History, recreation, health needs, and tradition of sorts converge at the venerable Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, which has served other purposes over time beyond providing impeccable dining and upscale shops.
The beginnings of what is now the 6,500-acre Greenbrier, a National Historic Landmark go back to 1778 when wealthy Americans began coming to the mountain locale for the sulfur water spring and as a respite from heat and humidity in the South. When the region became more accessible, the then White Sulphur Springs Resort began to attract well off Southerners.
Hotel’s other uses during wartime
At various points during the U.S. Civil War, northern and southern soldiers occupied the premises, using it as both military headquarters and a hospital. Much later, in World War II, the hotel was a relocation center for German and Japanese diplomats to be held and traded for interned U.S. diplomats.
A forerunner of the current resort, the Grand Central Hotel was built in 1858 and as known as “The White.” Later, the Chesapeake & Ohio (C&O) Railway (eventually to become CSX Corporation) bought the property, added a new building to facility (and subsequently a mineral bath and 18-hole golf course) and renamed it the Greenbrier Hotel.
The current owner, West Virginia businessman Jim Justice, purchased the resort for $20.1 million out of bankruptcy in May 2009, the same month that CSX sold the stock of the Greenbrier Hotel Corporation, which owned the Greenbrier resort.
In 2008, Greenbrier County voters approved casino style gambling at the resort. The 89,000-square foot Casino Club built underground opened in June 2010 with a star-studded gala of celebrities.
As some accounts have noted, the resort has engendered a degree of resentment among West Virginians whose annual income would make it difficult for them to be guests.
U.S. presidents at the Greenbrier
A total of 26 U.S. presidents (many before they were in office) have been to the Greenbrier. The President’s Cottage Museum is a two-story building on the grounds with exhibits about their visits. The President’s Cottage was built in 1834 and 1835 and was the first summer White House occupied by Presidents Martin Van Buren, John Tyler, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, and James Buchanan.
The most recent sitting chief executive to have come to the Greenbrier was Dwight D. Eisenhower who hosted the North American Summit Conference there in March 1956, joined by the president of Mexico and prime minister of Canada and by U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles.
The Greenbrier long maintained the secret that it housed a bunker for the entire U.S. Congress in the event of a nuclear attack and the need to evacuate Washington by rail, ground, or air. The facility was constructed between 1959 and 1962.
The resort was able to conceal what it was doing when work began as the Greenbrier also was expanding and building another wing of the hotel. The bunker was built under the new wing.
While never used for the intended purpose, the facility was maintained in a constant state of preparation just in case. It had decontamination areas for members of Congress in which they would be issued fresh clothing before entering the bunker itself. Inside were furnished dormitories (as well as room for immediate family), a cafeteria and kitchen to feed 400 at a time, and meeting rooms for the House and Senate.
“For 30 years, people attended conventions in part of the 112,000-square-foot bunker without knowing it. The blast doors were hidden behind folding doors and wallpapered over,” Cindy Loose wrote in “The Last Resorts” in the March-April 2011 Bethesda Magazine.
The bunker’s existence and all of the secrecy surrounding it were finally revealed in a Washington Post story in May 1992, much to the dismay at the time of those who worked to keep it under wraps and thought the revelation compromised national security. The facility is now shown to hotel guests on hour and a half tours charging $30 a person.
Health clinic for executives and the public
Also housed at the hotel is the Greenbrier Clinic, a health facility established in the 1940s to monitor and improve the health of U.S. corporate executives. It is open to the public as well and provides intensive and personalized diagnostic exams usually taking a day and a half.
The Greenbrier’s 40,000-square foot spa offers sulphur baths and hydrotherapy treatments. Its services are based on the healing powers of the naturally sulfurous water and mineral springs.
Other recreational activities include an off-road driving school, sport shooting, cooking classes at the Greenbrier’s Culinary Arts Center, croquet, horseback riding, falconry, trout fly fishing, and nearby whitewater rafting. In addition, the resort hosts the Greenbrier Classic, a Pro-Am tournament.
The Greenbrier is generally regarded as more formal than its counterpart resort in Virginia, the Homestead. Jacket and tie are required for men in the main dining room and dresses or evening suits for ladies.
Because of its railroad history, the resort is served directly by an Amtrak station in White Sulphur Springs, across the street from the hotel entrance.
Sources:
- Dwight Garner, “The Greenbrier Resort Hopes to Preserve Its Past,” New York Times, August 12, 2010.
- Cindy Loose, “The Last Resorts,” Bethesda Magazine, March-April 2011.
- Ted Gulp, “The Ultimate Congressional Hideaway,” Washington Post, May 31, 1992.
- Public Broadcasting System Program, “Tour The Greenbrier Bunker,” American Experience.
John Seidenberg - John Seidenberg has worked on newspapers, newsletters, radio news, and produced specialized news publications as well as freelance ...
