The Greenbrier
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| The Greenbrier | |
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| (U.S. National Historic Landmark) | |
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| Location: | White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia |
| Built/Founded: | 1858 |
| Architect: | Latrobe,John H.B.; Et al. |
| Architectural style(s): | Classical Revival, Federal |
| Designated as NHL: | June 21, 1990[1] |
| Added to NRHP: | October 09, 1974[2] |
| NRHP Reference#: | 74002000 |
| Governing body: | Private |
The Greenbrier is a Mobil four star and AAA Five Diamond Award winning luxury resort located in the town of White Sulphur Springs in Greenbrier County, West Virginia. For most of its history it was owned by the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway. It is now a wholly owned subsidiary of CSX Corporation. Every U.S. president since Dwight Eisenhower has stayed at the resort's presidential suite although not neccesarily while in office.
The Greenbrier is also the site of a massive underground bunker that was meant to serve as an emergency shelter for the United States Congress during the Cold War.
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[edit] History
A spring of sulphur water is at the center of the resort property. It issues forth below the green dome of the white-columned springhouse that has been the symbol of The Greenbrier for generations. Beginning in 1778, Mrs. Anderson, a local pioneer, came to follow the local Native American tradition of "taking the waters" to restore her chronic rheumatism and for the first 125 years the resort was known by the name White Sulphur Springs.
The property soon fell into the hands of a prominent Baltimore family, the Calwells. Under the Calwells, the resort would begin to take shape. They sold cottages to prominent Southern individuals, many of which still stand today. Popular guests of the time included Martin van Buren and of course the famous Kentuckian, Henry Clay.
In 1858, a hotel was built on the property. This original hotel, the Grand Central Hotel, known by the moniker the "White" and later the "Old White", was torn down in 1922, several years after the addition of the current building. During the Civil War, the property changed hands between the Confederate Army and the Union Army, who almost burned the resort to the ground.
Following the Civil War, the resort reopened. It became a place for many Southerners and Northerners alike to vacation, and it became the setting for many famous post-war reconciliations, including the White Sulphur Manifesto which was the only political position issued by Robert E. Lee after the Civil War, that advocated the merging of the two societies. The resort went on to become the center of post-war society, especially after the arrival of the railroad.
In 1910, the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway purchased the resort property, building additional amenities and the Greenbrier Hotel in 1913. At this time the name officially changed to The Greenbrier as the neighboring town adopted the name White Sulphur Springs. During World War II, the Greenbrier served as an army hospital and as the relocation center for some of the Axis diplomats still within the United States.
After the war ended, C&O bought back the property from the government and reopened the resort. The hotel was redecorated by Dorothy Draper and its reopening was a social event of the season, bringing in such luminaries as the Duke of Windsor with his wife, Wallis Simpson, Bing Crosby, and The Kennedys. In recent history, the resort has hosted several presidents and vice-presidents, foreign dignitaries such as Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Debby Reynolds, Prince Rainier and Princess Grace of Monaco, and the Iranian Hostage Crisis victims.
[edit] Secret emergency relocation center
In the late 1950s the U.S. government approached The Greenbrier for assistance in the creation of an emergency relocation center to house Congress in the aftermath of a nuclear holocaust. The classified, underground facility was built in conjunction with an above ground addition to the hotel, the West Virginia Wing, between 1959 and 1962. For thirty years the owners of The Greenbrier maintained an agreement with the federal government that, in the case of an international crisis, the entire resort property would be conveyed to government use, specifically as the emergency location of the legislative branch. The underground facility contained a dormitory, kitchen, hospital and even a broadcast center for members of Congress. The broadcast center had backdrops to make it appear members of Congress were actually broadcasting from Washington, D.C., by changing the backdrop for each season-- a 100-foot radio tower was installed some miles away for these broadcasts. The convention center, which was used by the Greenbrier guests for business meetings, was actually a disguised workstation area for members of Congress complete with hidden, 30-ton blast doors. The walls of the bunker were made of reinforced concrete designed to withstand a nuclear blast in Washington, D.C.
The center was maintained by workers who were purportedly hotel audio visual employees and operated under a dummy company named Forsythe Associates. Many of these same workers are employed by the hotel today and for a time gave guided tours. The complex is still maintained today by the Greenbrier and the facility remains much like it was in 1992 when the secret was revealed. While almost all of the furnishings were removed following the decommissioning of the bunker, furnishings close to what would have been in it at the time have been placed back in to approximate what the bunker looked like while it was still in operation. Two of the original bunks in the dormitories remain.
AT&T provided phone service for both The Greenbrier Hotel and the Bunker. All calls placed from the bunker were routed through the hotel's switchboard to make it appear as if they originated from the hotel itself. The communications center in the bunker today contains representatives of three generations of telephone technology used.
Although the bunker was kept stocked with supplies for 30 years, it was never actually used as an emergency location, even during the Cuban Missile Crisis. The bunker's existence was not acknowledged until The Washington Post revealed it in a 1992 story; immediately after the Post story, the government decommissioned the bunker.
The facility has since been renovated and is also used as a data storage facility for the private sector. It is once again featured as an attraction in which visitors can tour the now declassified facilities.
This bit of trivia was the subject of a $1,000,000 question on the celebrity edition of the game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. Although comedian Norm Macdonald was somewhat sure that he knew that Greenbrier was the resort that served as an emergency relocation center, he decided to walk away with $500,000.
[edit] Gambling
CSX has been lobbying the West Virginia Legislature for years to allow casino gambling at The Greenbrier, arguing that gaming would dramatically increase occupancy of the resort during the winter off-season. Under the plan, the bunker would be converted into a high-end casino, and only registered guests would be allowed to gamble there. The legislature has passed legislation that would allow gambling at the resort if approved by Greenbrier County voters. In 2000, the voters of the county turned down this option.
[edit] Golf
The resort also has a significant place in golf history. Golf legend Sam Snead was the resort's official pro for many years. Also, in 1979, The Greenbrier was the site of the first Ryder Cup contested under the current format of United States against Europe. More recently, The Greenbrier hosted the 1994 Solheim Cup, the women's equivalent to the Ryder Cup. This made The Greenbrier the first of only two locations to have hosted both the Ryder and Solheim Cups; it would be joined in 1998 by Muirfield Village near Columbus, Ohio.
[edit] Notes
- ^ The Greenbrier. National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Retrieved on 2007-10-13.
- ^ National Register Information System. National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service (2007-01-23).
[edit] References
The History of the Greenbrier: America's Resort by Robert Conte
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Official site
- Golf at the Greenbrier
- The Ultimate Congressional Hideaway 1992 article exposing the bunker
- Interview with Paul Fritz Bugas, former superintendent of the bunker
- Congressional Bunker Tour
- Virtual Tour at the Civil Defense Museum
- Greenbrier Bunker section of The Bureau of Atomic Tourism web site
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