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| Pinehurst |
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ome to many of the world’s most famous golf courses, Pinehurst has hosted more than its fair share of national tournaments – most recently, the 2005 U.S. Open Championship at Pinehurst No. 2. (It will return in 2014.) Collectively, the communities of Pinehurst, Southern Pines, and Aberdeen have long enjoyed the distinction of being premier golf destinations.
Pine Needles Lodge in Southern Pines was the site of the 1996, 2001 and 2007 Women’s U.S. Open Championship. Southern Pines is home to such great courses as Mid Pines and Pine Needles, owned and operated by Peggy Kirk Bell, women’s golf pioneer.
The official geographic designation is “Sandhills.” With a mild climate (the average July high temperature is 79 degrees), 756 holes of golf and an area that’s home to everything from native wildlife to million-dollar homes, this chunk of south-central North Carolina has come a long way from the days when Scottish immigrants moved inland from the Cape Fear River.
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orses were at the center of early resort life, used along with mules in the construction of the golf courses, or to pick up resort guests at the railroad station. The Pinehurst Race Track (circa 1915) was the winter home of polo ponies, hunters and running horses. The Village of Pinehurst has purchased the 111-acre training facility so that the winter training of trotters and pacers will continue to be a part of its tradition.
Pinehurst has hosted a series of national tournaments for more than 100 years. The North and South Amateur Championships, which began in Pinehurst in 1901, are the longest consecutively-running golf championships in the country. Combine that with the luxury of the Pinehurst Resort – its eight golf courses make it the world’s largest golf resort – and you can see why the region is visited by golf’s elite. This is also an area with a profound appreciation of history, nature and the arts.
Community planners are working together throughout the small communities in Moore County to plan for the influx of high-ranking military families moving to the area as a result of the expansion of Fort Bragg. The quality of life is also attracting younger families, increasing the diversity and inter-generational appeal of these towns.
Donald and Marion Kerver moved from Cleveland to Whispering Pines, a small community just outside of Pinehurst, and have had no regrets.
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If you'd rather embrace the present than scour the past,
Moore County enjoys a flourishing arts community.
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“We had been down on vacations with other couples who had condominiums here and liked the area so much, we bought property,” says Mr. Kerver. “We wanted to get away from the weather.” Mrs. Kerver plays golf and volunteers with the Pinehurst, Southern Pines, Aberdeen Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, while her husband enjoys the weather for gardening as well as the numerous cultural events offered at nearby Sandhills Community College. “And when we want to see a Broadway show or do some big shopping, it’s not even an hour’s drive to Raleigh,” he says.
Antique shopping is an art in the area, in part because of stores in nearby Aberdeen, Cameron and Carthage. It’s not unusual to see visitors snooping through cozy shops, looking for the perfect period piece. Southern Pines also thrives as a shopping and dining destination. And Moore County enjoys a flourishing arts community, with more than 2,500 residents involved in the Arts Council. The Weymouth Center in Southern Pines, a restored mansion once owned by novelist James Boyd, is now a center for the arts and humanities, as well as a writer-in-residence program and the N.C. Literacy Hall of Fame.
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To golfing enthusiasts and folks interested in an active retirement
area, the Pinehurst-Southern Pines-Aberdeen area is like Treasure
Island.
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For those who prefer fair gardens to fairways, the Sir Walter Raleigh Historical Garden is located at the Sandhills Community College, which is revered as having one of the best horticulture and turf management programs in the country. In fact, many students have gone on to work at such showplaces as New York’s Central Park and Biltmore Estates. And for sports lovers, there’s life beyond the fairway as well.
The rolling hills around Pinehurst, Southern Pines and Aberdeen are used to train Olympic bicycle teams and are home to five past Olympic equestrian champions.
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Chick Jacobs is a writer from Fayetteville, NC.
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Linda Ray is a freelance writer
living in Raleigh. A former reporter for the Greenville (SC) News, the
Triangle Business Journal and Success Magazine, Ray also is
an award-winning journalist. She currently works for a number of publications,
including Business North Carolina, Business Leader and The Independent.
A native Michigander, she looks forward to eventually retiring in the Asheville area
and opening her own gift shop. She graduated from Norfolk State University in
Virginia, where she also did a stint with the Virginia-Pilot.
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