Welcome back to New Explorations: Old Hotels. This blog is going to feature more unusual, historic hotels.
Blowing Rock, North Carolina is home to the Green Park Inn. This inn was built in 1891. It is the second oldest resort in North Carolina. The Green Park Inn was the home to the first Post Office in the United States. A portion of this post office is housed in the history room of this inn.
What is really neat about the Green Park Inn is where it was built. To be more specific, the town Blowing Rock, North Carolina and the Catawba/Cherokee Native American legend behind it. It is believed that a Catawba woman fell in love with a Cherokee man. The man heard about a battle he would have to fight in. He was so upset he jumped to his death. The Catawba women was saddened by his death so she prayed to the Great Spirit. The Great Spirit answered her prayer by creating a strong wind that pushed the man back up to the rock he had leaped from and back to his love. To this day, Blowing Rock, North Carolina is known for being a part of its high country, beautiful scenery and its vertical winds.
The Old Faithful Inn, Yellowstone Park, was built in 1903. It is considered an unusual hotel not only because it was built out of logs, but because it is seven stories high. Today, this historic hotel is known as the world’s largest log hotel in the world. It is also one of the few remaining hotels made out of logs in the United States.
Photo by Daniel Mayer on Wikimedia Commons
The lobby of The Old Faithful Inn features a handmade clock made of wood, copper and wrought iron and a huge fireplace. It has 327 rooms. The Old Faithful Geyser and Geyser Basin are near this inn. An unusual fact about The Old Faithful Inn and Yellowstone Park is Christmas is held in August here every year. On August 25th, staff and visitors decorate a Christmas tree on the west side of Yellowstone Park and then they go to the Old Faithful Inn for Christmas dinner. This tradition started in the 1930’s when a rare winter storm that occurred on August twenty-fifth snowed in both employees and guests.
The Lafayette Hotel can be found alongside the Ohio River in the oldest town in Ohio. Marietta, Ohio was established in 1788 and is the first permanent settlement in the northeast territory. The Lafayette Hotel was built in 1918. It is a uniquely and beautifully curved brick hotel with balconies outside the rooms that overlook the Ohio River. There is also a beautiful fountain that sets in a courtyard near the Lafayette Hotel.
This blog was to explore our past and learn more about the backbone of our great country. Sometimes talking with staff and residents of towns we visit, we almost feel like the walls of the establishment are talking, especially in old hotels.
Resources:
• Green Park Inn
• CNN: Best U.S. Historical Hotels 2015
• Trip Advisor
• Prophets and Moguls, Rangers and Rogues, Bison and Bears by Heather Hansen
• U.S. Park Lodging
