May 6, 2025 • 25 mins
Something I’ve loved about doing this podcast is having the ability to learn more about places that I’ve heard a lot about but have never visited. Places like South County in Rhode Island, South Carolina, Dutchess County New York to name a few. But sometimes I get to speak with someone from a place I’ve literally never heard of.
Today’s conversation takes us on a trip to the mountains of south eastern West Virginia. We’re going to The Greenbrier. AFter doing some research, and having this chat, I find it so hard to believe that I’ve never heard of the Greenbrier before. This five star hotel has hosted major sporting events, hosted pre-season practices for NFL teams and has hosted families for centuries.
This episode was also a demonstration of how my phone is listening to me because right after I recorded this interview I started getting all kinds of ads for The Greenbrier in my social media. I’m not mad about it though. I think my family needs to make a trip west to check it out. It’s only about a 5 hour drive from my house.
With me today is Cam Huffman. He’s the director of public relations at The Greenbrier. Cam grew up around the Greenbrier so he holds a special sense of pride for this American treasure. Hearing him describe the beauty and history of the hotel really stuck with me. I hope you enjoy our conversation.
Today’s conversation takes us on a trip to the mountains of south eastern West Virginia. We’re going to The Greenbrier. AFter doing some research, and having this chat, I find it so hard to believe that I’ve never heard of the Greenbrier before. This five star hotel has hosted major sporting events, hosted pre-season practices for NFL teams and has hosted families for centuries.
This episode was also a demonstration of how my phone is listening to me because right after I recorded this interview I started getting all kinds of ads for The Greenbrier in my social media. I’m not mad about it though. I think my family needs to make a trip west to check it out. It’s only about a 5 hour drive from my house.
With me today is Cam Huffman. He’s the director of public relations at The Greenbrier. Cam grew up around the Greenbrier so he holds a special sense of pride for this American treasure. Hearing him describe the beauty and history of the hotel really stuck with me. I hope you enjoy our conversation.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hey, what's up everybody. Welcome to Delightful Destinations. My name
is Jeff San Pierre and this is episode thirty of
the show. If it's your first time checking out the program, welcome,
I really do appreciate your time. Delightful Destinations the show
that I created so I could talk to representatives from
different locations around the country and learn more about these
beautiful places that are all around us. I am always
(00:24):
looking for an excuse to get away from home, and
I hope this show maybe will help inspire you for
your next excursion. Something I've loved about doing this podcast
is having the ability to learn more about places that
I've heard a lot about, but maybe you've never had
time to visit places like South County and Rhode Island,
South Carolina, as an example, or Dutchess County, New York,
just to name a few. But sometimes I get to
(00:44):
speak with someone from a place that I've literally never
heard of, and that's what today's conversation is all about.
We're heading on a trip to the mountains of southeastern
West Virginia. We're going to the Greenbrier. After doing some
research and having this chat, I find it kind of
hard to believe that I've never heard of the Greenbrier before.
This place sounds fascinating. It's a five star hotel that
has hosted major sporting events, hosted preseason practices for NFL teams,
(01:07):
and its hosted families for centuries. This episode was also
a demonstration of how my phone is listening to me,
because right after I recorded this interview, I started getting
all kinds of ads for the Greenbrier in my social media.
I'm not mad about it, though, because I think my
family needs to make a trip west to check it out.
It's only about a five hour drive from my house,
and then we can make that happen with me today
is Cam Huffman. He's the director of public relations at
(01:29):
the Greenbrier. Cam grew up around the Greenbrier, so he
holds a special sense of pride for this American treasure.
Hearing him describe the beauty and history of the hotel
really stuck with me, and I hope you take that
as well. Hope you enjoy our conversation.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Glad to be here.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
This is an interesting conversation for me and the exciting
part of why I like doing this podcast in general,
because I've literally never heard of the Greenbrier before, and
I'm so excited to talk to you and learn more.
I get excited when I get to talk to people
from places and from different things that I don't know
anything about. So this conversation should be a lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
Absolutely, I can't believe you never heard of us, but
glad to share some information with you.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
It's so funny. I'm looking through it and I'm sure
at some point in time the name has crossed by
me because I'm a sports fan, so I'm sure I've
heard about a golf tournament or something there. But as
I'm like, I don't think I'm familiar with this place.
So give me the elevator pitch about the Graham Bryer
before we dive in a little bit further.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
Starting with you as a sports fan, I'm sure you
have heard of us, because sports are absolutely huge here.
We've hosted a PGA Tour tournament for ten years, we
hosted a live golf tournament for two years, and we
host summer training camps for NFL teams. It started with
the Saints they had their training camp here, and then
we had the Houston Texans here. We've had the Cleveland
(02:45):
Browns here. We've had several NFL teams that are sports
performance center, so it's definitely a hub for sports. We
have a twenty five hundred tennis stadium as well. We
hosted a World Team Tennis during COVID, and we've hosted
tennis exhibitions with everyone from Pete Sampris to Andre Agassi
and the Williams sisters. So it's a sports person's paradise
(03:07):
for sure. But it all started in seventeen seventy eight
because of the water. There's natural spring waters that flow
through the property. People came to the property at that
time because they believed that the water had healing powers,
so they would drink the water soak in the water,
and that's why they came to the area. And then
eventually they built cottages around the springs and they'd come
(03:27):
every year to experience those springs, and then from the
cottages grew a hotel. The original hotel was built in
eighteen fifty eight and then the current hotel was built
in nineteen thirteen. So people originally came to the waters.
That water is still used in the spa today. So
the spa is huge, Our golf courses are huge. We
have over fifty five activities on eleven thousand acres. So
(03:49):
basically anything you can ever dream of doing is right
here at the Greenborough in the mountains of West Virginia.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
I was reading up on the history of the Greenbrier
and it's a fascinating history with somebody who twisted turn
and different changes over the years. But when I went
to Google the Greenbrier, the first thing that popped up
for me was the Greenbrier Ghost. So I have to
ask you about the Greenbrier Ghost. Is this a thing
that I need to know more about?
Speaker 3 (04:12):
So the green Bar Ghost isn't actually associated with the
Green Bar. So the county that the Green Bar is
located in is Greenbrier County, Okay, and the green Bar
Ghost actually came from Greenbrier County. And what it was
was a woman who was murdered by her husband who
came back as a ghost and told her mother what happened.
(04:32):
And they actually exhumed the body and proved that what
she had said is what happened. So it's the first
time the testimony of a ghost was ever used in court.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Well, that would explain why it was the top Google
search I looked at that that's fascinating. Well, we'll bring
it back into the Greenbrier Resort and all that you
have to offer there. I just had to ask you
that question. I mean, looking at the pictures on the website,
I mean it's just stunning. I mean everything about it
is stunning. And looking at the property, it seems to
me like something that you would see maybe more in
South Carolina or Georgia or something like that. But here
(05:03):
you are nestled into southern southern western Virginia, and I
think it's so interesting because I don't picture, I don't
picture what you guys look like as being a West
Virginia property, but here you are. I mean, it's it's beautiful,
it really is.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
And that's a great point, is is it really does
look like the South. And that's sort of how the
resort grew a lot as well as Southerners in the summertime.
It was originally pretty much only a summer only resort,
and southerns and Southerners of the summertime would come here
to escape the heat a little bit, come up to
the mountains with the experience the cool evenings. And that
was really a top demographic, was that those Southerners at
(05:39):
the time, So it is we always talk about the
southern hospitality here, so there's very much a southern field
to the resort as well, but what we get guests
from from all around the country, that.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Part of the story is very similar. I interviewed one
of your counterparts from Shenandoah National Park a while back,
and they had a very similar story. They're like, I
bought up a lot of the buildings and things that
are in Shenandoah National Park where built as summer getaways
from people in DC or other places, like the wealthy
folks that wanted to get out of the congested cities
in the summer and go experience some cooler temperatures in
(06:10):
the mountains or in the forest. And I think it's
so interesting how these things have built up and stayed
alive over you know, hundreds of years at this point.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
Yeah, absolutely, it's it's as you said earlier, the story
of the Green Bar is really fascinating. It is there's
so many times over its history that it could have
been could have been the end of the Green Bar
with different events happened, but it's managed to find to
kind of reinvent itself all the time and stay alive
and this is.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Still an incredibly popular place for people to visit. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
I think a couple different times. It was acquired as
a hospital during wartime. I think there was one point
during the Cold War it was acquired for refugees or something,
our diplomats from different places. I mean, it's just fascinating
how many times the Greenbrier has operated as a different
place other than a resort or a hotel. I mean,
it's changed. I don't know if changed hands is the
right word, but the purpose of it has changed so
(06:57):
many times over its history. It's kind of wild that
it's gotten to where it is today as this beautiful
place that people go to vacation and hang out and relax.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
Yeah, it really is there.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
I mean, it was a it was almost burned during
the Civil War, so I mean there's so many instances
when you look at its history that it could have
come to an end, but it always has has found
a way to not only survive but thrive.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
So who is your I don't know if this is
the right question, but who's your target? I mean, who
are you trying to bring to the Greenbrier. You seem
to have a lot of different options for just about everybody.
But if you had to narrow it down to who
your core guest is, who are you looking at?
Speaker 3 (07:33):
Yeah, as you said, we kind of try to appeal
to everybody as much as we can because of our history.
Because of it, it's really a general generational place and
a lot of instances of people who families have been
here for years and years know about it. And but
but because of that, a lot of our demographic is
sort of older as well, some that have experienced the
(07:53):
Greenbrier for for years. But we're trying to We're always
trying to get younger as well, so we have a
events that we're constantly trying to appeal to a younger guest,
and we are getting younger every year, so we have
have new guests come in and join us. Our golf
is huge for that. We have different golf packages and
golf outings and tournaments that really draw golfers of all
(08:16):
ages in and we try to make that more than
just a golf experience as well. We have, you know,
the gun club, we have bourbon tastings, We have a
lot of things that appeal to that demographic and it's
paying off. We definitely are getting younger every.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
Year people trying to get to the Green Brier. It
seems like it's in a place that there's not a
lot of major travel options. But if people are trying
to come visit you, besides car, what's the best option
to go? How are people fighting the Greenbrier.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
Well, that's that's one thing we're incredibly excited about right now.
As you said, being in a remote location is part
of the appeal of the Green Barn is also one
of the challenges. So getting here has always been an issue.
But we do have an Amtrak station right across the
street that people have been coming to for a century
by Amtrak. But we're really excited this week that our
(09:04):
local airport, Greenbrier Valley Airport, which is fifteen miles down
the road in Louisbourg, added a daily flight from Chicago.
That's a round trip flight that will come to that
that airport, So that opens us up to so much
more of the country. And we also have a daily
flight to and from Charlotte. So with Chicago and Charlotte
flights coming right into the airport, it couldn't be more
(09:26):
convenient now it ith. You know, people people see the
challenges of travel sometimes and get frustrated with it. It's
so easy to come into the airport. There's it's really small.
You can park right there. If you're going out, you
can put you can leave your car right at the
front door. It's it's so easy. We have a shuttle
that picks up Green Barer guests and takes them from
from the airport to the Green Bar. So it's really
(09:49):
now more convenient than it's ever been and we're super
excited about that.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
I kind of love small airports. My brother went to
school in Idaho for a while. I was working at
a University of Idaho, and they had a really tiny
airport just around the corner. And it was one of
those things where it's like your flights at two, you
show up at one forty five because literally there's just
one flight, like that's the And I hope I love
that aspect.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
I love people. We have guests all the time. I'll say, well,
what time do we need to to get back to
the airport If our flights at two, there's no there's
no waiting around. You just pull up the door and
walk right in. It's it's wonderful.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
That's fantastic, all right, So Kah there's a lot of
stuff going on at the Greenbrier coming up here as
the weather's getting into you know, springtime. We're talking about summer.
We've talked a little bit about golf. We'll dive more
into that in a second. But I know one of
the things you have coming up that's right around the corner.
And I can never say this phrase right, but why
don't you do it for me? The car show that
you've got coming up.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
Yeah, it's the the Greenbrier Concord Delegaunts and this is
our our eighth year now, And really it all started
because the Greenberg has a rich history with the automobile industry.
We've had the Society of Automotive Engineers come here for
I think it's it's over sixty years now that they've come.
Every year, we've had advertisements for like Chrysler and Cadillac
(11:08):
and Lincoln, and different car companies have done ads here
over the years. So there's really a rich history between
the Greenbrier and the automobile. So we had somebody actually
come to us about ten years ago and present this idea,
and we weren't sure how it would go. We'd never
never been in the car show business before. But actually
it was a great story that it was supposed to
(11:28):
be out on the golf course the Sunday show, which
is the big part of the weekend, and it poured
the rain that day and the golf people didn't want
us out on their golf course, so sort of as
a last second decision, we moved it up to the
front entrance of the hotel, the front circle of the hotel.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
And that was where it was always meant to be.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
We soon found out it's a beautiful setting to have
all these classic cars around that front circle of the
hotel and up on the lawn, and it's grown every
year to be one of the top automotive events that
I actually am really involved in running that event, and
knew absolutely nothing about cars when I started, but I've
grown to love it. It's a really fun event. So
(12:11):
it's three days of the celebration. We do a drive
on kind of the country roads of West Virginia so
people can take their classic cars or their newer higher
performance cars out on those roads.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
And really enjoy the drive.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
And then we have a car show on Saturday, which
is sort of we take anybody.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
It's anybody who.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
Wants to bring their car and bring it out and
then on Sunday, it's really the high end collector cars
and they compete in eleven different classes for rewards, and
it's a whole lot of fun and a really special event.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
That event this year is happening May second through the fourth,
so at the time this podcast goes live, that's literally
going to be like right around the corner. So maybe
this year might not be your year if you haven't
had time to plan for it, but you said it's
the eighth annual, so I'm assuming you're probably gonna do
it again next year. Definitely something to think about if
you're a car enthusiast for sure.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 3 (12:59):
It's a really it's a fun weekend. And just like
the hotels I said, it's the demographic of the people
who are involved in that event is really a wide demographic.
We we get people who've been in the car collector
of business for years and years and years and have
enjoyed it for decades, and then we get people who
just recently purchased a new car and are new to
the industry. So it's a wide variety and a whole
(13:20):
lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
All right, let's dive into golf because you already talked
about that. I know it's a big piece of the
puzzle for the Green Brier. Let's talk about what's going
on for golf season this year.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
It's just a sort of business as usual right now.
For golf season.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
We're getting ready to do a which will probably be
passed by the time this airs, but we're getting ready
to do what we're calling our Green Jacket tournament.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
We're giving away our own kind of.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
Green jacket is We're having a best ball tournament to
kind of kick off the season, but we have several
of those. We have a summer best ball tournament, we
have a fall best ball tournament. For the first time
in a long time, we don't have a professional golf
event here this year. We hosted the Green Barket Classic
on the PGA Tour for ten years and then it
kind of fizzled out after COVID and then we hosted
(14:01):
live golf for the last two years and it was
fantastic and I think they all enjoyed it. We enjoyed it,
but they they were sort of looking for some bigger
markets for their tour so that they chose to get
to go elsewhere this year, So we don't have a
professional tournament this year, but that we're excited about that
in some ways because that opens up our courses to
allow the more time for people to come play in
(14:22):
because if you don't know about the process of putting
on a pro tournament, you have to shut down the
course for a while to have it ready and get
it up to the pro standards, and then after they
leave you have to kind of clean up all of
that for a while. So we're excited now that we're
just going to be able to let our guests enjoy
it for the whole summer.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
Have you have This is very random, but have you
ever heard of a thing called a Ragnar Relay?
Speaker 2 (14:42):
I have not.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
Okay, it's a running race. We're essentially a team of
twelve people will collectively run about two hundred miles. Like
the race starts and then one person's running, you know,
you just keep switching off every so often. Anyway, I
did one, and I knew nobody on my team. I
just I knew one person that invited me to join
the team in my van as a gentleman that works
for the PGA as one of their like I don't
(15:03):
know what his exact title is I'm going to say
a grass specialist and he went to college to learn
about grass and he works out on the West coast.
But hearing him talk about everything that goes into the
work of keeping the grass a certain way at these
professional golf courses where they have these events. So anyway,
I'm going down this tangent because of what you just
said about how you don't know how much goes into
(15:24):
doing an actual event, an official event. It is astounding,
like not just setting up and tearing down and preparing,
but even just making sure, like having those officials come
in and check the grass quality, checking how it's going
to I mean, it is. There is so much involved.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
Yeah, there absolutely is.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
It's really a year round process and we love having it,
don't get me wrong, but there's a there's also you know,
some of the specifications that you have to have, as
you said, your course for those pros. You know, the
rough has to be longer in some spots that greens
have to be faster, and that's not necessarily what a
resort guest is looking forward sometimes, so we're excited this
(16:03):
year we'll have the course in prime condition for a
resort guest.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
That's exciting for all those folks. Before we move on,
tell me where people go if they want to find
out more information they want to start booking their trip
and setting everything up. Where do they go?
Speaker 3 (16:15):
Greenbrier dot Com is the place to go, and it
has all that you need to know, their special offers,
everything to know about how you can book your golf rounds,
your golf trips, and everything is.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
Right there at the website.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
I would imagine you also have really special celebrations and
special weekends planned around things like Memorial Day, July fourth,
like the big holidays. I would imagine the Greenbrier is
a really special place to be for that.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
It really is.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
We all have called ourselves America's Resort, so July fourth
is huge for us because it's America's birthday at America's resort,
and some of the history that you talked about kind
of ties in perfectly there as well. We've had twenty
eight presidents visit the Green Briars, so we're really tied
with the country's history we had. I can't believe the
topic hasn't come up. It's usually number one on people's list.
(17:01):
With the bunker that was built here during the Cold War.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
I was getting to it. I was getting to it the.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
US Congress, so we had that. As you said, we
were in army hospital during World War Two, so when
it comes to those holidays were like Memorial Day in
July fourth, there's a perfect tie in there, and we
really go all out to make those events special. We have,
you know, everything that you would expect, like fireworks and
barbecues and the things that you would expect on those holidays,
but we also have like family pickleball tournaments, family croquet tournaments,
(17:32):
and then the bourbon tastings, wine tasting, special dinners, like
everything you could imagine, and it's really a special time
to be here.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
For sure.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
I was going to start the conversation with ghost and
with bunkers, so you kind of took that up. But
I do want to talk about the bunker because I
do think that is one of those pieces of the
history that's so fascinating. Again, how how much the Greenbrier
has changed over the centuries but also still stayed the same.
You know, it's still a resort, it's still a place
people go to escape, but there have just these pockets
(18:00):
of time where things have changed, and the Bunker is
one of them.
Speaker 3 (18:04):
Yeah, So the bunker actually grew out of another piece
of history. So during World War Two with the we
grew close down as a resort and opened up as
an army hospital called ash for General Hospital treated troops
during that time, and one of the troops that was
here actually recovering from an illness was General Eisenhower. So
(18:26):
when when Eisenhower later became president, he put this continuity
of government plan in place, which was basically, how do
we It wasn't to necessarily preserve people, It was to
preserve government in the event of a of a nuclear war,
a major major disaster, and so one of the parts
of that was the bunker for Congress. Congress had had
(18:47):
to have a place to go to survive, to continue
to meet, and that bunker was built in secret here
at the Greenbrough. So throughout the Cold War and beyond
it was maintained in a constant state of readiness. So
if something happened, the Congress members would would get the
signal they would all come to the Greenbrier and spend
their time in a bunker. So it was it was
(19:07):
hidden in plain sight. Part of the bunker was open
to the public at all, times, but they people didn't
know they were in the bunker, so it was really
a fascinating story.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
And now people can take tours of it and check
it out and just it's another piece of the history
of the Greenbrier.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
It is and the tours are are amazing.
Speaker 3 (19:23):
When when when it was revealed in the mid nineties
that the bunker was revealed by Washington Post story and
obviously once once people knew about it, its purpose couldn't
be served anymore. And and the Greenbrier, you know, it
was left with what do we do with this giant bunker?
How do we how do we repurpose it? What do
we what do we do with it? And they said, well,
at least for maybe a couple of years, people will
(19:43):
be interested in tours. Our tours are still incredibly popular today.
It just never ends. The media attention we still get
from the tours that are taken on a daily basis.
It's a it's a widely popular thing to come take
a bunker tour and it's a lot of fun. It's
it's really informative tour and we actually even just fun
off of that. We have an escape room now that's
that's based on the Bunker, so we've tried to try
(20:06):
to make it a little fun. So there's so many
things and it's such a part of the resource history
for sure.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
I love that you've got a lot of cool stuff
going on this summer, as you always do at the Greenbriar.
Just a really great place to get away, especially open
to families, so when you know kids are on summer vacation,
people want to get away. West Virginia a great place
to do it. But one event that I saw that
kind of caught my eye was the Greenbrier Half Marathon
that you have coming up.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (20:30):
So that's a group called the Capstone Races that has
those events and different resources and stuff all over the country,
and so they come in here every year.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
I'm trying to remember how many years.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
It feels to me like it started right around the
same time the Concord did, so I think it's about
eight years that they've been doing that as well. But
it's a fun day. It's a beautiful property to run through,
an experience. You could run, you can walk, whichever you
prefer to do as part of the half marathon, but
at the end they have a big party the outdoor
pool and you really get to celebrate the start of spring.
(21:04):
So it's one of those events that we've added to
our calendar that people really look forward to.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
I've noticed over the last we'll say fifteen years or so,
destination running has become a very popular thing, like a
lot of places. As you mentioned, there's this group that's
been doing this with different resorts, but people are traveling
to run in different cities and different areas, and you
know what, it sounds kind of crazy to people that
don't like to run, but it's an exciting way to
experience an area or experience a resort that maybe you
(21:31):
haven't been to before.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
Yeah, it really is.
Speaker 3 (21:33):
And I'm ashamed to say I don't run as much
as I did at one time, but to see a
new location, I think that's one of the things that
if you run all the time, it can get boring
if you're running around a circle on a track or something.
But if you come to one of these destinations and
run through a property like ours, just you see the
mountains in the distance, you see the beautiful florals, and
(21:54):
the creek that runs through the property. It's just a
relaxing place to run, a beautiful place to experience.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
I meant to ask you this earlier, Cam, but you're
kind of a native of the area. You've moved around
a little bit, but you're back and now you're you're
working with this resort that was kind of, you know,
casting a shadow on where you grew up. How exciting
is that for you to be able to be a
part of that community.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
Yeah, it's a lot of fun. As you said, I
grew up right down the read in Louisbourg. I proud
West Virginia and graduated from wes Virginia University. But I
lived in South Carolina for a long time loved it
there as well. But to come home and work here, this,
this place is such a point of pride for West Virginia.
So the f one of the things I think that
(22:34):
makes it so special is is generations of families have
worked here as well. So a lot of people working
here their parents worked here, their grandparents worked here, and
it means so much to them. So so when guests
come in and interact with these people, it's authentic and
people can really feel that how much that this place
means to them and how much they care about the guests.
So being a part of that has meant a lot
(22:55):
to me and has been a whole lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
I felt that sense of pride when I was doing
some research to learn more about the Greenbrier before this conversation.
I could feel that pride coming off the screen of
the computer. Well, the way people would talk about it
and the way the story was being told. You can
just tell the people that are involved, as you mentioned,
you know, there's generations of families and people that have
been doing this. You can just tell there is this
(23:19):
just massive sense of pride about being a part of
it for that long.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
There really is.
Speaker 3 (23:23):
And there's so many negative stereotypes out there about West
Virginia and West Virginia sometimes, so I think West Virginians
there take take a lot of pride into showing this
place off and saying, look, this is what we have
here in West Virginia, this is these are the people
we have, this is the beauty we have, these are
the experiences we have, and that does mean a lot
of people for sure.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
Well, Cam Huffman, this has been a great conversation. I'm
so glad that I had the chance to talk to
you about the Greenbrier, learn more about it, and just
I don't know, feel like I experienced some of that
coming from you through the screen. I know people can't
see what's going on right now, they're just listening to this,
but I'm looking at you and I can see the
passion in your face as you're telling the stories about
the Greenbrier. So I really appreciate that. Again, where do
people go if they want to set up their trips
(24:02):
start planning their visit?
Speaker 2 (24:04):
Greenbrier dot Com is the place to go. Everything you
could possibly need it and it's a g R E
N b R I E R.
Speaker 3 (24:12):
A lot of people want to put an a at
D N so, but it's a it's a Greenbriarer dot
com and anything you could possibly need.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
Is right there.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
Cam Huffman, the director of public Relations at the Greenbrier,
thank you so much for your time. I appreciate you,
and you know I hope our past will cross some
time in the future.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
Yeah. Absolutely, you have to plan a Greenbrier visit in
your future.
Speaker 1 (24:30):
I think we might have to do it. It looks awesome.
I think that's going to have to be on the radar.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
Absolutely, we love to have you.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
Big thank you to Cam Huffman for his time and
for telling us more about the Greenbrier again. If you
want to find out more info or book your trip,
you just need to go to Greenbrier dot com. That's
g R e E N b R I e r
dot com. And thank you all for listening today. Until
next time, be well. The still standing stop the best
(25:04):
begs to speA
Hey, what's up everybody. Welcome to Delightful Destinations. My name
is Jeff San Pierre and this is episode thirty of
the show. If it's your first time checking out the program, welcome,
I really do appreciate your time. Delightful Destinations the show
that I created so I could talk to representatives from
different locations around the country and learn more about these
beautiful places that are all around us. I am always
(00:24):
looking for an excuse to get away from home, and
I hope this show maybe will help inspire you for
your next excursion. Something I've loved about doing this podcast
is having the ability to learn more about places that
I've heard a lot about, but maybe you've never had
time to visit places like South County and Rhode Island,
South Carolina, as an example, or Dutchess County, New York,
just to name a few. But sometimes I get to
(00:44):
speak with someone from a place that I've literally never
heard of, and that's what today's conversation is all about.
We're heading on a trip to the mountains of southeastern
West Virginia. We're going to the Greenbrier. After doing some
research and having this chat, I find it kind of
hard to believe that I've never heard of the Greenbrier before.
This place sounds fascinating. It's a five star hotel that
has hosted major sporting events, hosted preseason practices for NFL teams,
(01:07):
and its hosted families for centuries. This episode was also
a demonstration of how my phone is listening to me,
because right after I recorded this interview, I started getting
all kinds of ads for the Greenbrier in my social media.
I'm not mad about it, though, because I think my
family needs to make a trip west to check it out.
It's only about a five hour drive from my house,
and then we can make that happen with me today
is Cam Huffman. He's the director of public relations at
(01:29):
the Greenbrier. Cam grew up around the Greenbrier, so he
holds a special sense of pride for this American treasure.
Hearing him describe the beauty and history of the hotel
really stuck with me, and I hope you take that
as well. Hope you enjoy our conversation.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Glad to be here.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
This is an interesting conversation for me and the exciting
part of why I like doing this podcast in general,
because I've literally never heard of the Greenbrier before, and
I'm so excited to talk to you and learn more.
I get excited when I get to talk to people
from places and from different things that I don't know
anything about. So this conversation should be a lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
Absolutely, I can't believe you never heard of us, but
glad to share some information with you.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
It's so funny. I'm looking through it and I'm sure
at some point in time the name has crossed by
me because I'm a sports fan, so I'm sure I've
heard about a golf tournament or something there. But as
I'm like, I don't think I'm familiar with this place.
So give me the elevator pitch about the Graham Bryer
before we dive in a little bit further.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
Starting with you as a sports fan, I'm sure you
have heard of us, because sports are absolutely huge here.
We've hosted a PGA Tour tournament for ten years, we
hosted a live golf tournament for two years, and we
host summer training camps for NFL teams. It started with
the Saints they had their training camp here, and then
we had the Houston Texans here. We've had the Cleveland
(02:45):
Browns here. We've had several NFL teams that are sports
performance center, so it's definitely a hub for sports. We
have a twenty five hundred tennis stadium as well. We
hosted a World Team Tennis during COVID, and we've hosted
tennis exhibitions with everyone from Pete Sampris to Andre Agassi
and the Williams sisters. So it's a sports person's paradise
(03:07):
for sure. But it all started in seventeen seventy eight
because of the water. There's natural spring waters that flow
through the property. People came to the property at that
time because they believed that the water had healing powers,
so they would drink the water soak in the water,
and that's why they came to the area. And then
eventually they built cottages around the springs and they'd come
(03:27):
every year to experience those springs, and then from the
cottages grew a hotel. The original hotel was built in
eighteen fifty eight and then the current hotel was built
in nineteen thirteen. So people originally came to the waters.
That water is still used in the spa today. So
the spa is huge, Our golf courses are huge. We
have over fifty five activities on eleven thousand acres. So
(03:49):
basically anything you can ever dream of doing is right
here at the Greenborough in the mountains of West Virginia.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
I was reading up on the history of the Greenbrier
and it's a fascinating history with somebody who twisted turn
and different changes over the years. But when I went
to Google the Greenbrier, the first thing that popped up
for me was the Greenbrier Ghost. So I have to
ask you about the Greenbrier Ghost. Is this a thing
that I need to know more about?
Speaker 3 (04:12):
So the green Bar Ghost isn't actually associated with the
Green Bar. So the county that the Green Bar is
located in is Greenbrier County, Okay, and the green Bar
Ghost actually came from Greenbrier County. And what it was
was a woman who was murdered by her husband who
came back as a ghost and told her mother what happened.
(04:32):
And they actually exhumed the body and proved that what
she had said is what happened. So it's the first
time the testimony of a ghost was ever used in court.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Well, that would explain why it was the top Google
search I looked at that that's fascinating. Well, we'll bring
it back into the Greenbrier Resort and all that you
have to offer there. I just had to ask you
that question. I mean, looking at the pictures on the website,
I mean it's just stunning. I mean everything about it
is stunning. And looking at the property, it seems to
me like something that you would see maybe more in
South Carolina or Georgia or something like that. But here
(05:03):
you are nestled into southern southern western Virginia, and I
think it's so interesting because I don't picture, I don't
picture what you guys look like as being a West
Virginia property, but here you are. I mean, it's it's beautiful,
it really is.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
And that's a great point, is is it really does
look like the South. And that's sort of how the
resort grew a lot as well as Southerners in the summertime.
It was originally pretty much only a summer only resort,
and southerns and Southerners of the summertime would come here
to escape the heat a little bit, come up to
the mountains with the experience the cool evenings. And that
was really a top demographic, was that those Southerners at
(05:39):
the time, So it is we always talk about the
southern hospitality here, so there's very much a southern field
to the resort as well, but what we get guests
from from all around the country, that.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Part of the story is very similar. I interviewed one
of your counterparts from Shenandoah National Park a while back,
and they had a very similar story. They're like, I
bought up a lot of the buildings and things that
are in Shenandoah National Park where built as summer getaways
from people in DC or other places, like the wealthy
folks that wanted to get out of the congested cities
in the summer and go experience some cooler temperatures in
(06:10):
the mountains or in the forest. And I think it's
so interesting how these things have built up and stayed
alive over you know, hundreds of years at this point.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
Yeah, absolutely, it's it's as you said earlier, the story
of the Green Bar is really fascinating. It is there's
so many times over its history that it could have
been could have been the end of the Green Bar
with different events happened, but it's managed to find to
kind of reinvent itself all the time and stay alive
and this is.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Still an incredibly popular place for people to visit. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
I think a couple different times. It was acquired as
a hospital during wartime. I think there was one point
during the Cold War it was acquired for refugees or something,
our diplomats from different places. I mean, it's just fascinating
how many times the Greenbrier has operated as a different
place other than a resort or a hotel. I mean,
it's changed. I don't know if changed hands is the
right word, but the purpose of it has changed so
(06:57):
many times over its history. It's kind of wild that
it's gotten to where it is today as this beautiful
place that people go to vacation and hang out and relax.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
Yeah, it really is there.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
I mean, it was a it was almost burned during
the Civil War, so I mean there's so many instances
when you look at its history that it could have
come to an end, but it always has has found
a way to not only survive but thrive.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
So who is your I don't know if this is
the right question, but who's your target? I mean, who
are you trying to bring to the Greenbrier. You seem
to have a lot of different options for just about everybody.
But if you had to narrow it down to who
your core guest is, who are you looking at?
Speaker 3 (07:33):
Yeah, as you said, we kind of try to appeal
to everybody as much as we can because of our history.
Because of it, it's really a general generational place and
a lot of instances of people who families have been
here for years and years know about it. And but
but because of that, a lot of our demographic is
sort of older as well, some that have experienced the
(07:53):
Greenbrier for for years. But we're trying to We're always
trying to get younger as well, so we have a
events that we're constantly trying to appeal to a younger guest,
and we are getting younger every year, so we have
have new guests come in and join us. Our golf
is huge for that. We have different golf packages and
golf outings and tournaments that really draw golfers of all
(08:16):
ages in and we try to make that more than
just a golf experience as well. We have, you know,
the gun club, we have bourbon tastings, We have a
lot of things that appeal to that demographic and it's
paying off. We definitely are getting younger every.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
Year people trying to get to the Green Brier. It
seems like it's in a place that there's not a
lot of major travel options. But if people are trying
to come visit you, besides car, what's the best option
to go? How are people fighting the Greenbrier.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
Well, that's that's one thing we're incredibly excited about right now.
As you said, being in a remote location is part
of the appeal of the Green Barn is also one
of the challenges. So getting here has always been an issue.
But we do have an Amtrak station right across the
street that people have been coming to for a century
by Amtrak. But we're really excited this week that our
(09:04):
local airport, Greenbrier Valley Airport, which is fifteen miles down
the road in Louisbourg, added a daily flight from Chicago.
That's a round trip flight that will come to that
that airport, So that opens us up to so much
more of the country. And we also have a daily
flight to and from Charlotte. So with Chicago and Charlotte
flights coming right into the airport, it couldn't be more
(09:26):
convenient now it ith. You know, people people see the
challenges of travel sometimes and get frustrated with it. It's
so easy to come into the airport. There's it's really small.
You can park right there. If you're going out, you
can put you can leave your car right at the
front door. It's it's so easy. We have a shuttle
that picks up Green Barer guests and takes them from
from the airport to the Green Bar. So it's really
(09:49):
now more convenient than it's ever been and we're super
excited about that.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
I kind of love small airports. My brother went to
school in Idaho for a while. I was working at
a University of Idaho, and they had a really tiny
airport just around the corner. And it was one of
those things where it's like your flights at two, you
show up at one forty five because literally there's just
one flight, like that's the And I hope I love
that aspect.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
I love people. We have guests all the time. I'll say, well,
what time do we need to to get back to
the airport If our flights at two, there's no there's
no waiting around. You just pull up the door and
walk right in. It's it's wonderful.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
That's fantastic, all right, So Kah there's a lot of
stuff going on at the Greenbrier coming up here as
the weather's getting into you know, springtime. We're talking about summer.
We've talked a little bit about golf. We'll dive more
into that in a second. But I know one of
the things you have coming up that's right around the corner.
And I can never say this phrase right, but why
don't you do it for me? The car show that
you've got coming up.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
Yeah, it's the the Greenbrier Concord Delegaunts and this is
our our eighth year now, And really it all started
because the Greenberg has a rich history with the automobile industry.
We've had the Society of Automotive Engineers come here for
I think it's it's over sixty years now that they've come.
Every year, we've had advertisements for like Chrysler and Cadillac
(11:08):
and Lincoln, and different car companies have done ads here
over the years. So there's really a rich history between
the Greenbrier and the automobile. So we had somebody actually
come to us about ten years ago and present this idea,
and we weren't sure how it would go. We'd never
never been in the car show business before. But actually
it was a great story that it was supposed to
(11:28):
be out on the golf course the Sunday show, which
is the big part of the weekend, and it poured
the rain that day and the golf people didn't want
us out on their golf course, so sort of as
a last second decision, we moved it up to the
front entrance of the hotel, the front circle of the hotel.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
And that was where it was always meant to be.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
We soon found out it's a beautiful setting to have
all these classic cars around that front circle of the
hotel and up on the lawn, and it's grown every
year to be one of the top automotive events that
I actually am really involved in running that event, and
knew absolutely nothing about cars when I started, but I've
grown to love it. It's a really fun event. So
(12:11):
it's three days of the celebration. We do a drive
on kind of the country roads of West Virginia so
people can take their classic cars or their newer higher
performance cars out on those roads.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
And really enjoy the drive.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
And then we have a car show on Saturday, which
is sort of we take anybody.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
It's anybody who.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
Wants to bring their car and bring it out and
then on Sunday, it's really the high end collector cars
and they compete in eleven different classes for rewards, and
it's a whole lot of fun and a really special event.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
That event this year is happening May second through the fourth,
so at the time this podcast goes live, that's literally
going to be like right around the corner. So maybe
this year might not be your year if you haven't
had time to plan for it, but you said it's
the eighth annual, so I'm assuming you're probably gonna do
it again next year. Definitely something to think about if
you're a car enthusiast for sure.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 3 (12:59):
It's a really it's a fun weekend. And just like
the hotels I said, it's the demographic of the people
who are involved in that event is really a wide demographic.
We we get people who've been in the car collector
of business for years and years and years and have
enjoyed it for decades, and then we get people who
just recently purchased a new car and are new to
the industry. So it's a wide variety and a whole
(13:20):
lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
All right, let's dive into golf because you already talked
about that. I know it's a big piece of the
puzzle for the Green Brier. Let's talk about what's going
on for golf season this year.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
It's just a sort of business as usual right now.
For golf season.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
We're getting ready to do a which will probably be
passed by the time this airs, but we're getting ready
to do what we're calling our Green Jacket tournament.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
We're giving away our own kind of.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
Green jacket is We're having a best ball tournament to
kind of kick off the season, but we have several
of those. We have a summer best ball tournament, we
have a fall best ball tournament. For the first time
in a long time, we don't have a professional golf
event here this year. We hosted the Green Barket Classic
on the PGA Tour for ten years and then it
kind of fizzled out after COVID and then we hosted
(14:01):
live golf for the last two years and it was
fantastic and I think they all enjoyed it. We enjoyed it,
but they they were sort of looking for some bigger
markets for their tour so that they chose to get
to go elsewhere this year, So we don't have a
professional tournament this year, but that we're excited about that
in some ways because that opens up our courses to
allow the more time for people to come play in
(14:22):
because if you don't know about the process of putting
on a pro tournament, you have to shut down the
course for a while to have it ready and get
it up to the pro standards, and then after they
leave you have to kind of clean up all of
that for a while. So we're excited now that we're
just going to be able to let our guests enjoy
it for the whole summer.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
Have you have This is very random, but have you
ever heard of a thing called a Ragnar Relay?
Speaker 2 (14:42):
I have not.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
Okay, it's a running race. We're essentially a team of
twelve people will collectively run about two hundred miles. Like
the race starts and then one person's running, you know,
you just keep switching off every so often. Anyway, I
did one, and I knew nobody on my team. I
just I knew one person that invited me to join
the team in my van as a gentleman that works
for the PGA as one of their like I don't
(15:03):
know what his exact title is I'm going to say
a grass specialist and he went to college to learn
about grass and he works out on the West coast.
But hearing him talk about everything that goes into the
work of keeping the grass a certain way at these
professional golf courses where they have these events. So anyway,
I'm going down this tangent because of what you just
said about how you don't know how much goes into
(15:24):
doing an actual event, an official event. It is astounding,
like not just setting up and tearing down and preparing,
but even just making sure, like having those officials come
in and check the grass quality, checking how it's going
to I mean, it is. There is so much involved.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
Yeah, there absolutely is.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
It's really a year round process and we love having it,
don't get me wrong, but there's a there's also you know,
some of the specifications that you have to have, as
you said, your course for those pros. You know, the
rough has to be longer in some spots that greens
have to be faster, and that's not necessarily what a
resort guest is looking forward sometimes, so we're excited this
(16:03):
year we'll have the course in prime condition for a
resort guest.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
That's exciting for all those folks. Before we move on,
tell me where people go if they want to find
out more information they want to start booking their trip
and setting everything up. Where do they go?
Speaker 3 (16:15):
Greenbrier dot Com is the place to go, and it
has all that you need to know, their special offers,
everything to know about how you can book your golf rounds,
your golf trips, and everything is.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
Right there at the website.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
I would imagine you also have really special celebrations and
special weekends planned around things like Memorial Day, July fourth,
like the big holidays. I would imagine the Greenbrier is
a really special place to be for that.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
It really is.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
We all have called ourselves America's Resort, so July fourth
is huge for us because it's America's birthday at America's resort,
and some of the history that you talked about kind
of ties in perfectly there as well. We've had twenty
eight presidents visit the Green Briars, so we're really tied
with the country's history we had. I can't believe the
topic hasn't come up. It's usually number one on people's list.
(17:01):
With the bunker that was built here during the Cold War.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
I was getting to it. I was getting to it the.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
US Congress, so we had that. As you said, we
were in army hospital during World War Two, so when
it comes to those holidays were like Memorial Day in
July fourth, there's a perfect tie in there, and we
really go all out to make those events special. We have,
you know, everything that you would expect, like fireworks and
barbecues and the things that you would expect on those holidays,
but we also have like family pickleball tournaments, family croquet tournaments,
(17:32):
and then the bourbon tastings, wine tasting, special dinners, like
everything you could imagine, and it's really a special time
to be here.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
For sure.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
I was going to start the conversation with ghost and
with bunkers, so you kind of took that up. But
I do want to talk about the bunker because I
do think that is one of those pieces of the
history that's so fascinating. Again, how how much the Greenbrier
has changed over the centuries but also still stayed the same.
You know, it's still a resort, it's still a place
people go to escape, but there have just these pockets
(18:00):
of time where things have changed, and the Bunker is
one of them.
Speaker 3 (18:04):
Yeah, So the bunker actually grew out of another piece
of history. So during World War Two with the we
grew close down as a resort and opened up as
an army hospital called ash for General Hospital treated troops
during that time, and one of the troops that was
here actually recovering from an illness was General Eisenhower. So
(18:26):
when when Eisenhower later became president, he put this continuity
of government plan in place, which was basically, how do
we It wasn't to necessarily preserve people, It was to
preserve government in the event of a of a nuclear war,
a major major disaster, and so one of the parts
of that was the bunker for Congress. Congress had had
(18:47):
to have a place to go to survive, to continue
to meet, and that bunker was built in secret here
at the Greenbrough. So throughout the Cold War and beyond
it was maintained in a constant state of readiness. So
if something happened, the Congress members would would get the
signal they would all come to the Greenbrier and spend
their time in a bunker. So it was it was
(19:07):
hidden in plain sight. Part of the bunker was open
to the public at all, times, but they people didn't
know they were in the bunker, so it was really
a fascinating story.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
And now people can take tours of it and check
it out and just it's another piece of the history
of the Greenbrier.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
It is and the tours are are amazing.
Speaker 3 (19:23):
When when when it was revealed in the mid nineties
that the bunker was revealed by Washington Post story and
obviously once once people knew about it, its purpose couldn't
be served anymore. And and the Greenbrier, you know, it
was left with what do we do with this giant bunker?
How do we how do we repurpose it? What do
we what do we do with it? And they said, well,
at least for maybe a couple of years, people will
(19:43):
be interested in tours. Our tours are still incredibly popular today.
It just never ends. The media attention we still get
from the tours that are taken on a daily basis.
It's a it's a widely popular thing to come take
a bunker tour and it's a lot of fun. It's
it's really informative tour and we actually even just fun
off of that. We have an escape room now that's
that's based on the Bunker, so we've tried to try
(20:06):
to make it a little fun. So there's so many
things and it's such a part of the resource history
for sure.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
I love that you've got a lot of cool stuff
going on this summer, as you always do at the Greenbriar.
Just a really great place to get away, especially open
to families, so when you know kids are on summer vacation,
people want to get away. West Virginia a great place
to do it. But one event that I saw that
kind of caught my eye was the Greenbrier Half Marathon
that you have coming up.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (20:30):
So that's a group called the Capstone Races that has
those events and different resources and stuff all over the country,
and so they come in here every year.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
I'm trying to remember how many years.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
It feels to me like it started right around the
same time the Concord did, so I think it's about
eight years that they've been doing that as well. But
it's a fun day. It's a beautiful property to run through,
an experience. You could run, you can walk, whichever you
prefer to do as part of the half marathon, but
at the end they have a big party the outdoor
pool and you really get to celebrate the start of spring.
(21:04):
So it's one of those events that we've added to
our calendar that people really look forward to.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
I've noticed over the last we'll say fifteen years or so,
destination running has become a very popular thing, like a
lot of places. As you mentioned, there's this group that's
been doing this with different resorts, but people are traveling
to run in different cities and different areas, and you
know what, it sounds kind of crazy to people that
don't like to run, but it's an exciting way to
experience an area or experience a resort that maybe you
(21:31):
haven't been to before.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
Yeah, it really is.
Speaker 3 (21:33):
And I'm ashamed to say I don't run as much
as I did at one time, but to see a
new location, I think that's one of the things that
if you run all the time, it can get boring
if you're running around a circle on a track or something.
But if you come to one of these destinations and
run through a property like ours, just you see the
mountains in the distance, you see the beautiful florals, and
(21:54):
the creek that runs through the property. It's just a
relaxing place to run, a beautiful place to experience.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
I meant to ask you this earlier, Cam, but you're
kind of a native of the area. You've moved around
a little bit, but you're back and now you're you're
working with this resort that was kind of, you know,
casting a shadow on where you grew up. How exciting
is that for you to be able to be a
part of that community.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
Yeah, it's a lot of fun. As you said, I
grew up right down the read in Louisbourg. I proud
West Virginia and graduated from wes Virginia University. But I
lived in South Carolina for a long time loved it
there as well. But to come home and work here, this,
this place is such a point of pride for West Virginia.
So the f one of the things I think that
(22:34):
makes it so special is is generations of families have
worked here as well. So a lot of people working
here their parents worked here, their grandparents worked here, and
it means so much to them. So so when guests
come in and interact with these people, it's authentic and
people can really feel that how much that this place
means to them and how much they care about the guests.
So being a part of that has meant a lot
(22:55):
to me and has been a whole lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
I felt that sense of pride when I was doing
some research to learn more about the Greenbrier before this conversation.
I could feel that pride coming off the screen of
the computer. Well, the way people would talk about it
and the way the story was being told. You can
just tell the people that are involved, as you mentioned,
you know, there's generations of families and people that have
been doing this. You can just tell there is this
(23:19):
just massive sense of pride about being a part of
it for that long.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
There really is.
Speaker 3 (23:23):
And there's so many negative stereotypes out there about West
Virginia and West Virginia sometimes, so I think West Virginians
there take take a lot of pride into showing this
place off and saying, look, this is what we have
here in West Virginia, this is these are the people
we have, this is the beauty we have, these are
the experiences we have, and that does mean a lot
of people for sure.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
Well, Cam Huffman, this has been a great conversation. I'm
so glad that I had the chance to talk to
you about the Greenbrier, learn more about it, and just
I don't know, feel like I experienced some of that
coming from you through the screen. I know people can't
see what's going on right now, they're just listening to this,
but I'm looking at you and I can see the
passion in your face as you're telling the stories about
the Greenbrier. So I really appreciate that. Again, where do
people go if they want to set up their trips
(24:02):
start planning their visit?
Speaker 2 (24:04):
Greenbrier dot Com is the place to go. Everything you
could possibly need it and it's a g R E
N b R I E R.
Speaker 3 (24:12):
A lot of people want to put an a at
D N so, but it's a it's a Greenbriarer dot
com and anything you could possibly need.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
Is right there.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
Cam Huffman, the director of public Relations at the Greenbrier,
thank you so much for your time. I appreciate you,
and you know I hope our past will cross some
time in the future.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
Yeah. Absolutely, you have to plan a Greenbrier visit in
your future.
Speaker 1 (24:30):
I think we might have to do it. It looks awesome.
I think that's going to have to be on the radar.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
Absolutely, we love to have you.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
Big thank you to Cam Huffman for his time and
for telling us more about the Greenbrier again. If you
want to find out more info or book your trip,
you just need to go to Greenbrier dot com. That's
g R e E N b R I e r
dot com. And thank you all for listening today. Until
next time, be well. The still standing stop the best
(25:04):
begs to speA
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