Bedford Springs: a classic trek into the past
Like my friend and colleague John Nelson, I like to engage in sports. John’s passion is for skiing in the winter and hiking/biking the rest of the year. In contrast, I prefer golf whenever I have the opportunity to play it.
Of course, when I use the verb “play” I have to admit that I’m stretching the truth. I’m more likely to describe my abilities this way: I go out on a golf course and swing at balls, some of which go in the actual direction that I intended.
In the unofficial company tournament that I was a founding part of, The Spokesman-Review’s annual Wet Dog Fur Open, I was someone no one wanted on their team … not unless they wanted to vie for the trophy that went to the worst foursome (I proudly own two such trophies).
So imagine my discomfort when my wife arranged for us to play a round on the course attached to the Bedford Springs Resort & Spa. The first hole went OK, even if my bogey putt didn’t drop. But then I faced hole No. 2, and …
But that’s getting ahead of myself. And it’s not really what I want to write about. I’m more interested in the resort itself. Located in eastern Pennsylvania, it sits just outside the town of Bedford, some 107 miles east of Pittsburgh. We went there as part of an ancestry trip that Mary Pat and I made with her sister Jean and her husband Steve, a trek that I wrote about previously.
Bedford Springs is one of those old-fashioned hotel resorts that still exist around the U.S. In fact, you can find it listed among what are considered to be the top 25 Historic Hotels of America.
Like most of the places on that list, Bedford Springs has a storied past. It was founded in the early 19th century to take advantage of the area’s mineral springs that the local Indian tribes (mostly bands of Shawnee) traditionally used. When a white doctor named John Anderson learned of the springs’ supposed curative powers, he built an inn in 1806 to attract (and then accommodate) those interested in what was considered to be a natural form of healing.
By 1817, the resort was on its way to becoming the facility of today. Anderson, who died in 1840, hired the same architect who had designed nearby Bedford’s courthouse in Greek Revival style. His name was Solomon Filler, and it was Filler’s similar design that became the resort’s trademark Colonnade Building, construction of which was completed in 1843.
Anderson’s creation was an immediate hit. Framed by open-air porches, and with a statue of Hygeia – the Greek goddess of health, cleanliness and hygiene – set on the front lawn, the resort inspired one 1846 visitor to dub the resort “a palace in the wilderness … where nature in her grandeur and sublimity is so closely connected with the embellishment of art.”
A couple of years later, the resort received a positive review from no less than President James Polk. Visiting in August 1848, Polk – though no poet – wrote in his diary, “(T)he walk and grounds are neat and well shaded, and everything about the establishment has the appearance of comfort. There is a great difference between the hot and sultry atmosphere of Washington and this place.”
By 1855 the Bedford Mineral Springs Association was founded, and the marketing efforts grew. Barrels and bottles of the local water were distributed around the country, and tourists continued to come. Another president, James Buchanan, actually made the resort his “Summer White House.” A friend of Abraham Lincoln’s, Walter Davis, was staying at the resort when he wrote a letter to Lincoln – then still just a presidential candidate – that “there are many politicians at the springs who all agree that you will be our next president.”
Renovations, rebuilding and the inclusion of the golf course (in 1895) and other attractions continued into the 20th century. With the coming of the Depression, the resort, similar to many other businesses, fell onto hard times. But it endured, through World War II when it served as a training facility, and by 1950 had been revived enough with air conditioning to open year-round.
A 1983 flood damaged the buildings, but a year later the resort was listed on the National Register of Historic Places – and in 1991 became a National Historic Landmark. Closed for two years in 1996, the resort – now part of the Omni Hotels & Resorts group – underwent yet another renovation and reopened in 2007.
What you’ll find today are 216 guest rooms (some with spas), three different dining rooms (plus a bar and a coffee shop), a fitness center, two swimming pools and the 30,000-foot Springs Eternal Spa, hiking trails … and the golf course.
Which brings us back to our own golfing venture. After enduring the first hole, and that missed putt that earned me a double bogey, we arrived at Hole No. 2 – only to be faced with the intimidating view of a par 3 set atop what looked to me like a small mountain. The scorecard said it was only 140 yards, but it looked like I was going to have to climb up a mini-Mount Everest to reach the green
At this point I could lie the way people who fish do, talking about the size of the one that got away. But, no, let’s just dub what happened next, no surprise, the kind of disaster that makes a double bogey look good.
I reflected on that while nursing a beer later that night. The Pennsylvania air was cool, and I had to don a hoodie to deal with the chill. But the fact that we were sitting out on the resort’s front lawn in front of a blazing fire pit made the moment worth it.
Looking for a quote to end this post, I found an appropriate one from the late, great baseball player Hank Aaron. “It took me seventeen years to get three thousand hits in baseball,” Aaron supposedly said. “It took one afternoon on the golf course.”
Well said, brother Aaron. Well said.