Like a group of unruly children playing a game of cat and mouse with security, many of the final guests of the Belleview Biltmore, including me, ran amuck last night; touring all the closed off parts of the hotel, taking pictures and telling ghost stories until late into the night. Though I knew the fifth floor rooms of the hotel, originally quarters for nannies and other domestic staff, were small had had been used primarily for storage for the last several decades, that knowledge didn’t provide the same sense of understanding that our unauthorized tour did. These rooms will become the elite suites of the restored hotel, so this was our last chance to feel, touch and imagine the winter living quarters of people who are long-gone from this earth… well, at least physically
Last Night at the Hotel
