History, history, history....

A Brief History of the Greenbrier Resort

Did you know the Greenbrier has over 800 rooms, an 1,800 member staff, and that it covers 6,500 acres?  Now you know.  We told you about the bunker and the mint julep, but the Greenbrier has a rich history which we’ll explore a bit in this post.  Sulphur water flowing under the Greenbrier drew visitors who came to “take the water” for its healthy propensities at White Sulphur Springs as early as 1778.  Through the 1830’s, folks summered at the Greenbrier, including five sitting presidents who stayed in what is now the Presidents' Cottage Museum.  Many southern families built cottages on the grounds, which they moved into for the entire summer.  Many of those cottages can be rented today.  The first large hotel, The Grand Hotel, known more famously as the Great White, was built in 1858.

The hotel closed during the Civil War, during which both the north and south armies at times occupied the grounds, using the property either as a hospital or military headquarters.  For you Civil War buffs, two significant battles occurred in the vicinity, the Battleof White Sulphur Springs and the Battle of the Greenbrier River (fought in what is today Bartow in Pocahontas County).  The Hotel reopened after the war,  and benefitted greatly from completion of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway, making White Sulphur Springs one of the nation’s classic railroad resorts.  Baltimore Guest House G was Robert E. Lee’s summer retreat.  The C&O Railroad purchased the hotel in 1910, and it again grew into a destination resort, until its operation was again interrupted by war.  Sam Snead began his legendary golfing career at the Greenbrier in the 1930’s.

During the World War II, the United States leased the hotel for seven months after entering the war and used it relocate hundreds of German, Japanese, and Italian diplomats and their families from Washington, D.C. until their exchange for American diplomats overseas could be completed. Then, in September 1942, the U.S. Army purchased estate and converted the hotel into a surgical and rehabilitation hospital, which it renamed Ashford General Hospital.

After the war, the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway reacquired the Greenbrier in 1946, and commissioned a comprehensive interior redecoration by noted designer Dorothy Draper, the classic look that lasts to the present.  The hotel opened in 1948 and Sam Snead returned as its golf pro.  The 1950’s brought “Project Greek Island” or the construction of the West Wing of the hotel with the secret congressional bunker built underneath, which remained secret for over thirty years.

Take a minute and read some more about the Greenbrier history, at the Greenbrier’s web site, here, at Yahoo, here, at the Georgetowner, here, and at Wikipedia, here.  Pictures from Time Magazine, here.  More on the bunker, here.

In 2009, Justice Family Group, LLC, a company owned by Jim Justice, a local entrepreneur,  purchased the hotel.  Since then, the hotel has been renovated with the addition of a Casino for overnight hotel guests, Prime 44 and other new restaurants, and the legendary Old White Golf Course which was lengthened for the Greenbrier Classic. 

The Greenbrier has been host to 26 United States Presidents, starting with James Monroe.  We need to get President Obama to slip over sometime because the last one appears to have been President Eisenhower.  Most significantly, the Greenbrier will soon join the ranks of select resorts and hotels who boast of hosting The ADTA Nation.   

For rich history, Get to the Greenbrier, my friends, Get to the Greenbrier.