When you visit this imposing and elegant Georgian hotel in the heart of
Virginia's Allegheny Mountains, you join a list of some of the most prominent Americans to have stayed at The Homestead. No less than 20 US presidents have vacationed here, including William McKinley and Woodrow Wilson, who spent his honeymoon at The Homestead and could be seen with his new bride early every morning teeing off on the Homestead Course. Great international figures have also come here to engage in sport and to relax.
The earliest incarnation of this splendid resort was a mineral spa founded in 1776 by colonial settlers and further developed under a captain in Gen. George Washington's army. The discoverers found here natural hot mineral springs therapeutic to body and soul.
Investors led by illustrious banker J. Pierpont Morgan enabled the resort to flourish in the late 1880's highlighted by the building of the grand hotel, the precursor of today's modern edifice. The railroad opened up traffic to this remote mountain resort, and as more people came, activities such as hunting, fishing and horseback riding were added to the recreational mix. During the Pierpont era, Thomas Edison, who was a frequent guest of the resort, supplied it with its first electrical power.
In 1892, six golf holes were built behind the hotel. Later, the famous Scottish architect Donald Ross was commissioned to design and build an 18-hole course, to be known as the Homestead Course. Modernized without compromising its original design integrity, the
Homestead Course
today is a delightful romp over hill and dale featuring Ross's unmistakable Scottish trademarks of open-fronted greens and other links-style features.
Several miles to the south near Covington, VA, are two additional Homestead layouts, the Cascades, a William S. Flynn design opened in 1923, and the Robert Trent Jones-designed
Lower Cascades,
opened in 1963. The Cascades Course has hosted seven USGA Championships including the US Women's National Open. It is listed in Golf Digest's Top 50 Courses and is arguably the finest mountain course in the world. Do not play this course without your camera. It is THAT scenic.
In the early 1990's, after a century of prosperity, the hotel, spa, casino, and grounds showed the deteriorating effects of time. Just when friends of the resort feared the worst, it was rescued by Club Corporation of America. In 1993, The Pinehurst Company, a ClubCorp subsidiary which also owns and operates Pinehurst Resort and Country Club among other signature travel destinations, purchased The Homestead and restored it to its original grandeur while upgrading existing amenities and adding new ones, such as the huge outdoor pool and corporate team-building programs. Also, improvements were made to the resort's ski area.
As for the business minded, the resort has hosted some major meetings of international importance, including the United Nations Conference on Food and Agriculture. The resort can accommodate small meetings to business gatherings of considerable size.
Straw-hatted men and women toting flower guidebooks around a golf course is not usual, but then Baywood Greens, for all its floral opulence, is no garden variety track. The course is adorned from first tee to 18th green with an estimated 200,000 thousand planted trees, flowers and shrubs including rhododendron, 2,500 azaleas, and 4,000 rose bushes. There are 20 acres of planted annuals and perennials include zinnias, bachelor buttons, poppies, mums, day lilies and a mind-boggling 40,000 daffodils. Also, the place is beautified with meadows of multi-colored
wildflowers. 
Virginia Golf
