Gilded Age

Bret Harte wrote "The Luck of Roaring Camp." This story was based in a camp of men who had one woman who was like a prostitute. She became pregnant and while giving birth to her child she died. The camp decided that they wanted to keep the child and the child brought a whole new outlook on all of the residence of the camp. The child later dies, but the point I would like to make is that these men were living in a camp to try and go out and better themselves. They saw something shiny and new and were willing to risk everything to get it. These men were living in the gilded age.

The Gilded Age was the time period after the Civil War. This era was the time where many things were changing. The actual meaning of gilded means that something looks good on the outside, but it can easily go wrong. During this time there were many people who were looking to get rich, buy things, move, expand -- while all these things were possible, it was also a possibility that things could go awry.

There were many people that set out west once they heard of the gold rush. There were countless people who left everything they had or sold it all to go out in search for gold hoping that they would hit it rich. The number of people that lost everything they had and never gained anything was remarkable. It was devastating the number of men who lost their families and left them behind and brought back nothing.

The gilded age was also a time where there were people who actually ended up on the wealthy side. The thing was, the people loved to spend their money on lavish, unnecessary things. Sometimes they would even spend all of their money on material things only to become so infatuated with having "things" that they were constantly trying to keep up with their peers.

One place that comes to mind when I think of extravagant and luxurious things is the time that I visited the Biltmore Estate in Ashville, NC. I can't even begin to explain the awe factor of this place. It is America's largest home with 250 rooms, 34 bedrooms, 43 bathrooms and 65 fireplaces. It has it's own swimming pool, bowling alley and basically anything else you can imagine. The goal of George Vanderbilt, who built the home in 1889, was for the home to be self-sustaining. Everything that could be needed or wanted was readily available on the 8,000 acre estate.

Although the Vanderbilt's did not loose their wealth and it was not a riches to rags story, it occurred during that gilded age time period where everyone wanted their things to be luxurious and extravagant. To see some of the beauty and the wealth of this home, check out this link to a video on their website. 

On a side note -- I found it interesting that there is a Roaring Camp Railroads in California. What I found even more interesting is that they have a civil war reenactment, which they claim to be the longest running civil war reenactment in the west.