America's grande dames: life is grand at historic hostelries where tradition reigns supreme - Resort Of The Month - National Trust Historic Hotels of America - Directory

Travel America, March-April, 2003 by Randy Mink

Summer activities on the 15,000-acre estate range from golf (27 holes) to mountain biking. In winter The Balsams is one of America's swankest ski hotels.

Just a stone's throw from the Canadian border, The Balsams opened in 1866 as a 25-room inn. As it gradually expanded over the next 50 years, it earned a "blue bloods only" mystique as the resort of choice for the DuPonts, Mellons, and Roosevelts.

Every four years the hotel's Ballot Room grabs national attention when the 30-some voters of Dixville Notch come to vote just after midnight on Election Day to claim the distinction of being the first town in the country to report its choice for president.

Another New Hampshire jewel with a similar pedigree and activities, the Mount Washington Hotel & Resort last year celebrated its 100th year. Situated at the base of 6,288-foot Mount Washington, the highest peak in the Northeast, this great lady sits adjacent to Bretton Woods Mountain Resort and the state's largest alpine ski area.

In the Midwest, nothing compares to the 381-room Grand Hotel, an elongated white temple synonymous with Michigan's Mackinac Island since 1887. Perched on a hill above the Straits of Mackinac, "America's Summer Place" (open from early May through October) appears larger than life. Its 660-foot front porch, a promenade dotted with rocking chairs and festooned with geraniums, is the world's largest, impressing passengers who approach by ferry from Lake Michigan. The car-free island, best explored by bike, foot, or clip-clopping horse carriage, enchants visitors with its fudge shops, antiques stores, and historic sites like Fort Mackinac.

The venerable Broadmoor in Colorado Springs is truly the smartest resort in the Mountain West. An oasis of European style at the foot of Pikes Peak, it opened in 1918 and just completed a $75-million renovation. The Broadmoor is the longest holder of both the prestigious AAA Five-Diamond and Mobil Five-Star awards.

California's most dazzling contribution to America's collection of legendary resorts is the Hotel del Coronado, a mammoth Victorian dowager in the quiet beachside community of Coronado, across the bay from San Diego. A jumble of porches, decks, gables, and towers, "The Del," built mostly by unskilled Chinese laborers in 1887-88, is one of the world's largest wooden structures and has two newer sections closer to the beach. Commanding 31 acres of shoreline, it's the Pacific Coast's largest beach resort.

Director Billy Wilder immortalized the Hotel del Coronado in the 1959 movie "Some Like It Hot," starting Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, and Jack Lemmon

For those of us who value tradition and appreciate historic preservation, it's reassuring to know that America's glorious Gilded Age resorts still glitter after all these years. More than ever, vintage is in vogue.

IF YOU GO

CONTACT THE FOLLOWING GRANDE DAME resorts for information:

* The Balsams Grand Resort Hotel, Dixville Notch, NH 03576-9710; (800) 255-0600; www.thebalsams.com.

* Boca Raton Resort & Club, P.O. Box 5025, Boca Raton, FL 33431-0825; (888) 495-BOCA; www.bocaresort.com.