By October of 1895, James Walker Tufts was confident that his Village would soon be ready for guests.  The next challenge he faced was how to advertise the town and attract the specific clientele he was hoping would use the facilities he had built. His vision of Pinehurst was that it was to be a “Health Resort” not a sanitarium for those with advanced stages of consumption, although individuals who were suffering the effects of this deadly disease were obvious candidates to benefit from an extended stay at his Village. In addition, his stated objective was to attract a “refined and intelligent” class of individuals who could benefit from this health environment, were of “limited means” and could afford to spend months in the south recuperating. Clearly, he was after a thin slice of the population.

To reach this segment of the population, Tufts decided to contact the medical community in the Boston area to promote his town and use them as a filter to screen and recommend potential clients. Toward this end, Tufts constructed a letter to physicians that succinctly laid out his objective, the type of clients he was expecting, the general cost of a stay and details on transportation options to reach Pinehurst.  He hoped that physicians would then recommend a stay at his “Health Resort in North Carolina” to those they felt were qualified in terms of health status, character and financial capability.

Knowing that a letter alone would not be an effective advertisement, Tufts had a 50 page pamphlet created and printed to accompany the letter¹. This pamphlet was the single most important advertising piece he was to produce in 1895 to announce the opening of Pinehurst. Content and format of this pamphlet was critical. Tufts solicited references from those who had experienced the healing powers said to be inherent in the environment of the Sandhills and the Long Leaf Pine forest. He also included detailed descriptions of the area and the climate, extensively described and illustrated the cottages, boarding houses, public buildings and the hotel he was building. 

Tufts commissioned numerous individuals to help construct this pamphlet. Among the contributors was his good friend Reverend B. A. Goodridge, who also supplied a reference to the healing powers of the Long Leaf Pine forest and the Sandhills area. In his letter to the Reverend dated October 19, 1895, Tufts described over 30 items he felt were important to include in his promotional pamphlet².  Some of the items he felt important to include were:  “Price of Rentals of Houses; Absolute Purity of the Water; Earth Closets; Bakery; Store; Physician; Telephone; Fire Protection; Wire Fence; Town Amusements; Electric Railroad; Deer Park; Casino Restaurant; Boarding House.” 

The Olmsted firm supplied much more than a general plan of the Village for the pamphlet (see Chapter 7 for a description of the plan). In the pamphlet, the Olmsted firm described in detail Evergreen Planting, where over 222,000 plants would be planted, the source of these plants from France and American nurseries, and the landscaping scheme on the Village Green, house lots, along streets, in the “Pine Grove”, listing over 90 species of plants that would be used.

The only known copy of this pamphlet was discovered recently in the Harvard University Library. This copy was donated to the Harvard College Library by Samuel A. Green M.D. of Boston (Harvard Class of 1851) and logged into the Library on December 20, 1895.

Other than word of mouth, this letter and the accompanying pamphlet are the only know advertisement that James Walker Tufts used in 1895 to announce that his Village was ready to accept clients. 

The Pamphlet:  

Following are extracts and illustrations from the 50 page pamphlet that accompanied the letter that James Walker Tufts sent to physicians in November of 1895:

"This opinion of a poet, containing more truth than poetry, has lost nothing of pith and point in two hundred years. Wise doctors agree with wise Dryden." The healing touch of nature is often more potent than all drugs.  Those whose health is impaired by the rigors of a harsh climate, must seek a milder one in order that this healing touch may be applied.  It is useless to tell the sufferer to take plenty of out-of door exercise, and get well.  Out-of-door exercise amidst the snows of a northern winter, or in the teeth of its biting winds, is out of the question.  Vitality impaired by disease cannot resist cold. There must be change to a more benignant sky, contact with the life-giving soil, under the direct rays of the sun.  There must be found, if possible, some spot where nature can apply one of her specific remedies for disease without having its good effect neutralized by adverse conditions.  She must heal the hurt which she has made.  But where shall one go to find a mild winter climate, dry, invigorating air, pure water, and, in addition to these, a specific for throat and lung troubles supplied in unlimited quantities?  Thirteen years ago a man in New York was anxiously asking that question. He was in consumption, and his only hope was to prolong life a little.  His physician advised him to go to the highest and driest section of the long-leaf pine region in the South.  The trip might add a few months, possibly a year, to his life.  He went to Raleigh, N. C., and consulted Prof. W. C. Kerr, State Geologist, who directed him to the high sand hills of Moore county in the same state.  He went there and stayed six weeks.  Then he returned North for his family.  He has lived among his friends the long-leaf pines ever since. His lungs are healed. He is a busy and happy man."

"Nature having accumulated a great store of healing virtues in this place has been waiting many years for someone to make the best use of them. Here was evidently the spot whereon to establish an ideal home of rest and recuperation. The sanitary value of the mild climate, and the soil, the remarkable healing property of the long-leaf pine had been demonstrated by the experience of hundreds of invalids who had gone to Southern Pines and its vicinity, either to make a stay of a few months or to settle there permanently. The region had over and over again been carefully investigated by medical specialists, always with the same verdict, that here was a natural sanitarium, not excelled, so far as is known, by any location in the world. It was only necessary to take advantage of what nature had so freely bestowed.

This is now being done. Five thousand acres of this pine land, in the most favorable situation that could be found, have been purchased and there has been established the model village of Pinehurst. The services of the best landscape architects, sanitary engineers, and electricians have been secured. Skilled northern architects have supplied tasteful designs for houses. With their aid the proprietor is building up an enterprise unique in character, and perfectly adapted to meet the needs of a large class of people of refined taste who require the restorative effects of a winter sojourn in the South but cannot afford to pay the usual price of hotels and boarding-houses where good accommodations can be had.

Pinehurst is established to meet the wants of just such people. It is not intended to be a sanitarium for hopeless invalids. It has no hospital features. It is a bright, cheery village, artistically laid out, possessed of all modern comforts and conveniences, carefully controlled so as to make its sanitary conditions permanent."

Pinehurst is located six miles west of Southern Pines on the Seaboard Air Line Railroad, and four miles from Aberdeen on the Aberdeen & West End Railroad. An electric railroad has been built to Southern Pines, and trolley cars, both open and closed, will connect the two villages. The closed cars will be heated by electricity on the coldest days. A “broomstick train’” scudding through the solemn stillness of the “piney woods” will be an amazing sight to many of the natives of that region, and a long ride in such a conveyance will be a delightful experience for all, natives and visitors alike.

A fine hotel, called “The Holly Inn,” has been built. It is provided with bath-rooms, electric lights, steam heat, and open fire-places. All the sleeping rooms are furnished with the best hair mattresses and substantial furniture, and there is a call bell in each room....The hotel table service will be by white girls from the North. There will be a stenographer and typewriter in the hotel whose services can be had at moderate rates. Amusements will be provided for in the billiard-room, and in a room for whist, dominoes, and other games. There is also a smoking-room, and the parlor, where there is a piano, will afford opportunity for occasional dances.

The Casino is a tasteful building, conveniently located for the use of all residents. It will contain parlors for ladies, a piano, a reading-room, with a small library of books, the current magazines, and the leading daily papers. There will be, also, a billiard-room, smoking-room, and room for games. Under the same roof will be a bakery, where bread, cake, baked beans — dear to New-Englanders — and simple,  wholesome food can be obtained very cheaply, and a restaurant where meals, well cooked and well served, will be furnished. The price for board will be $4.50 per week.  A first-class boarding-house has been provided for those who do not care to go out for their meals.

To this end he has had built some twenty cottages, which he proposes to let at moderate rates, in single rooms, suites of two rooms and upwards for light housekeeping, or entire apartments for full housekeeping. These cottages are of artistic design and are built with the utmost thoroughness. They are painted inside and out, and are furnished all through with open fire-places or tasteful stoves. They are supplied with running water, and lighted by electricity. There are earth-closets in all of them, and the vaults are laid in brick and cement. Some of the houses are provided with bath-tubs.

To guard against any possibility of unsanitary conditions arising through negligence, there will be a corps of special employees to attend to the removal of garbage and the emptying of earth closets.

The cottages built thus far are only a nucleus of the village that is to be. They are made in a variety of styles in order to determine what will serve the best purpose and satisfy the greatest demand. Others will be erected just as fast as the need of them is apparent. 

To prevent misunderstanding, two points must be made emphatic. First, the proprietor does not intend to pauperize self-respecting people of limited means by providing free accommodations. Second, he cannot provide employment. Those who go to Pinehurst must be able to meet the expense of living there.  The purpose of this enterprise is to provide an attractive place of residence of the very highest sanitary value, where the cost of living shall be so moderate that people of small means can avail themselves of its advantages. The hotel is provided for those who can afford to live more expensively. But the rental of the cottages and the price of board at the casino are placed at so low a figure as to make it possible for persons who cannot afford high rates to live here as inexpensively as at home.

The one hundred acres which now comprise the town site have been cleared and laid out into streets and the whole has been surrounded by Page woven Wire fence to keep out cattle and hogs that might create annoyance and destroy property. 

The site of the village has been planned in an artistic manner by the eminent firm of Olmsted, Olmsted & Eliot, of which Mr. Frederick Law Olmsted is the senior member. A personal letter from them, giving details of their work at Pinehurst, appears in the back part of this book in connection with their general plan of the town site. They have selected a nurseryman and gardener who, with his assistants, will have permanent charge of all the trees, shrubs, and plants on the grounds...

It is understood, of course, that the extensive plans that have been made for beautifying the village with greenery will require considerable time before they are carried out to completion. The wilderness cannot be made into a garden in a day, even with the most liberal expenditure of money, energy, and skill.

For the best interests of all, a few restrictions are made which will be carefully enforced. The sale of liquor or beer on the town premises, or in the vicinity of the town, will be strictly prohibited. Tenants who bring discredit upon the management of the town will be required to leave. Tenants will not be allowed to underlet their rooms or houses.

The property will remain under private control, and no houses or lots will be sold. In this way systematic management can be assured, and the sanitary and social conditions can be maintained at their highest efficiency.  

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With this advertisement now published, James Walker Tufts could focus on ensuring that the Village would be ready to accept its first guests.

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References:

1. “Pinehurst, A Health Resort in North Carolina” Promotional brochure by B. A. Goodridge, Samuel F. Hubbard, and others, Boston Mass, Smith & Porter Printers, 185 Franklin St., Boston, Mass 1895
2. Letter to Rev. B. A. Goodridge, LC, Series A, Vol. 43 Pages 487-492, Project  01772, Tufts, J. W.
3. Olmsted National Historic Site, Brookline, MA
4. Image of Physician’s letter courtesy of The Tufts Archives, Pinehurst, NC

NOTE:  Reference is made to “Earth Closet” in the promotional material for the Village. An “Earth Closet” is a toilet where dry earth is used to cover waste material for later removal. There were a number of different designs, one is shown below (from www.toilet-guru.com).