FIRST CLASS
Luxuriously Rustic
Embrace nature - and the good life- at Virginia's Primland Resort.
BY Stephen Brown
In Appalachia there is a special affinity between the people and the land, harkening back to a time when Appalachee, Cherokee and Blackfoot tribes roamed the range stretching from Alabama to Newfoundland. Nestled along the spine of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Primland Resort holds true to the soulful permeance of this ancient mountain range. A 14,000-acre parcel of land, Primland stretches from peak to peak, looking over an untouched valley carved by the Dan River.
The land of the Primland Resort has a rather circuitous history, with signs of habitation dating back as far as 12,000 BCE. It was later settled by European immigrants for agricultural purposes (tobacco being the staple crop) and even saw a brief stint as a moonshiners’ paradise during those pesky days of Prohibition. In 1977, Frenchman Didier Primat fell in love with the idea of owning a piece of the American wilderness and purchased the parcel of land to use for logging. But by 1986, with the natural beauty and native game being so plentiful, Primat shifted activities from logging to a recreational resort, building mountainside cabins and opening his preserve to wing shooting and wild game hunting. With the opening of the Highlands Course golf course in 2006 and the Lodge in August of 2009, Primland Resort has become one of the top luxury resorts of the Blue Ridge.
Sculpted along the rim of the mountains, the Highland Course offers 18 holes of some of the most visually stimulating yet technically daunting golf on the East Coast. Designed by golf course architect Donald Steel, the Highland Course is an homage to golf’s roots, playing a picturesque partner to the highlands of Scotland, where the rough is thick with natural variable and wildlife always plays through.
The newest jewel of the Primland Resort is the Lodge, which resembles a Swiss ski resort more than a Blue Ridge hunting lodge. The great room’s dual fireplaces are tall enough to walk through, and the slate and wormwood accents give subtle reminders of the region’s makeup. The 26 guest suites give new meaning to the term “roughing it.” With plush furnishings and a modern, Euro-chic design, you will be hard pressed to find a more luxurious chalet.
The restaurant Elements accentuates the naturalistic vibe of the resort with a menu steeped in local cuisine. In the able hands of Executive Chef Andrea Griffith, menu selections change daily with a breakfast relying heavily on seasonal fruits, and a dinner menu consisting of three multiple-course tasting menus, giving diners a new appreciation for Virginia’s epicurean scene. The Columbia River sturgeon always is a crowd pleaser.
When guests are not enjoying the cuisine or picturesque views, the Lodge offers full spa treatments with a twist of European tradition, showing that a day of pampering is not just a perk of a beach resort. But for a truly unique experience the lodge has a one-in-a-kind eye on the sky. On the north end of the Lodge is a tower that looks like a large grain silo. But as the spinning roof yawns open, murmurs of “Also Sprach Zarathustra” from Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey begin to play in your head, as the probing eye of a telescope begins to translate the whisperings of the stars. The Observatory broadcasts its dazzling finds throughout the resort with a live video feed. www.primland.com
