The summer of 2013 marks the 100th anniversary of an incredible event in the history of Lake Toxaway: socialite Lucy Camp Armstrong lived in a tent for an entire summer in order to build a home that today is The Greystone Inn.
Lucy and her husband, George Armstrong, a prominent Savannah
businessman, had vacationed in Lake Toxaway for several summers, staying at the
well-known Toxaway Inn alongside the Rockefellers, Fords, Firestones, and
others. As the story goes, Lucy had
become so enamored with the area that she asked her husband to build a vacation
home on the shores of Lake
Toxaway. In what is assumed to be an effort to deter
her, he suggested that she select an ideal spot and camp out all summer before making
a final decision.
In the summer of 1913, Lucy chose a rocky knoll on a short
peninsula on the western shoreline of Lake Toxaway for her home site, and
proceeded to “camp” in true style. She
started by having a hardwood floor built, then covered it with a 2,000 square
foot tent, and completed her camp by setting up a smaller tent next door to
house her favorite 11 servants.
True to his word, George built a lake home on that very spot,
which was completed in 1915. Lucy
herself laid out the original structure, with board and batten siding stained
grey with white trim and details similar to Swiss chalets she had seen on her
trips to Europe. The 40-acre estate would include stables, tennis courts, and a
swimming pool, as well as orchards and a vegetable garden.
However, Lucy’s beautiful view of the lake did not last
long. Just one year after her home was finished, torrential rains caused the
Lake Toxaway dam to burst, which emptied the lake and ended the steady stream
of vacationers. The Toxaway Inn closed
its doors at the end of the season, never to reopen.
Undeterred, Lucy continued to visit her mountain home, and
after her husband’s death in 1924, made Lake Toxaway
her permanent residence. Ever the hostess, she loved entertaining visitors and
expanded the home over the years to include a larger dining room and sunroom, a
kitchen wing with upstairs bedrooms, and a freestanding library with a
downstairs cooking and canning room completed in 1932.
After Reg Heinitsh Sr., rebuilt the dam and restored the
lake in the 1960s, Lucy sold the mansion to him to become the original country
club and moved to a smaller home across the lake where she would live until her
death in 1970.
When a new clubhouse was built in the early 1980s, Reg
Heinitsh, Jr. and Tim Lovelace formed a partnership to convert the home into
The Greystone Inn. The 17 guest rooms of the mansion are uniquely appointed
with antiques and period reproductions; the inn also has 14 more modern rooms
in the adjacent Hillmont and Lakeside buildings. In addition to the same serene
setting that attracted Lucy a century ago, guests of The Greystone Inn enjoy
gracious service, incredible dining, and a full array of resort amenities on
the lake and through the neighboring Lake Toxaway Country Club.
Fifteen years ago the inn added a beautiful 26-passenger
mahogany launch that takes guests out each afternoon for champagne and stories. She is appropriately named the Miss Lucy. General Manager Clark
Lovelace captains most of these cruises and notes Lucy’s importance to the inn:
“I love the story about Lucy camping out for the summer and share it frequently
with our guests. We consider ourselves
lucky to have had her play such a prominent role in Lake Toxaway’s
history. In the end, if it wasn’t for
her, there would be no Greystone Inn.”
For more information on the inn, call (800) 824-5766 or
visit www.greystoneinn.com.
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