Saturday, October 02, 2010

The Greenbrier resort independent review

This NEWSWEEK article titled The last resort prompted us to try the Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia.

Greenbrier is a monster resort, with 700 rooms with 6,500-acre of grounds that includes every activity imaginable.



The main entrance to the Greenbrier is truly awesome, so large that pictures cannot do it justice.
It is so large that it can been seen from outer space . . . .



The older "North" entrance is also amazing, palacial oin its own right.



The Greenbrier started in the late 1700’s and has been in continuous operations for over 200 years (even in the Civil War, where it served as a hospital).

Greenbrier guests include Andrew Jackson, Davy Crockett, Dolly Madison, JFK, Ike and robber barons like the Cargengie and Rockefeller families.



The Greenbrier will remind you of the great aging resorts like the Arizona Biltmore and the Florida Breakers, but it has the mountain resort feel of the Broadmoor and Banff Springs resorts in the high Rockies.

Local West Virginian Jim Justice paid only $20 million for the 186,000 square foot monster mansion, but he also inherited almost a quarter-billion dollars in debt.



They also use Haint Blue for safety at Greenbrier, and old Southern tradition to to prevent Haintings:





The north entrance and all passageways are painted in Haint blue, to prevent Haintings from ghosts.

They have putting and croquet areas behind the main building, and they even laid-out a small par-2 putting course.



The Greenbrier has a large outdoor pool with a nice vanishing edge.



The interior is palatial:



Plus they have three golf courses:



And they have a gun club with sheet shooting too, great fun. I hit 18 of 25, not too shabby:



Read my full review of The Greenbrier here.