Green Park Inn
Encyclopedia
The Green Park Inn is a historic hotel located on the Eastern Continental Divide
in Blowing Rock
, North Carolina. The hotel was built in the 1880s and operated continuously until May 24, 2009.
Past guests of the hotel have included John D. Rockefeller
, Herbert Hoover
, Annie Oakley
, Calvin Coolidge
, Eleanor Roosevelt
and Margaret Mitchell
among others. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places
on June 3, 1982.
In the latter part of the Civil War a small fortification was built on the site of the Green Park by Federal Troops.
The hotel is widely purported to be haunted
, and has played host over the years to several conventions of ghost hunter
s.
In the face of a difficult economy, the Green Park Inn was closed seeking a new buyer in 2009, and foreclosed later that year.
On March 31, 2010, The Green Park Inn was purchased by Eugene and Steven Irace, two New York real estate investors who are already the owners of a number of other hotel properties. Their intent is to renovate the hotel, and restore it to its former glory, perhaps opening a small number of rooms as early as the summer of 2010. As far as possible, the new owners intend to work with the Blowing Rock Historical Society in attempting to replace a number of antique and historic items formerly owned by and located within the hotel, but purchased by the Society in the fall of 2009, when the entire property failed to sell at a previous foreclosure auction.
Following an aggressive renovation of the property, The Green Park Inn reopened to the public on October 29, 2010.
On July 1, 2011 the Green Park Inn reopened the Laurel Room Restaurant and the Divide Bar. The restaurant is headed by Chef James Welch.
On October 29, 2011 the Green Park Inn celebrated its first anniversary of reopening after having a progressively successful year. The hotel hopes to have nearly all eigty rooms completely renovated and available to guests before the second anniversary.
Eastern Continental Divide
The Eastern Continental Divide, in conjunction with other continental divides of North America, demarcates two watersheds of the Atlantic Ocean: the Gulf of Mexico watershed and the Atlantic Seaboard watershed. Prior to 1760, the divide represented the boundary between British and French colonial...
in Blowing Rock
Blowing Rock, North Carolina
Blowing Rock is a town in North Carolina, USA, situated in both Caldwell and Watauga counties. The population was 1,418 at the 2000 census. However, during the summer the town's population increases to about 10,000.]]\\...
, North Carolina. The hotel was built in the 1880s and operated continuously until May 24, 2009.
Past guests of the hotel have included John D. Rockefeller
John D. Rockefeller
John Davison Rockefeller was an American oil industrialist, investor, and philanthropist. He was the founder of the Standard Oil Company, which dominated the oil industry and was the first great U.S. business trust. Rockefeller revolutionized the petroleum industry and defined the structure of...
, Herbert Hoover
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover was the 31st President of the United States . Hoover was originally a professional mining engineer and author. As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted partnerships between government and business...
, Annie Oakley
Annie Oakley
Annie Oakley , born Phoebe Ann Mosey, was an American sharpshooter and exhibition shooter. Oakley's amazing talent and timely rise to fame led to a starring role in Buffalo Bill's Wild West show, which propelled her to become the first American female superstar.Oakley's most famous trick is perhaps...
, Calvin Coolidge
Calvin Coolidge
John Calvin Coolidge, Jr. was the 30th President of the United States . A Republican lawyer from Vermont, Coolidge worked his way up the ladder of Massachusetts state politics, eventually becoming governor of that state...
, Eleanor Roosevelt
Eleanor Roosevelt
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was the First Lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945. She supported the New Deal policies of her husband, distant cousin Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and became an advocate for civil rights. After her husband's death in 1945, Roosevelt continued to be an international...
and Margaret Mitchell
Margaret Mitchell
Margaret Munnerlyn Mitchell was an American author and journalist. Mitchell won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1937 for her epic American Civil War era novel, Gone with the Wind, which was the only novel by Mitchell published during her lifetime.-Family:Margaret Mitchell was born in Atlanta,...
among others. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
on June 3, 1982.
In the latter part of the Civil War a small fortification was built on the site of the Green Park by Federal Troops.
The hotel is widely purported to be haunted
Haunted house
A haunted house is a house or other building often perceived as being inhabited by disembodied spirits of the deceased who may have been former residents or were familiar with the property...
, and has played host over the years to several conventions of ghost hunter
Ghost hunter
Ghost Hunter can refer to:*Ghost hunting, the practice of hunting ghosts*The Ghost Hunter, a series of novels**The Ghost Hunter, a television series based on the novels*Death of a Ghost Hunter, a 2007 horror film...
s.
In the face of a difficult economy, the Green Park Inn was closed seeking a new buyer in 2009, and foreclosed later that year.
On March 31, 2010, The Green Park Inn was purchased by Eugene and Steven Irace, two New York real estate investors who are already the owners of a number of other hotel properties. Their intent is to renovate the hotel, and restore it to its former glory, perhaps opening a small number of rooms as early as the summer of 2010. As far as possible, the new owners intend to work with the Blowing Rock Historical Society in attempting to replace a number of antique and historic items formerly owned by and located within the hotel, but purchased by the Society in the fall of 2009, when the entire property failed to sell at a previous foreclosure auction.
Following an aggressive renovation of the property, The Green Park Inn reopened to the public on October 29, 2010.
On July 1, 2011 the Green Park Inn reopened the Laurel Room Restaurant and the Divide Bar. The restaurant is headed by Chef James Welch.
On October 29, 2011 the Green Park Inn celebrated its first anniversary of reopening after having a progressively successful year. The hotel hopes to have nearly all eigty rooms completely renovated and available to guests before the second anniversary.