldest buildings in Biltmore Village resemble “a small English village,” per the neighborhood website. It was sold by Edith Vanderbilt, George’s widow, in 1920, and has developed into a leisure destination over the past century.
Prior to Helene’s destruction, Biltmore Village was seemingly tailor-made for the sort of monied tourists who would shell out $155 per person for a ticket to tour the estate on a Saturday. (That is among the least expensive ticketing options.) Shops include coastal Grandma-wear seller Chico’s, the spendy athleisure-wear brand Lululemon, fancy kitchen-goods purveyor Williams Sonoma, clothing boutiques, and a cigar bar. There are fine-dining restaurants and bistros, including Corner Kitchen, where the Obamas dined on a visit to Asheville in 2010.
Many Asheville businesses reopened once the city lifted the boil water notice on November 18. But in Biltmore Village, dried mud still coats bushes and grass, with a certain dustiness that needles the sinuses. “No trespassing” signs and boarded up windows indicate most places are closed for business. A tree on the corner of All Souls Crescent, one which normally may be decorous with holiday lights this time of year, still had plastic bags and cardboard tangled in its branches in mid-December.
And there’s the debris: piles of light fixtures, plastic hangers, a mud-covered comfy chair that clearly once offered seating for companions wearied by a shopping spree. Perhaps most anomalous to the neighborhood’s pre-storm tony atmosphere, dumpsters are stationed on roadsides and parking lots, and an orange portable toilet is parked prominently on a corner across from the Williams Sonoma.
On a recent sunny Saturday afternoon in December, Biltmore Village’s streets were nearly silent and absent visitors, except for Joseph Farrell and Aileen Miraglia, second-home owners in Asheville who come up frequently from their main residence in Boca Raton. They returned “to put some money back in the economy,” Miraglia said, describing dinner plans at Jettie Rae’s Oyster House and a visit to Omni Grove Park Inn. The couple hoped to visit the hotel’s annual professionally judged gingerbread house competition, but it was canceled for 2024; the hotel has promised a return next year.
“I hope they don’t rebuild Asheville to look like Boca Raton.”
Homeowner Joseph Farrell
They strolled up Boston Way in Biltmore Village, surveying the damage and reminiscing about beloved spots. Dogwood Darlings, a children’s clothing boutique where Miraglia bought matching Christmas pajamas for her grandkids last year, had a pile of rubble on its lawn—which, heartbreakingly, included muddy kids’ shoes. Farrell lamented that Corner Kitchen, where they’ve often taken the “literally hundreds of visitors” who’ve come to see them in Asheville, sat empty.
“I think Asheville is a little slice of heaven—it’s a cute, cute town,” Miraglia said. “I just really hope it bounces back.”
Added Farrell: “I hope they don’t rebuild Asheville to look like Boca Raton.”
Springing Forward
October is peak leaf season for the nearby Blue Ridge Parkway, and it’s when much of the region’s tourism-dependent economy makes its money. In the average October for the three years before 2024, Asheville raked in nearly $80 million in revenue from hotels and vacation rentals, compared with about $35 million in the average January or February.
The impact of Helene was “immediately evident,” reported Explore Asheville, a nonprofit funded by the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority, with hotel revenue down by as much as 53 percent in some weeks compared to the same time last year. Hotel occupancy rates in October were down 19 percentage points from the year before, according to the tourism bureau, and some of the bookings they did have were for people who came to help with clean-up.
Asheville announced it was reopening to visitors on October 25, urging tourists to “be part of the comeback.” According to Explore Asheville’s November update to its board, marketing focused on day-drive markets and nonstop flights, and the department splashed out on advertising during NBC’s Rockefeller Center Holiday Special, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade, the Country Music Awards, plus Sunday night and Monday night football.
City-wide, many trees have been cleared and some roads rebuilt. Most crucially, the city reestablished electricity and, eventually, access to a potable water supply.
Yet Biltmore Village business owners don’t expect tourism to be “back” until the spring. “That’ll be a wash of this season,” said Westmoreland of Corner Kitchen. He and other business owners have been meeting weekly, along with representatives from the city of Asheville and the Biltmore Estate. They’re all facing the “same issues,” he said—electricity being the big one.
Buncombe County’s utility company, Duke Energy, had to cut electricity to Biltmore Village during the storm as a safety measure after a substation flooded. It was “damaged to such an extreme degree” that it could take up to a year to rebuild, said Duke Energy spokesperson Bill Norton. On October 18, Duke brought in a mobile substation and parked it next to the flooded substation, which “restored power to everyone who is able to receive service,” Norton said.
But a number of Biltmore Village businesses need new circuit breaker boxes after floodwater that crested over 20 feet ruined the old ones. Duke can’t restore power until the new boxes have been installed, inspected by the local building inspection authority, and deemed safe. And as Westmoreland notes, electrical systems for commercial buildings are expensive to replace. For now, much of Biltmore Village remains eerily dark at night.
Some buildings may have suffered even more damage by not starting tear-out and clean-up immediately, which worsened mold, Westmoreland said. Corner Kitchen is “dry and really clean,” and has undergone multiple rounds of mold mitigation, ending with a sealant, he said.
Another stressor—not only for those in Biltmore Village but all small businesses impacted by Helene—is the federal Small Business Administration. SBA has been depleted of disaster loans since October 15. “None of us want to take out loans, and we can’t even get loans,” Westmoreland told The Assembly before Thanksgiving. (Congress introduced a bill that would replenish the SBA with $2.2 billion shortly before this story was set to publish.)
Westmoreland said his restaurant is looking ahead to spring, with an anticipated Easter reopening that he refers to as “the Resurrection.”
Corner Kitchen can survive six months of closure for two reasons. Westmoreland and his partner own Chestnut, a second restaurant in downtown Asheville, which resumed service in mid-November. Their businesses have a “rainy day fund” to dip into, he said. Chestnut continues to employ 40-50 workers from both restaurants, down from 118 when they are at full staff.
It remains to be seen how many of Corner Kitchen’s neighbors will open alongside them. “There’s some people [for which this situation] has to be really heartbreaking, because they may not survive,” he said.
Tough Months Ahead
Forestry Camp co-owner Jess Reiser is also looking to spring for a more normal tourist season. Her brewery, located southeast of Biltmore Village, suffered no property damage. But its private event spaces were booked throughout October, all of which had to be canceled.
The brewery also canceled its 13th annual Burnpile Beer & Music Festival on October 12, which had sold over 1,500 tickets. (She declined to share how much total revenue Forestry Camp lost due to Helene.)
Reiser is hopeful that destination weddings and celebrations like bachelor and bachelorette parties will return in the spring, which could lead to event space bookings. At the moment, Forestry Camp’s customer base is primarily locals, she said, noting: “It’s nice to see old regulars.”
Laban Carvell, manager of Tukit Tour Co., which leads brewery and history tours throughout Asheville in motorcycle-golf-cart hybrids, said business is being held afloat by locals and visitors from elsewhere in North Carolina. Still, tours are down 40 percent in November compared with the same period in 2023.
Carvell said Tukit’s guides have been sent information to study on Helene, since the company anticipates customers will have questions. But it’s not bringing tours into Biltmore Village or the River Arts District, which also suffered catastrophic floods, unless requested by guests. “I don’t feel quite comfortable yet [going there],” he said. “By spring, it’ll be where we’ll feel like, ‘OK, this is what it is’ and we’re not being disrespectful.” He notes previous tours of the arts district pointed out the marker on buildings showing the high-water line from a devastating 1916 flood. Flooding from Helene rose to 24 feet in the River Arts District, surpassing the previous record of 23 feet in 1916.
“Getting more calls” and “seeing streets full of people again” will make Carvell feel like tourism is truly back, he said. “I don’t anticipate that until spring and summer.”
Forestry Camp rebudgeted for the year following Helene and reduced staff through furloughs and layoffs, said Reiser. Its strategy is “planning for the worst and hoping for the best,” she said, noting January and February are tough months anyway.
“Even if we see a popping spring, is that going to equate to being quote-unquote ‘back’?” Reiser asked. The uncertainty, she said, is “enough to drive someone crazy.”
Correction: This story initially included an inaccurate description of Explore Asheville. It has been corrected.
Jessica Wakeman is a freelance reporter based in Asheville.