After dispersing through the crowds, we made our way upstairs to the bedroom areas, which were decorated in their usual fashion save one Christmas tree in what was thought to be Ms. Vanderbilt's dressing area. Most people do not decorate their bedrooms, and although a Christmas tree in a dressing room made no sense to me, it kept with the theme of the evening. To give the park service the benefit of the doubt, the tree may have been placed there because the room was located at the front end of the home, and had a window looking out to the grand entryway. In front of one bedroom a young boy asked his grandmother: “Didn't they have T.V.?” to which she gently responded “No, Dear”. The chuckles came when he asked “Then what did they do?”. It would probably be an advantage to this overweight, television enriched child to have his grandmother pry his malformed thumbs away from the video game console and bring him back during the day for a proper tour, I thought, as we moved on.
The stairs were being re-carpeted, so the marble floors were showing in their full glory when I noticed that the banister was velvet. I asked the ranger at the bottom of the staircase if the railing was, in fact, embossed in velvet and she explained that it was not only velvet but “silk velvet”. Although not original, on account of the wear and tear from years of public tours, “some of the original silk velvet banister is left at the top of the staircase if you want to see it”. The lavishness of the Vanderbilt's is not in the grandiose forms and size of things, but in the details that make it intriguing. Concealed in this over-sized home are intricacies that reveal who these people really were, and the tastes of the glitzy and glamorous of years gone by. Who needs television when you have a velvet railing at your disposal?
We made our way to the basement, the last stop of the “tour”, via the servant's staircase next to the ballroom. This is where the kitchen, refrigerators and servant's quarters once were, or where the real action took place. Nothing was decorated down there, which was probably the most historical truth of the evening, beyond exiting through the delivery doors and back to the parking lot. Overall, the National Park Service does a good job on the yearly “Gilded Age Christmas”, and it makes for a fun, free night on the town. Being attracted to the Vanderbilt history with a penchant for informational tid-bits anywhere I go, I did wish for a guided tour but feel lucky to have had this unique experience. As the holidays approach, this was a nice way to reflect on tradition, family, music and good tidings, and sent me on my way in the spirit of the season. I do wonder though, what did people like the Vanderbilt's, who have everything, buy one another for Christmas? If they were alive today, it probably would have been a velvet television set.
(I was able to capture two pictures of the inside of the mansion without being seen by the rangers. One is of the northern end of the game room and the other is of the dressing room.)
