Overview
- At least 40 staffers carried the 2,500-pound Fraser fir from the front lawn into the Banquet Hall, sourced from a Western North Carolina family farm.
- Engineering chief Trip Hudgins described sleepless preparations and assigned heavier carriers to the base before guiding the tree on dollies to safeguard the house’s collections.
- The floral design team is dedicating the day to decorating, using scaffolding and handmade extension tools to place ornaments and lights on the tallest branches.
- On-site decorating began in mid-September, with at least 50 of the mansion’s 250 rooms staged with themes such as Noah’s Ark and hidden lobsters tied to the estate’s 1895 Christmas.
- The Banquet Hall fir is the last and largest piece before Christmas at Biltmore opens to the public on Nov. 1, with roughly 343,000 visitors expected this season.