If you have never been to Lake Toxaway, I
encourage you to go. Look at this view.
Opened in 1903, Lake Toxaway was, and still is, the largest privately held lake in North Carolina. At the turn of the previous centruy, after the lake was built, the inn was built to overlook the lake. The hotel was framed by a wide veranda and outfitted with the most elegant furnishings and modern conveniences available.
A brochure from 1905 states that the Inn had “more than one
hundred rooms en suite.” Some reports claim the Inn had as many as five hundred
rooms. When it opened in 1903, the Toxaway Inn offered the most modern
conveniences, including central heat and private indoor plumbing, long-distance
telephones, elevators, a billiard parlor and bowling alley, and a gazebo for
outdoor concerts.
Beautiful lobby.
Love these old postcards.
Unfortunately, this magnificent inn fell to disrepair after
the Toxaway Company's earthen dam broke in 1916. And without the lake, the
resort dwindled in visitors. The Toxaway
Inn sat empty for years and was dismantled in late 1940's.
Lucy Camp Armstrong of Savannah, Ga., had visited the
Toxaway Inn on vacation with her husband in 1910. When land became available
for sale in 1912, she purchased 40 acres and made plans for building a home. Known as the old Motlz mansion, Lucy's house is now the Greystone Inn at Lake Toxaway.
Because of the trees and the hill, it is hard to get more than just aerial shots of the inn.
Would you just love to have afternoon tea here? This is my kind of room.
Even though it has been many years since I visited the
lake, I have some fond memories and I am planning on visiting again soon. A hidden magnolia in the mountains of western North Carolina.
Visit them on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thegreystoneinn
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