WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS W.Va. (Hinton News) – Editor’s note: Each week, William Jones, a local history collector, discusses pieces from his collection and their historical significance. In this edition of A peek into Summers County’s Past, Jones talks about a connection between The Greenbrier Resort and Summers County.
Since Veterans Day was Nov. 11, I felt compelled to write about something military-related to Summers County. The Greenbrier is over 30 miles from the county line but, oddly enough, has incidental ties to it. First, I will briefly delve into the over two centuries of this resort in White Sulphur Springs history.
The Greenbrier’s began in 1778 when the first guests came to White Sulphur Springs to partake of the waters thought to have medicinal properties and restore their health. By the time the 1830’s rolled around The Greenbrier was already booming and had guests from every part of life. This included judges, lawyers, publishers, diplomats, planters, shopkeepers to well-known politicians of the day.
Five sitting presidents had traveled and stayed at The Greenbrier by the 1860s. The resort could only be reached by way of stagecoach, and it was only the cottages at that time. Several of which are still in use today. The resort’s reputation as a prominent high-season meeting place of some of the nation’s top socialites was set before the Civil War.
The mid to late 1800s brought about a greater influx of guests after the construction of the C&O Railroad opened the resort’s doors to the nation. Its ability to handle such an increase of guests from the newly formed railroad was made feasible by the addition of “The Old White” in 1858. It soon became the leading social destination of America after this very large hotel was completed in addition to the existing cottages. It was capable of accommodating upwards of 1,800 guests in a season.
In 1910, the C&O Railway acquired the property and the “new” Greenbrier Hotel. It opened on Oct. 1, 1913. The Old White golf course was then redesigned in 1914. Typical of the “roaring 20s,” business boomed, and thousands of guests came from all of the largest cities around the country by rail. The Greenbrier’s distinction as a golf destination was further increased when Sam Snead, a professional golfer was employed by The Greenbrier in 1936.
The 1940s brought a new chapter to The Greenbrier when the U.S. Army acquired the hotel after the U.S. State Department had leased the hotel complex for seven months to house diplomats from various countries. The U.S. Army purchased the hotel after 1941 and turned it into a 2,000-bed hospital to be used by soldiers who were injured in WWll. Its name was Ashford General Hospital. 24,148 soldiers were admitted and treated during its four years of operation as a war hospital.
I am sure there were many others from Summers County, but one of these soldiers was Elmo Davis from Ballengee. The locals like my grandfather Bernard Thompson, who had known him since they were children always referred to Davis as “Elmo”. Davis is best known for his store that he ran near Oak Grove Church. The store had a long history of owners, Its first owner was a man by the name of L.C. “Losee” Davis. The date of construction is not known. It was then run by Whitlock who long practiced the bartering system with butter and eggs provided by the women of the community. Then came Frank and Bonnie Nelson who later owned and ran what is now The John Henry Museum in Talcott. It was later owned by Buddy Light and run by his brother Jack. Light sold it to Elmo and Gertie Davis who carried on its operation for many years.
Davis’s parents were Lomer and Allie Davis. Elmo spent quite a long time in the hospital. He would hitchhike back to Ballengee, where he would stay until he was called back for yet another surgery to be performed. He received new and cutting-edge surgery, unheard of in the 1940s in White Sulphur Springs. He had a bone missing in his arm after an injury he received in the service. Bone from his leg was “grafted” in his arm. He had to make numerous trips and stays at Ashford for this procedure to be completed. John Hendricks of Ballangee, who is 85 now and is Elmo’s nephew recently told me that as a child he would go to the store to get his hair cut for just a “pennies on the dollar.” Storekeepers during that time wore many hats in small communities, in this case, the local barber.
Following the war ownership of The Greenbrier was returned to the railroad, Dorthy Draper, who was known for her lively colors, excessive patterns, lavish wallpapers, spectacular furnishings and marble floors during the time was hired to revamp the look and feel of the hotel. Soon, the “Draper Style,” as it became known, was carried on by her successor, Carleton Varney, until he passed away in 2022. I had the great pleasure of meeting Mr Varney in 2014 when my mother and I were organizing The John Henry Museum Restoration Gala. We had a little chat on the street outside of a shop in Lewisburg, which led to him mailing me four bottles of his home fragrance to be auctioned off in the silent auction we were holding.
The first photo in this series is of the store building, as it always looked when I was growing up and was torn down in 2016. I remember always admiring this old building, wondering what was inside of it and the vintage gas pumps that stood in front of it. After it was torn down the Ballengee Farm Club and Neighborhood Association, Inc., which I am a member of built a little community park where the building had stood.
Next is the antique circa 1900 crock jug with a stopper that reads “White Sulphur Springs West Virginia” in Old English font. There are many artifacts from The Greenbrier but in all of my decades of “willing and dealing” in antiques and local memorabilia I had never seen one of these. It was used to promote the water from the spring that it held. The commemorative coin in the holder is a 1938 Anniversary Metal of Greenbrier County. It reads, “Greenbrier County 160th Anniversary 1778 – 1938”. It was dug up by Gemma Leftwich in her yard on James Street in Hinton in the 1990s. It has an image of The Greenbrier reverse stamped on the back side of it. You can not help but wonder how it ended up in Hinton in the 1930s.
The stereoview card is a rare pre-June 20, 1863 card depicting the famous spring house at The Greenbrier. I say pre because the card says, “White Sulphur Springs, Va.” So this card is from when Greenbrier County was still part of Virginia before breaking away when West Virginia was formed on June 20, 1863. The little spoons and fork you see here have the famous spring house stamped on the handle and “The Greenbrier” stamped on the reverse of the handles. My grandmother, Bea Thompson, acquired them while working there in the 1940s.
All sides of my family have a long history of having been employed at The Greenbrier from the 1900s to the present. Many of them were residents of Summers County. I have a few other artifacts from The Greenbrier and see others pop up from time to time, but the ones I am showing here are my favorite and certainly the oldest I have seen. I have never run across anything else like the card that predates West Virginia becoming a state.
If you have a story about the area’s past to share, send an email to news@hintonnews.com.
This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.