 From Primedia Publications |
The Greenbrier
White Sulpher Springs, West Virginia
By The Editors of HistoricTraveler.com
The Greenbrier is perhaps the oldest and the most historic resort in the United States, going back to 1778 when Amanda Anderson, a rheumatism sufferer, was carried to some Allegheny Mountain sulphur springs in what was then the state of Virginia. Immersion in the waters reputedly cured her, word spread, and within a dozen years a clutch of cabins surrounded the springs, all offering basic services to travelers who came seeking a cure.
The history of what became White Sulphur Springs and the Greenbrier quickly shifted away from strictly medical concerns in the early 19th century. As more people traveled to the springs regularly, several built private cottages. Later cottages became elaborate, and in 1834 wealthy Stephen Henderson of New Orleans built a large, two-story, colonnaded “cottage” among them. Other well-to-do Southerners followed suit and soon White Sulphur Springs was the place to go. The opening of the Grand Central Hotel there in 1858 completed the area’s evolution into a social mecca, and the hotel, known to generations of visitors as “The Old White” fully established the resort known now as the Greenbrier.
The hotel building named “The Greenbrier” was built in 1910. Now West Virginia’s prime vacation stop, it presides over a 6,500-acre complex that includes a medical clinic, a championship golf course designed by world class player Jack Nicklaus and a conference center used now and then for international political summits. Its place in U.S. history has filled a book, The Greenbrier: America’s Resort, and is built upon its experiences through the Civil War and Reconstruction, the Gilded Age, World War II and the Cold War era. The Greenbrier has hosted 25 U.S. presidents beginning with James Monroe, was a vacation haven for 19th-century notables such as former Confederate General Robert E. Lee, served as an internment center for captive Axis diplomats in 1941 and 1942 and as a military hospital in both the Civil War and World War II. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974 and declared a National Historic Landmark by the U.S. Government in 1990.
The Greenbrier is home to its own museum; Mr. Henderson’s 1834 “cottage” is now called “The Presidents Cottage” and houses historical artifacts of visiting U.S. presidents and American antique furniture. Just off I-64 and 15 minutes from Lewisburg, the resort is also accessible to a more historic mode of transportation; Amtrak provides rail transport to the Greenbrier.
The Greenbrier
White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia 24986
(800) 624-6070