Pinehurst North Carolina

Pinehurst North Carolina

Pinehurst had a population of 9,706 people in the year 2000, nearly double its population in 1990. Many of these new residents come from across the country, if not the world, to settle in this "village in the forest". When asked what brought them here, many cited ambiance, community character and spirit as their reasons for choosing the area. If the current rate of about 230 new homes being built each year continues on the remaining vacant lots, our population may again double by the year 2020.

Looking for a place with a healthy atmosphere to build a health-orientated resort, James Walker Tufts (head of the America Soda Foundation) stopped in the Sandhills area in the spring of 1895. Despite the fact that the area had been almost completely clear-cut by the timber industry, something about this area moved him, and in June 1895, he bought 598 acres of land for nearly $1.25 per acre around what is now the Village Center.

On June 20, 1895, Tufts contacted Frederick Law Olmsted, the designer of Central Park in New York and the landscape designer of the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina, to help him create a first-rate resort. That summer, with the new plan in hand, 450 men began construction on what was originally referred to as "Tuftstown". Tufts selected the name Pinehurst for his resort out of a list of non-winning names for Martha' s Vineyard.

On New Year's Eve 1895, the Holly Inn opened its doors and Pinehurst was on its way.

Since all of the early buildings of Pinehurst stood on barren land, Tufts hired Warren Manning to plant over 222,000 tree seedling and other plants (47,250 of these were imported from France) around Pinehurst to give the resort the natural beauty we all still enjoy today.

For many years, Pinehurst was a privately held resort under sole proprietorship of the Tufts family. The Tufts family controlled all aspects of the resort and closely monitored all types of activities, including the creation of its first 9-hole golf course in February 1898, and the continued acquisition of more land.

In 1920, a corporate form of ownership was established when a charter for Pinehurst, Inc. was obtained from the North Carolina Secretary of State. Tufts considered incorporating the village as a municipality in 1926, but he felt that a lack of year-round residents and state tax laws would not be able to sustain it.

During the Great Depression, as other resorts began to fail, property owners in Pinehurst agreed to pay more taxes in order to support the resort through the Depression and ensure that it would not fail like the surrounding resorts. During World War II, Pinehurst served as a support area for neighboring Fort Bragg and many servicemen were either residents or visitors.
It was not until 1960 that Pinehurst became a year-round resort with the introduction of air conditioning and swimming pools at the resort facilities. By the late 1960s, however, Pinehurst's days as a paternalistic resort under the Tufts were coming to an end.

Realizing that the resort was 75 years old and in need of significant investment to update and improve the resort facilities, the Tufts heirs sold Pinehurst, Inc., including the resort and approximately 7,500 acres of land, to the Diamondhead Corporation for $9.2 million in January 1971. It was under Diamondhead' s control that the creation and sale of lots with membership rights to the Pinehurst resort facilities began.

Advertisements were placed in newspapers around the country, and people were flown in to play golf and purchase a lot. Lake Pinehurst was created to enhance the residential neighborhood, new recreational improvements were made (including Course Number 6 in the late 1970s), and infrastructure was put into place to support the new development. However, all this activity was not considered to be progress by local residents.

Since Pinehurst was not a full municipality, there were no building inspections, no planning or zoning regulations, and no real means for the concerns of the residents to be acted upon. After several years of debate among residents over whether to seek incorporation as a full municipality or continue to allow Diamondhead to coordinate affairs, it was decided by a majority in 1980 that Pinehurst would function most effectively independently of the Diamondhead Corporation.

In 1980, with a population of 1,746 residents, Pinehurst was granted full incorporation as a municipality and was, for the first time, more than just a privately run resort.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Pinehurst had a population of 9,706 people in the year 2000, nearly double its population in 1990. Many of these new residents come from across the country, if not the world, to settle in this "village in the forest". When asked what brought them here, many cited ambiance, community character and spirit as their reasons for choosing the area. If the current rate of about 230 new homes being built each year continues on the remaining vacant lots, our population may again double by the year 2020.

Source: Pinehurst.NC

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