Spotlight

{Spot_head} {Spot_body} {Spot_link}

(March 2008) Before there were golf courses in Pinehurst and before the famed Carolina Hotel was built, there was the Holly Inn, a resplendent destination for those who liked the pine-covered foothills of North Carolina.

The AAA rated Four Diamond Holly Inn underwent a $13 million renovation completed in 1999. The 82-room white-shingled inn has been restored to levels of elegance it displayed when it was first erected in 1895 and began the Pinehurst legend.

Pinehurst's main attraction today centers on the eight championship golf courses, which has been the site of three U. S. Opens, U. S. Senior Open, and PGA championships, as well as numerous regional and amateur championships. The U.S. Amateur returns in 2008; the U.S. Open returns in 2014.

But there are also The Spa at Pinehurst, croquet, lawn bowling, volleyball and 24 clay tennis courts. A private 200-acre lake offers swimming, sunning and water sports.

Pinehurst was founded by James Walker Tufts in 1895 as a health resort for the working class with its "fresh pine-scented air." Frederick Law Olmsted picked the center of the village, and on a slight knoll, the Holly Inn was built.

The historic village, with brick-lined streets lined with boutique shops and art galleries, invites casual strollers and shoppers. Horse-drawn carriage rides ply the streets at sunset. Polo matches are held at the nearby harness track, as well as harness races.

Bicycles are available at the inn to pedal about and see the village's carefully tended residences. Also a walking tour map guides you to more than 60 cottages and buildings built between 1895 and 1930, most of which remain private residences.

The entrance to the Holly Inn is flanked by a hedge and six columns topped by huge concrete balls. A semicircular red brick driveway leads to the resplendent front entrance and the four Corinthian columns surrounding it, reached via a red brick walkway covered by a green canvas awning.

Flanking the front door, there is a Southern-style veranda with white rocking chairs and metal golf bag racks. Farther to the right, circular wooden tables under green umbrellas mark the patio for The Tavern, the Holly Inn's combination bar and restaurant. The entrance from the patio into the Tavern has wooden pillars on each side that have been layered with fresh coats of white paint numerous times in the past hundred years.

MAIN LOBBY
Through the front door, guests enter a small foyer with a public phone in a closet on the right and a valet parking and staff closet on the left. Once in the main lobby, on the left a marble-topped counter in front of a wall of antique wooden cubbyholes that once held room keys commands attention and is the check-in desk. Visitors also will see the Holly Inn logo, found throughout the hotel, composed of a three-leafed Holly branch with berries and the words date "1895".

A giant antique railroad clock graces a wall above the desk.

Straight ahead two semi-circular stairs lead upstairs. Beneath the elevated stairs, other stairs lead down and into "1895 Grille" - the Holly Inn's AAA Four Diamond rated fine dining restaurant.

The library is at the end of the left hallway.

Lobby right, a sitting area includes a couch and stuffed chairs on each side of an antique coffee table with Tiffany lamps decorated with a subtle dragonfly design that can be found lurking on all the hotel's Tiffany lamps. (The elevators are down the hallway to the left.)

Other chairs face a gas fireplace with a wall embedded mantle festooned with red, green and cream white colored tiles. The ancient fireplace grill uses bars, not wire mesh.

A green floral pattern rug resting between six square wooden lobby columns adds warmth and comfort to the lobby's green and brown color theme, complemented by floral green wallpaper surrounding the room on the walls just below the ceiling.

Throughout the lobby, other public areas and the hallway, antique-style cradle telephones serve as house phones. The witticisms, pithy quotes and philosophies of politicians, poets and others can be found throughout the hotel, over doorways and on the walls.

Above the lobby door, Henry Austin Dobson is quoted: "Time goes you say? Ah, no! Alas, time stays, we go."

GUEST ROOMS
Guest rooms are on the second, third and fourth floors and can be reached using the stairs from the lobby ground level or the stylish elevator lined with polished dark pinewood and a square mirror.

The post-renovation 82-guest room count breaks down to 34 kings, 37 doubles, eight regular suites and three premium suites. Some rooms have window seats, and the number of windows per room varies from one to four. All rooms have mini bars and safes.

Views include quiet Everett Road, the courtyard or the outdoor (unheated) swimming pool rimmed with green lounging chairs and umbrella tables.

All the rooms contain period furnishings; the armoires were specially built for the inn and come in several different designs.

Bathroom amenities include Spa at Pinehurst branded shampoo, conditioner, pure blend lotion and glycerin soap. Shower cap, cotton swabs, cotton balls and a sewing kit are also included.

PUBLIC AREAS
Four of the hotel meeting rooms are down the first corridor on the left off the right hallway. Going straight past The Tavern one finds the octagonal shaped Evergreen Music Room. Glass showcases full of golf and Pinehurst memorabilia line the hallways.

The first floor hallway past the elevator and meeting rooms leads to the rear courtyard and parking lot. The little-used courtyard has an eight- column gazebo, a pair of Charleston wooden benches, bushes and flowers, and a magnolia and a crepe myrtle tree.

A single holly tree grows on the grounds in the rear of the hotel on
the way to the parking lot.

All floors have small gathering places with wooden chairs and couches laden with huge stuffed cushions around a small sitting table.

LIBRARY
Down the left hallway off the lobby, the library was originally a private dining room overlooking the veranda that surrounded the building. Through a pair of glass and wooden doors, visitors encounter a green floral pattern rug, a cushioned rocking chair, a desk with a fold-down work shelf, and a pink tile rimmed gas fireplace.

An old brass telescope, a coffee table with a wooden carved chess set, two bookcases with eight shelves crammed with books - all help give the library a homey feel.

Another desk contains a statue of a black falcon. Wallpaper sports an alphabet design, historical photographs hang on the walls, and light shines in from five nearly floor to ceiling windows.

THE TAVERN
Entrances to The Tavern are available from the lobby, the outside patio or the hallway to the right of the lobby. Hallway walls are wooden, much like an old English castle, from floor to ceiling. A cushioned wooden bench is outside the door.

The Tavern's green carpet, light colored walls, 8-foot tall wood plantation shutters surround eight tables of varying sizes and shapes. The century-old, hand-carved, imported dark walnut wood Scottish bar dominates the room. Four columns with carved oak leaf designs support stained glass rectangles to top off the bar's unique design. In the rear are shelves stocked with liquor in front of three etched-design mirrors. In front are eight brass and green leather stools.

Against one wall an antique breakfront serves the waiters; another wall hosts a taupe and cream checkered tile gas fireplace that shares a chimney with the lobby fireplace and one corner has a ceiling mounted television.

"Too late I stayed. Forgive the crime! Unheeded flew the hours, how noiseless falls the foot of time than only treads on flowers." - William Robert Spencer.

SPA
The new $12 million 31,000 square foot spa serves both the Holly Inn and Carolina Hotel and is open to the public. The spa is a large complex with a generously sized co-ed workout room on the left as you enter, with numerous types of aerobic equipment, each with its own television attached. Free to hotel guests, it also has Cybex weight machines.

A small charge accompanies all-day usage of the wet treatment areas and locker rooms, including the whirlpool, sauna and steam bath, which is waived for guests booking treatments.

A central, heated, indoor swimming pool is rimmed with deck chairs for relaxing and includes a heated cascade co-ed whirlpool in the three-lane lap pool and lounging area of the spa.

There are more than 50 treatments offered in 28 treatment rooms for hydrotherapy, salon and fitness services. Of course, spa treatments and massages - four different scents for oils are offered - also are priced separately. (Updated March 2008)