Nemacolin Woodlands Resort
Encyclopedia
The Nemacolin Woodlands Resort is a resort in Farmington
, Fayette County, Pennsylvania
. The resort is currently owned by Maggie Hardy Magerko, president of the 84 Lumber
Company, and was founded by Joseph Hardy.
Mountains between what is now Cumberland, Maryland
and Brownsville, Pennsylvania
.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
industrialist Willard F. Rockwell established a private game reserve on what is now Nemacolin Woodlands and named this property Nemacolin Trails Hunting Reserve in 1968. The Rockwells invited friends and business associates to hunt and fish on the hundreds of acres populated by silver fox, bear, and Russian white-tailed deer. A hunting lodge was constructed along with a golf course and airstrip. Lakes Louise (named after the wife of Mr. Rockwell's youngest son) and Carol (named after the wife of Mr. Rockwell's second son) were also added and Beaver Creek
was developed and stocked into a trout fishing stream.
In 1979, the property was sold to Cordelia Mellon Scaife, but was returned three years later to the Rockwell family when Kent Rockwell repurchased the property and opened it to the public. Joseph Hardy III, founder of the 84 Lumber Company, bought Nemacolin at an auction he attended in 1987 in the hopes of purchasing a few acres of woodlands near a lake or stream for his daughter, Maggie, who loved fishing.
As Hardy recounts, “I left the auction without that piece of property for fishing because I bought the main parcel and was out of money.” Hardy and his daughter, Maggie, promptly set about transforming the property into its present state – a 3,000 acre (12 km²) world-class resort, rated Four-Stars by the prestigious Mobil Travel Guide and Four Diamonds by the American Automobile Association
(AAA). In 2002, Hardy transferred full ownership of the resort to his daughter, Maggie Hardy Magerko, who still serves as President and Owner.
In November 2006, Falling Rock hotel at Nemacolin received AAA Five Diamond status. Falling Rock is the only hotel in Western Pennsylvania to receive AAA's highest honor, and retained five diamond status for 2008 in November 2007. Also in 2007, Lautrec - a fine dining experience with French flair located inside Nemacolin's Chateau LaFayette hotel - became the first new restaurant in Pennsylvania in 13 years to receive AAA Five Diamond status for 2008. Lautrec is the only restaurant between Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
and Chicago, Illinois to have received AAA's highest honor. In November 2010 Falling Rock received a Five Star rating from the Forbes Mobile Travel Guide making Nemacolin Woodlands Resort one of only 6 resorts in the world to have both Forbes-Mobile Five Star and AAA Five Diamond for both lodging and dining.
-style Lodge, and building an annex of 68 rooms, together with a Conference Center and new lobbies. In the time since Hardy purchased the resort, major changes have been made to the former hunting club. Now sitting on almost 3,000 acres (12 km²), the following major additions have been made to the resort:
event the 84 Lumber Classic
in 2003. Contested on Nemacolin's Mystic Rock golf course, the event had a successful run at the resort before coming to an end in 2006. The four winners of the 84 Lumber Classic tournaments held on Mystic Rock at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort were:
Shortly after the 2004 84 Lumber Classic, Nemacolin Woodlands Resort broke ground on what golfer Vijay Singh dubbed, "the greatest clubhouse in America" - Falling Rock. In 2007, Falling Rock received the prestigious Five Diamond Award rating from the American Automobile Association (AAA).
On June 18, 2007, Nemacolin Woodlands Resort hosted the Mystic Rock Celebrity Pro-Am, a charity benefit for the CFFC (Community Foundation of Fayette County). Teams of three sponsors were paired with a PGA Tour golfer or celebrity athlete. PGA Tour pros Jason Gore and Pat Perez
were in attendance, plus baseball Hall of Famer Bill Mazeroski
, Pittsburgh Steelers
quarterback Charlie Batch
, and other athletes from the Steelers and Pittsburgh Penguins
.
Farmington, Pennsylvania
Farmington is an unincorporated community in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, United States along the National Road. It is situated about 50 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, and is the closest settlement to Fort Necessity...
, Fayette County, Pennsylvania
Fayette County, Pennsylvania
Fayette County is a county located in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. As of the2010 census, the population was 136,606. The county is part of the Pittsburgh Metropolitan Statistical Area....
. The resort is currently owned by Maggie Hardy Magerko, president of the 84 Lumber
84 Lumber
84 Lumber is an American building materials chain. 84 Lumber Company is the largest privately held building materials supplier to professional contractors in the country. Headquartered in the Pittsburgh Metro Area town of Eighty Four, Pennsylvania, it was founded in 1956 by Joseph Hardy...
Company, and was founded by Joseph Hardy.
History
The resort is named for Chief Nemacolin, a native Delaware Indian who in 1740 trailblazed a route through the rugged Laurel HighlandsLaurel Highlands
The Laurel Highlands is a region in southwestern Pennsylvania made up of Fayette County, Somerset County and Westmoreland County. It has a population of about 600,000 people....
Mountains between what is now Cumberland, Maryland
Cumberland, Maryland
Cumberland is a city in the far western, Appalachian portion of Maryland, United States. It is the county seat of Allegany County, and the primary city of the Cumberland, MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the 2010 census, the city had a population of 20,859, and the metropolitan area had a...
and Brownsville, Pennsylvania
Brownsville, Pennsylvania
Brownsville is a borough in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, United States, officially founded in 1785 located 35 miles south of Pittsburgh along the Monongahela River...
.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
industrialist Willard F. Rockwell established a private game reserve on what is now Nemacolin Woodlands and named this property Nemacolin Trails Hunting Reserve in 1968. The Rockwells invited friends and business associates to hunt and fish on the hundreds of acres populated by silver fox, bear, and Russian white-tailed deer. A hunting lodge was constructed along with a golf course and airstrip. Lakes Louise (named after the wife of Mr. Rockwell's youngest son) and Carol (named after the wife of Mr. Rockwell's second son) were also added and Beaver Creek
Beaver Creek
- Places :United States*Beaver Creek, Colorado*Beaver Creek, Maryland*Beaver Creek, Minnesota*Beaver Creek, Montana*Beaver Creek Township, Michigan*Beaver Creek Township, MinnesotaCanada*Beaver Creek, Yukon, a town in the western Yukon...
was developed and stocked into a trout fishing stream.
In 1979, the property was sold to Cordelia Mellon Scaife, but was returned three years later to the Rockwell family when Kent Rockwell repurchased the property and opened it to the public. Joseph Hardy III, founder of the 84 Lumber Company, bought Nemacolin at an auction he attended in 1987 in the hopes of purchasing a few acres of woodlands near a lake or stream for his daughter, Maggie, who loved fishing.
As Hardy recounts, “I left the auction without that piece of property for fishing because I bought the main parcel and was out of money.” Hardy and his daughter, Maggie, promptly set about transforming the property into its present state – a 3,000 acre (12 km²) world-class resort, rated Four-Stars by the prestigious Mobil Travel Guide and Four Diamonds by the American Automobile Association
American Automobile Association
AAA , formerly known as the American Automobile Association, is a federation of 51 independently operated motor clubs throughout North America. AAA is a not-for-profit member service organization with more than 51 million members. AAA provides services to its members such as travel, automotive,...
(AAA). In 2002, Hardy transferred full ownership of the resort to his daughter, Maggie Hardy Magerko, who still serves as President and Owner.
In November 2006, Falling Rock hotel at Nemacolin received AAA Five Diamond status. Falling Rock is the only hotel in Western Pennsylvania to receive AAA's highest honor, and retained five diamond status for 2008 in November 2007. Also in 2007, Lautrec - a fine dining experience with French flair located inside Nemacolin's Chateau LaFayette hotel - became the first new restaurant in Pennsylvania in 13 years to receive AAA Five Diamond status for 2008. Lautrec is the only restaurant between Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
and Chicago, Illinois to have received AAA's highest honor. In November 2010 Falling Rock received a Five Star rating from the Forbes Mobile Travel Guide making Nemacolin Woodlands Resort one of only 6 resorts in the world to have both Forbes-Mobile Five Star and AAA Five Diamond for both lodging and dining.
Expansion
Joe Hardy promptly set about developing Nemacolin Woodlands into a world-class resort, expanding the TudorTudorbethan architecture
The Tudor Revival architecture of the 20th century , first manifested itself in domestic architecture beginning in the United Kingdom in the mid to late 19th century based on a revival of aspects of Tudor style. It later became an influence in some other countries, especially the British colonies...
-style Lodge, and building an annex of 68 rooms, together with a Conference Center and new lobbies. In the time since Hardy purchased the resort, major changes have been made to the former hunting club. Now sitting on almost 3,000 acres (12 km²), the following major additions have been made to the resort:
- 1987 - The Woodlands Golf Academy
- 1988 - The Woodlands Spa opened. Soon afterward, the Gazebo, Lake P.J., and the Panorama Pavilion were constructed.
- 1989 - The Lodge Annex was followed by the Townhouses on the Links.
- 1991 - The Grand Ballroom addition to the Woodlands Executive Conference Center was completed.
- 1992 - The Tavern and the Caddy Shack restaurants, Equestrian Center, Fallingbrook miniature golf course opened. Ground breaking for the Mystic Rock golf course that was designed by international designer Pete DyePete DyePaul B. "Pete" Dye is a world-renowned golf course designer and a member of a famous family of course designers. He is married to fellow designer and former amateur champion Alice Dye.-Early life:Pete Dye was born in Urbana, Ohio...
. - 1995 - Paradise Pool, a US$2 million dollar larger-than-Olympic-size pool built to resemble pools from the Riviera and Hawaii. Also Mystic Mountain, a downhill ski area, an activities center, and Heritage Court, the resort's 55000 sq ft (5,109.7 m²) shopping arcade.
- 1997 - Chateau LaFayette, modeled after the grand hotels of Europe, the French renaissance-style Chateau offers 125 guest rooms and suites.
- 2004 - Falling Rock features 42 rooms with 24-hour butler service and was designed by David Merritt, a student of Frank Lloyd WrightFrank Lloyd WrightFrank Lloyd Wright was an American architect, interior designer, writer and educator, who designed more than 1,000 structures and completed 500 works. Wright believed in designing structures which were in harmony with humanity and its environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture...
's at TaliesinTaliesinTaliesin was an early British poet of the post-Roman period whose work has possibly survived in a Middle Welsh manuscript, the Book of Taliesin...
, who drew inspiration from Wright's FallingwaterFallingwaterFallingwater or Kaufmann Residence is a house designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright in 1935 in rural southwestern Pennsylvania, 50 miles southeast of Pittsburgh...
, located about 20 minutes from Nemacolin Woodlands. - 2005 – Woodlands Spa is expanded, adding 12 treatment rooms. Horizon Point meeting facility opens. Nemacolin ventures into downtown Uniontown with the opening of 30 East Main restaurant and the Nemacolin Collection designer clothing stores.
- 2006 – Woodlands World Outdoor Store moves to downtown Uniontown. Wildlife habitats are built, bringing black bears, elk, emus, Patagonian Cayvees, Australian wallabies, and zebra to the resort. Dogsledding is added as a winter adventure offering. The Golden Trout restaurant is closed, and reopens after a total interior and menu renovation as Autumn.
- 2007 – Marks the 20th anniversary of Nemacolin Woodlands Resort. The Marina at Paige’s Beach opens as the new location for paddleboats, kayaking and canoeing. The Canoe Museum – located at Paige’s Beach – opens. Equestrian Center becomes new Wildlife Academy. Buffalos join the mix of Nemacolin’s wildlife habitats – including a very rare, solid white buffalo.
- 2009 - The WildSide bowling arcade was added in the former woodlands world location
- 2011 - Nemacolin Woodlands received a license to operate 600 slot machines and 28 table games. The gaming facility is expected to open in 2012.
Golf
Nemacolin Woodlands became host to PGA TourPGA Tour
The PGA Tour is the organizer of the main men's professional golf tours in the United States and North America...
event the 84 Lumber Classic
84 Lumber Classic
The 84 Lumber Classic was an golf tournament on the PGA Tour from 2000 to 2006. The event's title sponsor was lumber company 84 Lumber. The host course from 2003 to 2006, Nemacolin Woodlands Resort in Farmington, Pennsylvania, was owned by 84 Lumber founder Joseph Hardy.-History of the 84 Lumber...
in 2003. Contested on Nemacolin's Mystic Rock golf course, the event had a successful run at the resort before coming to an end in 2006. The four winners of the 84 Lumber Classic tournaments held on Mystic Rock at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort were:
- 2003 J. L. LewisJ. L. LewisJohn Lee "J.L." Lewis is an American professional golfer. He has won twice on the PGA Tour: the John Deere Classic in 1999, and the 84 Lumber Classic in 2003. In 1999 he won the Honda Invitational in Guadalajara, Mexico. In 2010, Lewis earned a spot on the Champions Tour after placing well on the...
- 2004 Vijay SinghVijay SinghVijay Singh, CF , nicknamed "The Big Fijian", is a Fijian professional golfer who was Number 1 in the Official World Golf Rankings for 32 weeks in 2004 and 2005. He has won three major championships and was the leading PGA Tour money winner in 2003, 2004 and 2008...
- 2005 Jason GoreJason GoreJason William Gore is an American professional golfer.Gore was born in Van Nuys, California. He first attended the University of Arizona before transferring to Pepperdine University. While at Pepperdine, he was part of their NCAA Division I Championship team in 1997. He also played on the...
- 2006 Ben CurtisBen Curtis (golfer)Ben Clifford Curtis is an American professional golfer best known for winning the 2003 Open Championship.-Early career:Curtis was born in Columbus, Ohio and grew up in Ostrander, Ohio. His family runs the , also in Ostrander...
Shortly after the 2004 84 Lumber Classic, Nemacolin Woodlands Resort broke ground on what golfer Vijay Singh dubbed, "the greatest clubhouse in America" - Falling Rock. In 2007, Falling Rock received the prestigious Five Diamond Award rating from the American Automobile Association (AAA).
On June 18, 2007, Nemacolin Woodlands Resort hosted the Mystic Rock Celebrity Pro-Am, a charity benefit for the CFFC (Community Foundation of Fayette County). Teams of three sponsors were paired with a PGA Tour golfer or celebrity athlete. PGA Tour pros Jason Gore and Pat Perez
Pat Perez
Patrick P. Perez is an American professional golfer.Perez was born in Phoenix, Arizona and is of Mexican American descent. He experienced his first PGA Tour victory in 2009 at the Bob Hope Classic...
were in attendance, plus baseball Hall of Famer Bill Mazeroski
Bill Mazeroski
William Stanley Mazeroski , nicknamed "Maz", is a former Major League Baseball player who spent his entire career with the Pittsburgh Pirates...
, Pittsburgh Steelers
Pittsburgh Steelers
The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The team currently belongs to the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Founded in , the Steelers are the oldest franchise in the AFC...
quarterback Charlie Batch
Charlie Batch
Charles "Charlie" Batch is an American football quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Detroit Lions in the second round of the 1998 NFL Draft...
, and other athletes from the Steelers and Pittsburgh Penguins
Pittsburgh Penguins
The Pittsburgh Penguins are a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the first expansion teams during the league's original...
.