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At its heart is a unique and all-pervading ambience, created by the expansive dimensions of an estate enhanced by the sweet aroma of millions of pine trees.
With 5,000 acres out there over- crowding is no problem, even when every room is filled -- the resort has two other hotels and various forms of self-catering accommodation -- and upwards of 1,000 people are going about their daily activities.
Some guests delight in doing not much at all; they're happy simply to saunter or soak up the ambience beside a pool or from a rocking chair on the hotel's verandah, a glass of mint julep to hand as they watch the world go about having a good time.
For the more active there's a 24 court tennis club and a croquet lawn; there's a 200 acre lake for sail boating, swimming and fishing; there's a marina with paddle boats, and there are five swimming pools dotted about, plus several miles of nature trails.
There's a new $5 million spa and health and fitness centre, there are shops within the hotel and also in the charming Pinehurst village, a stroll away, where it all began back at the turn of the century.
It was in 1895 that James Tufts, a Boston pharmacist, first saw the place, then a barren site whose trees had been cleared for timber. It must have been singularly unprepossessing but he liked the dry climate and, as history was to prove, he was a visionary with dreams of a health resort where northerners might escape their bitter winters.
Nearby was a halt on the Boston-Miami railway line and that was the key to success. Tufts paid a dollar an acre, called in a renowned Boston architect to replicate a New England village and named it Pinehurst...
It had a small hotel (the Holly Inn, now beautifully restored), two boarding houses and cottages and a general store, all edging the village green.
Those buildings remain and though the village has grown to encompass a cluster of restaurants, a variety of shops and several small hotels it is still true to the original concept, formulated when electric lights were a novelty. Life here has a serenity that is tangible.
Tufts planted thousands of pine saplings and introduced leisure attractions: horses, croquet, archery, tennis and bicycles. Pretty soon he needed more accommodation and in 1901 he opened The Carolina Hotel, the Queen of the South...
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