This article, by the late Bill Jones first appeared in The Pilot in 1995.

James Walker Tufts, the Boston philanthropist and soda fountain magnate, was a genius before his time and proved so when he bought 6,000 acres of land in 1895 for $1 an acre.

For the first six months after Tufts purchased the now legendary 6,000 acres of land, the area was known as Tuftstown. The name was changed to Pinehurst after a contest was held to rename the land.

To design the Village of Pinehurst, Tufts hired the renowned firm of Olmsted, Olmsted and Elliott and unleashed the imagination of Frederick Law Olmstead on the design and layout of the town of Pinehurst and its outskirts.

Olmsted was a nationally known designer who was also responsible for the design layout of Central Park and various other national landmarks.

Within a year of purchasing the land to be known as Pinehurst, James Walker Tufts had directed the completion of a general store, dairy, boarding house, more than 20 cottages and the magnificent wooden structure to be known as the Holly Inn. The Holly Inn opened officially in January of 1896 after hundreds of construction workers laboriously completed the massive structure in less than eight months and made it resemble all the finery of a New England hotel.

When the Holly Inn was opened, the Pinehurst Outlook reported that the grand hotel was "equipped with electric lights, steam heat, open fireplaces, telephones, solarium, billiard room, orchestra, central courtyard, elegant furniture, carpeting and unsurpassed cuisine served by carefully selected New England girls."

Guests soon flocked from the North, and especially the Boston area, via Southern Air Line Railroad to Southern Pines and then were driven to the Holly by a trolley that stopped in front of the town’s first hotel. Indeed, it was definitely first-class service even before the turn of the century.

Pinehurst was a popular vacation spot for Northerners who wanted to explore the newborn lands in and around North Carolina. Northerners came to Pinehurst to escape the wintry climate, and with the influence and advertising of James Walker Tufts, they filled the 200-room Holly Inn and probably danced late into the night with the advertised "orchestra" and most certainly didn’t disrupt the duties of the "carefully selected New England girls."

The Carolina Hotel, now known as the Pinehurst Hotel, was opened in 1901, only three years after the first nine holes of golf became available in Pinehurst. Riding, hunting, polo, bowling, bicycling, archery, tennis and dancing were the staples of entertainment during a stay in Pinehurst, and the elegant pine trees proved to be a major selling point for the growing resort.

It’s interesting to note that the first two tennis courts in Pinehurst were adjacent to the Holly Inn.

Growth Of Pinehurst

Controversy came to Pinehurst as early as 1898, when the first nine holes of golf were open and Northerners arrived in Pinehurst with turn-of-the-century wooden-shafted clubs known as niblicks, brassies and mashies.

Amidst the herd of cows that were being raised for milk and meat, rowdy tourists were seen in the cow pastures with golf clubs, hitting golf balls and upsetting the cows to a point where they refused to give milk.

Locals were outraged by the series of events and wanted to put a stop to any more holes of golf being constructed in their tranquil town.

James Walker Tufts put his head together with Dr. LeRoy Culver, who designed the original nine golf holes in Pinehurst, and immediately began construction of another nine holes, with the hope that it would keep the tourists and golf fanatics from venturing into the cow pastures.

It would also be in 1898 that James Walker Tufts met Scottish-born Donald Ross in a chance meeting in Boston and hired him to come to Pinehurst and survey the situation.

Ross would talk Tufts into rapidly finishing the second nine holes of golf in Pinehurst and would also convince Tufts that another 18-hole course, to be known as Pinehurst No. 2, should be built.

In 1901, Ross reworked the Pinehurst No. 1 golf course layout and contracted to have the first clubhouse built.

By the fall of 1901, Ross already had the first nine holes of the No. 2 course in place. He added nine more holes that completed the layout in 1907.

After the first playing of the North and South Amateur Championship in 1901, two major complaints were once again filed by the local townspeople, who were once again irate about the game of golf. As history will detail, the contestants in the North and South were accused of scaring the horses that pulled the buggies with their golf shots, and the townspeople claimed that the local stags were being hit by errant golf balls and were being scared into the woods.

But, what of all this fuss about disturbing a few horses and scaring a few stags? The North and South Amateur and the North and South Open for professionals that began in 1902 was started to help ease the animosity that still existed following the War Between the States which had ended some 30 years ago.

Bostonian Henry Haynie was the chairman of the North and South Amateur, and he wrote about its inception as follows:

"In union there is strength, and ever since Confederate Lt. Gen. Joe Wheeler and Gen. Robert E. Lee, last of the ‘rebel’ Army, were taken up and placed among the nation’s heroes, the feeling has existed with those who play the ancient and royal game of golf that some such tournament as this was absolutely necessary for the continued preservation of the Union."

And since the beginning of the North and South Amateur Championship, when George C. Dutton won the first event, things have healed between the North and the South and locals are no longer afraid of golfers — and the wildlife in Pinehurst has been well preserved.

And, oh, by the way: Some fine amateurs such as Harvie Ward, Frank Stranahan, Curtis Strange, Francis Ouimet, Billy Joe Patton and Bill Campbell have captured the prestigious title, which is among the oldest amateur crowns in the United States. In fact, the North and South Amateur Championship is the oldest continuous amateur golf tournament in the United States.