THE WINTER LAND. WHERE THE SUN DOTH SHINE
Longleaf Pine Land
By VALERIE NICHOLSON
The longleaf pines arc glistening
now in the Sandhills. That's something
you sec happen every fall. In the sum¬
mer, the pine needles are just plain
dark green, but as cooler weather
arrives they take on a sheen like satin
in the sun.
They say it’s a protective oil that
comes to the surface against the cold.
Well, maybe so; but folks who live
there think it’s just because, like every¬
thing else, the longleaf pines know
"the" season" is at hand, and are doing
their decorative best in its honor.
Ever Wonder Why?
Maybe you’ve wondered about
North Carolina’s "winter resort" towns,
to which thousands come every year
to escape northern blasts. While this
state's climate is frequently mild in
winter, everybody knows it can — and
docs — get cold. When it's freezing in
Raleigh and Charlotte, it is really warnf
in Southern Pines and Pinehurst? And
why, if folks arc seeking the sun. don't
they just keep on going south?
The answer lies in the white sandy
soil which gives the Sandhills their
name. Moisture disappears promptly,
leaving no mud. no humidity. It gets
cold all right, but it’s a dry. bracing
cold. Snow and ice seldom stick, and
the golf and winter hunt can go on with
practically no interruption. To New
Englanders accustomed to snow up to
their chests, it’s a balmy little heaven.
It was Irvin S. Cobb who called
North Carolina "a place people pass
through on their way to Florida."
Discoverers of the Sandhills stopped
that business long ago. Their main sell¬
ing point — in which they were dis¬
creetly assisted by the Seaboard Air
Line Railway — was that it was just
an overnight train ride from New York
City. This mattered a lot when Southern
Pines was founded in 1880. and Pine-
hurst. six miles away, in 1899. The
ensuing years have been spent
in building them up into two of the
country's most delectable resorts, to
which today people come by car and
by plane as well as by train. Also
6
today, they’re coming in from all over
North Carolina.
Up until lately, Sandhills resort pro¬
motion was done entirely in the north.
Established as health resorts, the two
towns still attract many who find re¬
lief from various asthmatic and
rheumatic afflictions. Long ago, how¬
ever. emphasis was gradually shifted
to sports and recreation, and the
northerners flocked in in even greater
numbers.
In North Carolina the idea got
abroad that the resorts were just for
the rich, and the "home folks” wouldn't
find a welcome there.
Discovered
It's different now. More and more
Гаг
Heels are finding out what the
visitors from Yankccland have known
all along — that these are two delightful
places, pleasant to live in or to play
in. to spend a week end or open a
business; to honeymoon in. and also
to retire in.
They're finding a warm welcome.
The towns arc set up for hospitality;
the red carpet is out for anyone who
enjoys what they have to offer. These
consist mainly of pleasant climate, a
relaxed and informal atmosphere; good
hotels, food and stores; top-notch golf,
hunting and riding; luxuries for those
who want them, and plenty of free or
average-priced attractions for those
who don’t.
Conventions are doing a great deal
to make the Sandhills towns and their
neighbors better acquainted. Many of
the state’s largest conventions are head¬
quartered at the great Carolina Hotel
in Pinehurst. overflowing into nearby
inns in both the resort towns. The
Carolina, a spacious, rambling, com¬
fortable hotel set in wide, handsomely-
planted lawns, accommodates some
400 guests at a time, while providing
practically everything they might desire
under one roof. With the Pinehurst
Country Club and its four famous
courses just down the road, most of the
conventions schedule a golf tournament
as part of the entertainment.
Southern Pines hotels take on smaller
conventions. Since 1951 its largest re¬
sort hotel has been under lease to the
Air Force. There are a half dozen
others, however, of which only two now
close in the summer. With a long list
of tourist homes, motels, etc., accom¬
modations in practically any desirable
THE STATE. OCTOUCR 31. 1953
