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The Homestead
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Front view of the Homestead
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| Location: | Hot Springs, Virginia |
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| Built: | 1892 |
| Architect: | Multiple |
| Architectural style: | Queen Anne, Greek Revival, Colonial Revival |
| Governing body: | Private |
| NRHP Reference#: | 84003494 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP: | May 3, 1984[1] |
| Designated NHL: | July 17, 1991[2] |
The Homestead is a luxury resort in Hot Springs, Virginia, in the middle of the Allegheny Mountains. The area has the largest hot springs in the state, and the resort is also known for its championship golf courses, which have hosted several national tournaments. The resort also includes an alpine ski resort; founded in 1959, it is the oldest in Virginia. The resort has been designated a National Historic Landmark; it has a history extending nearly two and a half centuries.
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In 1766, Thomas Bullitt built a lodge on the site, which is considered the founding of The Homestead. It has hosted vacationers ever since, including several U.S. presidents. The modern resort dates from 1888-1892, when a group of investors headed by J. P. Morgan bought the business and started rebuilding it from the ground up. The original hotel buildings burned down in 1901, and the main Homestead hotel was constructed afterwards. Many American presidents were Homestead guests, along with such notables as cartoonist Carl E. Schultze of Foxy Grandpa fame.
For several months following the United States' entry into World War II, the Homestead was used exclusively to house Japanese diplomats and their families until they could be exchanged through neutral channels for their American counterparts.[3]
In 1993, The Homestead was purchased by Club Resorts, the same company which owned the Pinehurst Resort. In 2006 Club Resorts and its parent company ClubCorp, Inc. were acquired by a private-equity group led by KSL Capital Partners, LLC. KSL Resorts assumed management of The Homestead at this time.
It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1991.
The Homestead features three golf courses. The club is sometimes referred to as Virginia Hot Springs Golf & Tennis Club.
The Old Course started as a six-hole layout in 1892, and the first tee is the oldest in continuous use in the United States.[4] It was expanded to 18 holes by 1901, and Donald Ross redesigned it in 1913. The course has been modified at various times since, and the current course has six par 5s and six par 3s, a somewhat unusual layout.
The Cascades Course is the most famous of the three, and is usually ranked among the top 100 U.S. courses by both Golf Digest and GOLF Magazine. The Cascades is the course used when hosting national tournaments, including seven United States Golf Association championships. It was designed by William S. Flynn (who was also a main architect for Shinnecock Hills), and opened in 1923.
The Lower Cascades was designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr. in 1963. It has hosted qualifying rounds for the U.S. Amateur tournament.
Famed PGA Tour champion Sam Snead lived in or near Hot Springs all of his life, and served for decades as the Homestead's golf pro. One of the Homestead's restaurants, Sam Snead's Tavern, contains many memorabilia related to his career.
The ski area at The Homestead was opened in 1959;[5] it is the oldest ski resort in Virginia, and the second-oldest continuously operating alpine ski resort in the Southern United States (after Wisp Resort).
The resort's northwest-facing slope is serviced by five lifts, including a double chairlift which accesses the intermediate and advanced terrain at the top of the hill, and four surface lifts which serve the beginner terrain at the bottom. The chairlift has a mid-mountain drop-off station which accesses intermediate terrain. The resort offers a half-pipe and a terrain park for skiers and snowboarders, and a variety of other winter activities including snow tubing, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, ice skating, and snowmobile tours.
In 2008, The Homestead built a 30 X 20 foot ice skating rink in time for the 2008-2009 winter season. It is located on the north slope of the property, next to the outdoor restaurant and gift shop. A small festival of lights surrounds the rink, and an outdoor fire with piped-in Christmas music completes the scene.
On March 21, 2009 two resort employees were shot and killed in the hotel kitchen;[6] the community of Hot Springs was briefly locked down under code red procedures as a security precaution.[7] Authorities identified fellow employee Beacher Hackney as a suspect in the killings.[8] The slayings were the first homicides in Bath County since 1983.[9]
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