The Omni Grove Park is a historical resort hotel on the western-facing slope of Sunset Mountain within the
Blue Ridge Mountains
The Blue Ridge Mountains are a Physiographic regions of the world, physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains range. The mountain range is located in the Eastern United States, and extends 550 miles southwest from southern Pennsy ...
, in
Asheville, North Carolina. It has been visited by various presidents of the United States and many other notable personages.
Listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
, the hotel is an example of the
Arts and Crafts style. It also features a £38 Million (US$44 million), , modern subterranean spa. The Grove Park Inn is a member of the Historic Hotel of America, the program of the
National Trust for Historic Preservation. The Grove Park Inn also owns an 18-hole golf course situated on the hill below the hotel.
Donald Ross (who designed
Pinehurst Resort
Pinehurst Resort is a golf resort in Pinehurst, North Carolina in the United States. It has hosted a number of prestigious golf tournaments including three U.S. Open Championships, one U.S. Women's Open, three U.S. Amateur Championships, one ...
) designed the original course.
History
The hotel was outfitted with furnishings from the
Roycrofters of
East Aurora, New York
East Aurora is a village in Erie County, New York, United States, southeast of Buffalo. It lies in the eastern half of the town of Aurora. The village population was 5,998 per the 2020 census. It is part of the Buffalo–Niagara Falls Metr ...
, and built of rough granite stones. The lobby is noted for its large, granite fireplaces and porch with its scenic overlook. It was advertised as having "walls five feet thick of granite boulders".
During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, the Inn was used first as an internment center for
Axis
An axis (plural ''axes'') is an imaginary line around which an object rotates or is symmetrical. Axis may also refer to:
Mathematics
* Axis of rotation: see rotation around a fixed axis
* Axis (mathematics), a designator for a Cartesian-coordinat ...
diplomats.
[ The diplomats and their staff were allowed guarded trips to town, where they would purchase goods from the local merchants. This was a boon to the strapped local economy. The Inn was then used by the Navy as a rest and rehabilitation center for returning sailors. From 1944 to 1945, the hotel was an Army Redistribution Station where soldiers rested and relaxed before being assigned to other duties. The ]Philippine
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
government functioned in exile from the Presidential Cottage (a replica of Anne Hathaway's Cottage) on the grounds during the war.
The Grove Park Inn became part of Sammons Enterprises
Sammons Enterprises, Inc. is a diverse holding company composed of financial services, industrial equipment, real estate investment, and infrastructure businesses operating in six countries. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas (US), Sammons was establi ...
in 1955. The resort has been expanded over the years under the direction of the owners Mr. and Mrs. Sammons and continues to be a popular tourist attraction. Mrs. Sammons would occasionally sneak her dog in undercover in a baby carriage. Mrs. Sammons died in 2008. KSL Resorts acquired the Grove Park Inn in 2012 for £100 Million (US$120 million). They again resold it to Omni Hotels
Omni Hotels & Resorts is an American privately held, international luxury hotel company based in Dallas, Texas. The company was founded in 1958 as Dunfey Hotels, and operates 50 properties in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, totaling over 2 ...
in 2013, and it was renamed the Omni Grove Park Inn.
According to a 2013 article in the ''Wall Street Journal'', the U.S. Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
planned to relocate to the Grove Park Inn in the event of a nuclear attack.
Grove Park and Biltmore relationship
In 1917, just four years after the completion of the construction of the Grove Park Inn, Fred Seely purchased Biltmore Estate Industries from Edith Vanderbilt
Edith Stuyvesant Vanderbilt Gerry ( Dresser; January 17, 1873 – December 21, 1958) was an American philanthropist and wife of George Washington Vanderbilt II and Peter Goelet Gerry, a United States senator from Rhode Island.
Early life
Edith ...
, wife of George Washington Vanderbilt II
George Washington Vanderbilt II (November 14, 1862 – March 6, 1914) was an art collector and member of the prominent Vanderbilt family, which amassed a huge fortune through steamboats, railroads, and various business enterprises. He commission ...
, the owner of the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina. This new venture came in addition to his responsibilities as the manager of the Grove Park Inn. E.W. Grove, his father-in-law and owner of the Grove Park Inn, had refused to sell the hotel to Seely, though he had eagerly allowed him to construct the building. He instead leased the hotel to Seely to manage and Seely did so until 1927, the year of Grove's death and the year Seely lost his legal bid to own the hotel. Grove left his hotel to his wife, son and daughter. Though Seely was married to his daughter, Grove made no concessions to Seely, and the Inn passed into the hands of what one advertisement described as "more liberal management." An interesting annotation by Seely scribbled next to the advertisement found in his files takes issue with that characterization.
Presidential visits
* William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857March 8, 1930) was the 27th president of the United States (1909–1913) and the tenth chief justice of the United States (1921–1930), the only person to have held both offices. Taft was elected pr ...
– 27th President of the United States, stayed in 1929 and 1930
* Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...
– 28th President of the United States
* Calvin Coolidge – 30th President of the United States
* Herbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was an American politician who served as the 31st president of the United States from 1929 to 1933 and a member of the Republican Party, holding office during the onset of the Gr ...
– 31st President of the United States
* Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
– 32nd President of the United States, stayed in 1936
* Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...
– 34th President of the United States, stayed in 1947
* Richard M. Nixon – 37th President of the United States in 1956
* George H. W. Bush – 41st President of the United States in 1986
* William J. Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton (Birth name, né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 ...
– 42nd President of the United States in 1987
* Barack H. Obama – 44th President of the United States, stayed in 2008 and 2010
In literature
In Lee Smith Lee Smith is the name of:
Arts, entertainment and media
*Lee Smith (fiction author) (born 1944), American author of fiction
* Lee Smith (film editor) (born 1960), Australian film editor
* Lee Smith (musician) (born 1983), American drummer
* Lee Sm ...
's ''Guests on Earth: A Novel'' (which is about Zelda Fitzgerald and published in 2013), the central character often makes references to the Omni Grove Inn as the novel takes place in Asheville, North Carolina.
In Cormac McCarthy
Cormac McCarthy (born Charles Joseph McCarthy Jr., July 20, 1933) is an American writer who has written twelve novels, two plays, five screenplays and three short stories, spanning the Western and post-apocalyptic genres. He is known for his gr ...
's 1979 novel '' Suttree'' (set in Knoxville), the title character and his girlfriend spend four days at the inn, staying in what McCarthy described as "a cool room high in the old rough pile of rocks."[Cormac McCarthy, ''Suttree'' (Vintage, 1992), p. 407.]
Even as We Breathe by Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle
See also
* List of Historic Hotels of America
Historic Hotels of America is a program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation that was founded in 1989 with 32 charter members; the program accepts nominations and identifies hotels that have maintained their authenticity, sense of pl ...
References
Sources
*''The Grove Park Inn Story'', 1984
*Johnson, Bruce E. ''Built for the Ages: A History of the Grove Park Inn'', Grove Park Inn and Country Club: Asheville, NC, 1991
External links
*
Historic Postcard Images of the Grove Park Inn
Photos from the 2001 Grove Park Inn Arts & Crafts Conference
Visitor Information for the Grove Park Inn Resort
Asheville, North Carolina, a National Park Service ''Discover Our Shared Heritage'' Travel Itinerary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Omni Grove Park Inn
American Craftsman architecture in North Carolina
Buildings and structures in Asheville, North Carolina
Golf clubs and courses in North Carolina
Golf clubs and courses designed by Donald Ross
Hotels in Asheville, North Carolina
Hotel buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in North Carolina
Resorts in North Carolina
Hotel buildings completed in 1913
Hotels established in 1913
Tourist attractions in Asheville, North Carolina
National Register of Historic Places in Buncombe County, North Carolina
1913 establishments in North Carolina
Historic Hotels of America