Ponte Vedra Inn & Club Commemorates 80 Years

The Ponte Vedra Inn & Club in northeast Florida is celebrating its rich history with a year-long 80th birthday celebration.

In 1922, the National Lead Company, an organization dedicated to mining the mineral-rich Ponte Vedra Beach area, built a nine-hole golf course, log clubhouse and polo field for its employees. British architect, Herbert Bertram Strong, used 100 mules dragging slip pans to shape contours while building the course. He also dredged lagoons to build a series of earthen mounds to line the fairways and create undulations. The name of the complex changed in 1928 to the Ponte Vedra Inn & Club, and the layout later became known as the Ocean Course.

The first guests of the Ponte Vedra Inn & Club came from throughout the U.S., including cities such as Grosse Point, Mich., Newport, R.I., and Greenwich, Conn. They stayed at the Ponte Vedra Inn & Club to enjoy the sun, sports and social networking.

As the mineral market slowed, the National Lead Company decided to expand its marketing of the resort. A tennis court, the first in northeast Florida, was added to the Ponte Vedra Inn & Club. Additionally, the state built a road (now called State Road A1A) along the shoreline from Ponte Vedra Beach to St. Augustine in 1929, opening up the area to more tourist business.

In the 1950s Ponte Vedra Inn & Club hired designer Robert Trent Jones, Sr. to expand the Ocean course to 27 holes. The resort later commissioned Jones to design the front nine of Ponte Vedra Inn & Club's Lagoon Course. In 1977, designer Joe Lee added nine more holes, and in 2007, the Ponte Vedra Inn & Club hired Bobby Weed to fully restore and enhance Lagoon.

The Ponte Vedra Inn & Club opened a spa in 1987. In November 2006, the Ponte Vedra Inn & Club expanded the facility, creating the largest spa in the region at 30,000 square feet. The Ponte Vedra Inn & Club combined resources with the Lodge & Club, also in Ponte Vedra Beach, in 1997. The two properties became known as the Ponte Vedra Beach Resorts.

In 2002, AAA named the Ponte Vedra Inn & Club a Five-Diamond resort. The property has retained that status for six years, receiving the honor again in 2008. Only 36 resorts in the United States are recognized with five diamonds from AAA.

The Ponte Vedra Inn & Club celebrates its 80th year with a variety of recreational activities including golf, tennis, swimming, sailing, horseback-riding and fishing. The resort also offers 30,000 square feet of meeting space, seven dining options, 250 oversized sleeping rooms, more than 5,000 square feet of shopping space, the spa and an oceanfront fitness center.

For more information about the resort or to make reservations, visit http://www.pvresorts.com.