What makes it unforgettable, from the moment you walk in the door, is color AND pattern - everywhere and in abundance - on floors, walls and ceilings. Imagine Lily Pulitzer on steroids and you'll get the general idea. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
In 1778 this resort's sulphur springs offered the cure for its first guests, it closed for the Civil War and was then purchased by the C&O Railway who named it the Greenbriar Hotel. Used as an army hospital in WWII, it was then repurchased by the C&O, who in 1946, gave Dorothy Draper 18 months to transform it. Inclusive of everything from rooms, to uniforms and china, it was the largest redecoration of an American hotel ever undertaken. Architectural Digest declared the end result to be Dorothy Draper's Masterpiece - the Greenbriar had been "Draperized". For fifteen years, Draper personally continued to oversee its design. In the 1960's Carleton Varney joined her firm and has guided the resort's Draperized look ever since.
Being met outside this statuesque, white pillared entrance by black groomsmen gives one pause and a glimpse into a time you thought to be long gone. Throw in a well recognized spa, golf, croquet, tennis, trout fishing, skeet, off roading and a half a dozen in-house restaurants, all in a beautifully landscaped, mountainous setting and you will feel transported into a unique, otherworldly place where somehow it all works. Oh, and of course there is the US government bunker which was secretly built built in1959 and was active until the Cold War's end in 1992. Really.
Want an escape from the ordinary? Can't get enough Lilly P? Then the Greenbriar is for you. But hurry. It has survived bankruptcy and is now owned by West Virginia entrepreneur Jim Justice. Who knows how long this unique ode to color will survive? Catch it while you can.
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