By the end of 1895, James Walker Tufts could concentrate on ensuring everything in the Village was in place to ensure visitors would experience what he was promising. Tufts was confident that advertising Pinehurst through physicians in the Boston area would lead to enough inquiries and guests and he was on the right track in building his “Health Resort in the South.”

In January of 1896, after only six months of frenzied construction the Village opened to its first customers. The Holly Inn, under the management of Mr. and Mrs. J. T. Atwood, opened for business and saw its first guests on January 24, 1895.¹²  

The Holly contained 43 bedrooms, bath-rooms, electric lights, steam heat, and open fire-places. All the sleeping rooms were furnished with the best hair mattresses and there was call bell in each room.  The Hotel also had attached a “Pagoda Sun Room.”  This was a glass-enclosed house connected with the main building by a conservatory full of flowering plants and shrubs.⁴

In addition to the hotel and cottages, guests could utilize one of three boarding houses that had been completed (Pine Grove House, Oaks and the Hanover).  Four other buildings offered rooms, suites, or apartments as an alternative to the Hotel (Waldheim, Radcliffe, Cedars and Palmetto). In this manner Tufts provided every form of lodging possible for visitors so that he could accommodate those who may only be visiting for a day or customers who wanted to stay for an entire season.

Although by January of 1896 a dozen cottages may have been finished enough to rent, there were reportedly only four cottages rented during the first season of 1895-1896.⁶ This is understandable considering the newness of the venture and the commitment that would have been required by individuals to rent a cottage for an extended stay.  

Cottages available for rent ranged in size from four to eleven rooms. Cottages were fitted with electric lights, running water and connected to the main sewer system. The store was available to purchase provisions necessary during the stay.  Cottage guests could take their meals at the Holly Inn since most of the cottages as initially built had very limited cooking facilities and the Casino building and its cafe was not complete in time for the first season.

The cost of staying was reasonable. Cottages were advertised at $80 for the season of 12 weeks, single rooms at $1.50 to $2.50 a week and the Holly Inn charged $3.00 a day or $12.00 to $26.00 a week.  Suites for light housekeeping were rented for $40.00 and upward, for twelve weeks. The cost of board for those staying in a cottage or apartment house was $4.50 a week.⁴

To fulfill his claim in the marketing pamphlet, Tufts hired Dr. Fredrick W. Bradbury of Providence, Rhode Island to become the physician in residence for the first season.  Dr. Bradbury opened his office in Mistletoe Cottage in December of 1895 and would continue as the Village physician for a number of seasons.

Employees for the Village were for the most part sourced from resorts and hotels in the New England area that would be closed for the winter and whose employees would need to find employment in the winter months.

J. W. Tufts hoped to attract a quiet, friendly group of congenial visitors who enjoyed providing their own entertainment and were likely to have little interest in more strenuous outdoor activities.  Some may only have been in search of rest and were little interested in activities of any sort.  Tufts expected clients to include retired ministers, army officers, teachers and those who, hearing of the miraculous healing powers of the area, would come south for their health.¹⁷  As a result, entertainment and activities provided in the Village were initially limited to those that this segment of the population would most likely enjoy.

Tennis, badminton, and croquet were the most active outdoor items offered.  But a number of less strenuous outdoor activities were available such as walks in the “Pine Grove”, feeding deer in the “Deer Park”, outings to Aberdeen or to Southern Pines on the electric trolley, carriage rides, horseback riding and visits to local native attractions such as McKenzie’s grist mill.

Of course indoor activities such as musical events, speeches by visiting dignitaries, ministers, and games of whisk, and billiards were advertised. 

Although quite modest, the first season was successful enough for James Walker Tufts to be convinced that his venture would be successful and he continued his plan to invest in the venture and grow the village in terms of size and breathe of offerings. 

And so began the story of the Village of Pinehurst.

The answer to the question asked in Chapter one of this story, why and how the Village of Pinehurst was founded in this location, can found in the convergence of a number of seemingly unrelated circumstances and events:  The Sandhills ecology, the Long Leaf Forest, the turpentine and lumber industry that made available thousands of acres of otherwise useless land, the existence of Southern Pines as a well known health resort and a stop on the most important north south rail line, the town of Aberdeen as a rail hub and industry center for the Sandhills, the Aberdeen and West End Railroad to serve the selected remote location, and the most important factor, the will and devotion of James Walker Tufts to use his considerable wealth to create and build a town for the betterment of his fellow humans in an abandoned wilderness of cut-over timberland.   All these factors converged 125 years ago to help form the Village of Pinehurst.

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References:

1. Pinehurst Outlook, History of the Opening of the Holly Inn, Vol II.  No. 6,  Pinehurst, N.C.        December 2, 1898,
2. National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, Pinehurst Historic District, US Department of the Interior, National Park Service 1996
3. “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
4. A Pinehurst History, Unpublished paper by Richard S. Tufts 1976

Photographs courtesy of The Tufts Archives, Pinehurst, NC