24 properties nationwide awarded Historic Hotels designation

A total of 24 hotels  were designated this week as Historic Hotels of America. This program of the National Trust for Preservation recognizes and celebrates hotels that are at least 50 years old, have historic significance, and have been designated as a National Historic Landmark or are eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places.

 were designated this week as Historic Hotels of

There are now more than 260 properties on the list.

There are no inductees this year from the Carolinas, but the two-state area already has honorees on the list.

In North Carolina they include:  Haywood Park Hotel, Asheville; The Omni Grove Park Inn, Asheville; Green Park Inn, Blowing Rock; The Carolina Inn, Chapel Hill; The Dunhill Hotel, Charlotte; Old Edwards Inn and Spa, Highlands; The Mast Farm Inn, Valle Crucis; and  Pinehurst Resort, Pinehurst.

In South Carolina, they include: Francis Marion Hotel, Charleston; Kings Courtyard Inn & John Rutledge House Inn, Charleston; Wentworth Mansion, Charleston; and The Westin Poinsett, Greenville.

New to the list: Le Meridian, Tampa, Fla.

Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort, Honolulu

The Drake Hotel, Chicago

Hilton Chicago, Chicago

Hilton Orrington/Evanston, Evanston, Ill.

Seelbach Hilton, Louisville, Ky.

Hilton Baton Rouge Capitol Center, Baton Rouge, La.

Hilton New Orleans/St. Charles Avenue, New Orleans

Southern Hotel, Covington, La.

The Westin Portland Harborview, Portland, Maine

Hilton Boston Downtown/Faneuil Hall, Boston

Hilton President Kansas City, Kansas City, Mo.

Hilton St. Louis Downtown at the Arch, St. Louis

Hilton Santa Fe Historic Plaza, Santa Fe, N.M.

Hilton Manhattan East, New York City

Chateau at the Oregon Caves National Monument, Cave Junction, Ore.

Abraham Lincoln Reading Hotel , Reading, Pa.

Caribe Hilton San Juan, San Juan, Puerto Rico

The Condado Plaza Hilton, San Juan, Puerto Rico

Condado Vanderbilt Hotel, San Juan, Puerto Rico

Hilton Fort Worth (1921) Fort Worth, Texas

Airlie, Warrenton, Va.

Capital Hilton, Washington, D.C.

The Edgewater, Madison, Wis.

The oldest inductee?

Hilton Santa Fe Historic Plaza -- built in 1625. It was originally a colonial hacienda. The photo at the top of this post shows its lobby.

Asheville's Grove Park, Poinsette in Greenville, S.C., named to historic hotels list

                                                  Grove Park Inn (N.C. Tourism photo)

Historic Hotels of America -- an official program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation -- has added 21 more  hotels and resorts to its list. The list includes two noteworthy places in the Carolinas: Asheville's Grove Park Inn and The Poinsett, in Greenville, S.C. 

The program "Identifies quality hotels that have faithfully maintained their historic integrity, architecture and ambiance." Properties also must be at least 50 years old.


The full 2013 inductee list (and the date those properties opened):

American Empress, floating boutique hotels on the Pacific Northwest's Columbia and Snake rivers (19th century)

American Queen, a floating boutique hotel on the Mississippi, Ohio and Tennessee rivers (19th century)

Benbow Inn, Garberville, Calif.  (1926)

Hotel Lana’i, Lana’i City, Hawaii (1923)

Inn at Price Tower, Bartlesville, Okla. (1956)

Inn at Saratoga, Saratoga Springs, N.Y. (1843)

Lake McDonald Lodge, Glacier National Park  (1913)

Ledges Hotel, Hawley, Pa. (1890)

Many Glacier Hotel, Glacier National Park (1915)

Mizpah Hotel, Tonopah, Nev. (1907)

 Moana Surfrider Westin Resort & Spa, Honolulu (1901)

Omni La Costa Resort & Spa, Carlsbad, Calif. (1963)

The Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn Resort & Spa, Sonoma, Calif. (1928)

The Jefferson, Washington, D.C., Washington, D.C. (1923)

The Omni Grove Park Inn, Asheville (1913)

The Omni Homestead Resort, Hot Springs, Va. (1766)

The Sayre Mansion, Bethlehem, Pa. (1858)

The Talbott Hotel, Chicago, Ill. (1927)

The Westin Poinsett, Greenville, S.C., (1925)

Timberline Lodge, Timberline, Ore. (1937)

Tubac Golf Resort & Spa, Tubac, Ariz. (1789)


Places located in the Carolinas already on the full list::

The Dunhill Hotel, Charlotte
Pinehurst Resort, Pinehurst
The Carolina Inn, Chapel Hill
Green Park Inn, Blowing Rock
Mast Farm Inn, Banner Elk
Haywood Park, Asheville
Old Edwards Inn & Spa, Highlands
Francis Marion Hotel, Charleston
Wentworth Mansion, Charleston
Kings Courtyard Inn, Charleston
John Rutledge House, Charleston

If you're familiar with any of these places, you'll get the drift: time-honored elegance.

While the aim of the National Trust for Historic Preservation is to save important buildings, having your property designated by Historic Hotels of America is also good for business: You can find links to all the hotels/inns/resorts 
at http://www.historichotels.org/ and use the "Destinations" link to open up a map showing where these places are located. Zoom in and you'll be able to find links to the individual properties, which are located from Honolulu (The Royal Hawaiian) to the New England coast  (Newagen Seaside Inn, in Southport, Maine); from on Michigan's Mackinac Island (Grand Hotel) to U.S.V.I. (The Buccaneer).

The list includes are more than 240 hotels in all.

If where you stay is an important aspect of where you go, you'll want to check the full lineup.