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The Pine Crest Inn is the last of the four major inns still in operation associated with the early development of Tryon as one of the finest resort communities of western North Carolina. The moderating climate and the notable scenery of the small town on the southern slope of the Blue Ridge Mountains began to attract summer visitors from across the nation after the arrival of the railroad in 1877.
Among these early visitors were people suffering from various respiratory ailments, and the original four buildings of the Pine Crest Inn were built in 1906 as a tuberculosis sanatorium called the Thermal Belt Sanatorium. In 1917 Carter Brown, a young resort developer from Castle Park, Michigan, took over the property and managed it as the Pine Crest Inn. Brown attracted a large clientele, many of whom stayed and contributed to the growth of Tryon. He was also the moving force behind Tryon earning a national reputation as an equestrian center.
Brown's architectural interests also were manifested throughout the area and are most evident at the Pine Crest Inn, where he designed and built four cottages and a private residence, as well as making other improvements. The inn and its associated cottages are simple structures that reflect the unpretentious comfort that characterizes Tryon's overall quality.
The history of the Pine Crest Inn and the town of Tryon are intertwined. Tryon has gained fame in many areas, from its vineyards to its crafts and furniture-making to its variety of architecture, but it is perhaps its reputation as a resort with which it is best identified. Engendered by its climate, recreational activities, and friendly citizens, Tryon's resort status is embodied in the numerous inns and boarding houses that have operated over the years and in turn have contributed to the success of the other endeavors associated with Tryon.
Since the late 1870s, four hostelries -- McAboy Inn, Oak Hall Hotel, Pine Crest Inn, and Thousand Pines Inn -- signified Tryon's fame as a resort. Of these four, only the Pine Crest Inn continues to operate and maintain the high standards established by its developer, Carter Brown, standards that create a reputation of excellence for its gracious hospitality that is unpretentious yet is in keeping with the Inn's position as a resort.
Although Brown's name was synonymous for several decades with the Pine Crest Inn and, indeed, with Tryon's architectural and sporting developments, prior to Brown's arrival in Tryon the Inn property was closely associated with the town's reputation for a healthy climate that initially attracted those ailing from lung disease. Tryon is in the Thermal Belt -- an area in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains protected from the northern winds -- where temperatures are milder than in neighboring towns. Prior to 1877, with the advent of the Spartanburg-Asheville railway, there was little major commerce in the area and no tourism as it is known today.
During the early 1870s, Dr. L. R. McAboy had purchased the Dr. Columbus Mills House just north of Tryon and had expanded and converted it to the McAboy House, soon to become a popular inn. With the construction of the railroad, many of those who had been traveling to Asheville, famous for its tuberculosis sanatoriums, began to visit Tryon and the McAboy House in search of the "cure"; apparently many of the invalids attracted to the warmer climate and pleasant surroundings of Tryon were disillusioned with the unpredictable Asheville weather and tired of being around so many tuberculosis patients.
In 1906, three doctors, Earle Grady, E. M. Sally, and W. R. Engel, acquired the nucleus of the Pine Crest Inn property and proceeded to have what would become the main inn building and the Oak, English, and Hunt Cottages, erected as a sanatorium.
During the first decade of the twentieth century, Tryon experienced a great deal of growth. Crafts operations were established and land values rose rapidly as investors became interested in the town. The number of visitors, increasingly more tourists instead of patients, rapidly increased. Many of these visitors were train passengers who had time to look around Tryon during stopovers and liked it so much that they decided to stay, often becoming seasonal visitors, and permanent residents. Property records indicate, however, that one enterprise that did not succeed was the Thermal Belt Sanatorium. In December of 1911, E. M. Sally purchased the interests of Drs. Grady and Earle, and when Brown arrived in Tryon in 1917, the property had been idle for several years.
In 1916, Brown had graduated from the University of Illinois, married and immediately purchased from his uncle, John Parr, the Castle (later known as Castle Park), a modest summer resort near Holland, Michigan. In September of 1917, realizing that the winter would be long and unproductive after their first season of operating the Castle, the Browns visited Tryon at the urging of Mrs. Brown's grandmother who recently had visited the area. They were so impressed with the town and the sanatorium property that they rented the property from Dr. Sally for the winter seasons of 1917-1918 and 1918-1919 and with H. A. Wilkie, Mrs. Brown's father, purchased it in 1920. The Browns named the Tryon property the Pine Crest Inn and continued to operate it from October to May until 1951. (They operated Castle Park from June through September until 1977.)
Over the years the Browns upgraded and enlarged the Pine Crest Inn and attracted a substantial carriage trade clientele to Tryon. Many of their guests continued a trend that had been established in Tryon during the late 19th century by buying property in the town. These seasonal or year-round residents in turn attracted others who would stay at the Inn and perpetuate the trend. The Inn became the focal point for Tryon's growth and development.
The Pine Crest has entertained a diverse assortment of guests during its 88 years of operation. They include South Carolina governor Jimmy Byrns; "Lefty" Flynn of silent movie fame and his wife Nora Langhorne, the screen's Gibson Girl; authors F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemmingway, who frequented the Swayback Cabin; French artist George Aid; Lord and Lady Astor; and the historians Mary and Charles Beard (he wrote The Republic in the Woodcutter Cottage). Industrial magnates include Harry Ferguson of Ferguson Tractors and John Kimberly of Kimberly-Clark Paper Co. Many of the guests were upper mid-westerners, due to Brown's ties there, and the majority were sporting people.
Although many Pine Crest Inn guests were merely looking for the relaxed atmosphere it affords, a strong interest in horses always has been in the foreground. Brown was a principal force in establishing Tryon as an equestrian center of national importance. He opened riding trails, started Tryon's annual horse and hound show, steeplechase, and popularized fox hunting. At the Inn he maintained the Galax Stables of riding and steeplechase horses and he kenneled hounds.
In developing Tryon's reputation as a riding and hunting center, he built on a tradition that dated from the early 1800s when settlers from the South Carolina Low Country laid out race paths in the area for horse racing and fox hunting. Many of the first residents of Tryon had re-established these sports, and Brown proceeded to make them part of Tryon's essential business and community character.
Brown's interest in horses was associated with his interest in local architecture. He stabilized a fort and trading post known as the Block House and converted it to a private residence, as well as encouraged its nomination to the National Register. He also carved out the Harmon Field race course next to the Block House, the site of the horse show and football, baseball and track events. Brown strongly demonstrated his architectural interests at the Inn; he designed and built four of the cottages and moved three log cabins to the property and converted them to cottages. One of those cottages, Swayback, was a revolutionary war period cabin originally constructed in eastern Tennessee that is now 245 years old.
Brown also instituted many activities associated solely with the Pine Crest Inn. These included Thanksgiving dinner preceding the opening formal fox hunt of the season; weekly barbecues at the large outside stone fireplace; mid-day and moonlight picnics in the surrounding mountains; and candlelight Sunday evening buffet suppers, followed by group singing.
He also established a school in a cottage once located on the site of the innkeepers' quarters. This one-room building with a large porch on which the desks were located could accommodate five to 20 students. They were Inn guests and children of former guests who became permanent Tryon residents.
In 1951, Brown sold the Inn to a partner, Edwin McLean. Brown continued to live in Tryon until the late 1960s when he returned permanently to Castle Park, where he died in 1978.
Pine Crest Inn then passed through a number of capable hands, but during the last decade the inn had developed a growing conference and meeting trade, adding a state-of-the-art conference center. Carl Caudle purchased the property in 2003 and continues to preserve and improve the standards of comfort, cuisine, and service necessary to maintain the wonderful history and high standards for both lodging and dining, as well as the Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence for the Pine Crest's extensive wine collection.
Among these early visitors were people suffering from various respiratory ailments, and the original four buildings of the Pine Crest Inn were built in 1906 as a tuberculosis sanatorium called the Thermal Belt Sanatorium. In 1917 Carter Brown, a young resort developer from Castle Park, Michigan, took over the property and managed it as the Pine Crest Inn. Brown attracted a large clientele, many of whom stayed and contributed to the growth of Tryon. He was also the moving force behind Tryon earning a national reputation as an equestrian center.
Brown's architectural interests also were manifested throughout the area and are most evident at the Pine Crest Inn, where he designed and built four cottages and a private residence, as well as making other improvements. The inn and its associated cottages are simple structures that reflect the unpretentious comfort that characterizes Tryon's overall quality.
The history of the Pine Crest Inn and the town of Tryon are intertwined. Tryon has gained fame in many areas, from its vineyards to its crafts and furniture-making to its variety of architecture, but it is perhaps its reputation as a resort with which it is best identified. Engendered by its climate, recreational activities, and friendly citizens, Tryon's resort status is embodied in the numerous inns and boarding houses that have operated over the years and in turn have contributed to the success of the other endeavors associated with Tryon.
Since the late 1870s, four hostelries -- McAboy Inn, Oak Hall Hotel, Pine Crest Inn, and Thousand Pines Inn -- signified Tryon's fame as a resort. Of these four, only the Pine Crest Inn continues to operate and maintain the high standards established by its developer, Carter Brown, standards that create a reputation of excellence for its gracious hospitality that is unpretentious yet is in keeping with the Inn's position as a resort.
Although Brown's name was synonymous for several decades with the Pine Crest Inn and, indeed, with Tryon's architectural and sporting developments, prior to Brown's arrival in Tryon the Inn property was closely associated with the town's reputation for a healthy climate that initially attracted those ailing from lung disease. Tryon is in the Thermal Belt -- an area in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains protected from the northern winds -- where temperatures are milder than in neighboring towns. Prior to 1877, with the advent of the Spartanburg-Asheville railway, there was little major commerce in the area and no tourism as it is known today.
During the early 1870s, Dr. L. R. McAboy had purchased the Dr. Columbus Mills House just north of Tryon and had expanded and converted it to the McAboy House, soon to become a popular inn. With the construction of the railroad, many of those who had been traveling to Asheville, famous for its tuberculosis sanatoriums, began to visit Tryon and the McAboy House in search of the "cure"; apparently many of the invalids attracted to the warmer climate and pleasant surroundings of Tryon were disillusioned with the unpredictable Asheville weather and tired of being around so many tuberculosis patients.
In 1906, three doctors, Earle Grady, E. M. Sally, and W. R. Engel, acquired the nucleus of the Pine Crest Inn property and proceeded to have what would become the main inn building and the Oak, English, and Hunt Cottages, erected as a sanatorium.
During the first decade of the twentieth century, Tryon experienced a great deal of growth. Crafts operations were established and land values rose rapidly as investors became interested in the town. The number of visitors, increasingly more tourists instead of patients, rapidly increased. Many of these visitors were train passengers who had time to look around Tryon during stopovers and liked it so much that they decided to stay, often becoming seasonal visitors, and permanent residents. Property records indicate, however, that one enterprise that did not succeed was the Thermal Belt Sanatorium. In December of 1911, E. M. Sally purchased the interests of Drs. Grady and Earle, and when Brown arrived in Tryon in 1917, the property had been idle for several years.
In 1916, Brown had graduated from the University of Illinois, married and immediately purchased from his uncle, John Parr, the Castle (later known as Castle Park), a modest summer resort near Holland, Michigan. In September of 1917, realizing that the winter would be long and unproductive after their first season of operating the Castle, the Browns visited Tryon at the urging of Mrs. Brown's grandmother who recently had visited the area. They were so impressed with the town and the sanatorium property that they rented the property from Dr. Sally for the winter seasons of 1917-1918 and 1918-1919 and with H. A. Wilkie, Mrs. Brown's father, purchased it in 1920. The Browns named the Tryon property the Pine Crest Inn and continued to operate it from October to May until 1951. (They operated Castle Park from June through September until 1977.)
Over the years the Browns upgraded and enlarged the Pine Crest Inn and attracted a substantial carriage trade clientele to Tryon. Many of their guests continued a trend that had been established in Tryon during the late 19th century by buying property in the town. These seasonal or year-round residents in turn attracted others who would stay at the Inn and perpetuate the trend. The Inn became the focal point for Tryon's growth and development.
The Pine Crest has entertained a diverse assortment of guests during its 88 years of operation. They include South Carolina governor Jimmy Byrns; "Lefty" Flynn of silent movie fame and his wife Nora Langhorne, the screen's Gibson Girl; authors F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemmingway, who frequented the Swayback Cabin; French artist George Aid; Lord and Lady Astor; and the historians Mary and Charles Beard (he wrote The Republic in the Woodcutter Cottage). Industrial magnates include Harry Ferguson of Ferguson Tractors and John Kimberly of Kimberly-Clark Paper Co. Many of the guests were upper mid-westerners, due to Brown's ties there, and the majority were sporting people.
Although many Pine Crest Inn guests were merely looking for the relaxed atmosphere it affords, a strong interest in horses always has been in the foreground. Brown was a principal force in establishing Tryon as an equestrian center of national importance. He opened riding trails, started Tryon's annual horse and hound show, steeplechase, and popularized fox hunting. At the Inn he maintained the Galax Stables of riding and steeplechase horses and he kenneled hounds.
In developing Tryon's reputation as a riding and hunting center, he built on a tradition that dated from the early 1800s when settlers from the South Carolina Low Country laid out race paths in the area for horse racing and fox hunting. Many of the first residents of Tryon had re-established these sports, and Brown proceeded to make them part of Tryon's essential business and community character.
Brown's interest in horses was associated with his interest in local architecture. He stabilized a fort and trading post known as the Block House and converted it to a private residence, as well as encouraged its nomination to the National Register. He also carved out the Harmon Field race course next to the Block House, the site of the horse show and football, baseball and track events. Brown strongly demonstrated his architectural interests at the Inn; he designed and built four of the cottages and moved three log cabins to the property and converted them to cottages. One of those cottages, Swayback, was a revolutionary war period cabin originally constructed in eastern Tennessee that is now 245 years old.
Brown also instituted many activities associated solely with the Pine Crest Inn. These included Thanksgiving dinner preceding the opening formal fox hunt of the season; weekly barbecues at the large outside stone fireplace; mid-day and moonlight picnics in the surrounding mountains; and candlelight Sunday evening buffet suppers, followed by group singing.
He also established a school in a cottage once located on the site of the innkeepers' quarters. This one-room building with a large porch on which the desks were located could accommodate five to 20 students. They were Inn guests and children of former guests who became permanent Tryon residents.
In 1951, Brown sold the Inn to a partner, Edwin McLean. Brown continued to live in Tryon until the late 1960s when he returned permanently to Castle Park, where he died in 1978.
Pine Crest Inn then passed through a number of capable hands, but during the last decade the inn had developed a growing conference and meeting trade, adding a state-of-the-art conference center. Carl Caudle purchased the property in 2003 and continues to preserve and improve the standards of comfort, cuisine, and service necessary to maintain the wonderful history and high standards for both lodging and dining, as well as the Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence for the Pine Crest's extensive wine collection.
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