2-42 Highland Park Hotel
Posted by: 
denmother4
N 33° 33.535 W 081° 43.583
17S E 432574 N 3713487
This marker is such a small reminder of the important place in history this place was to the "Winter Colony" and Aiken.
Waymark Code: WMFKZ9
Location: South Carolina, United States
Date Posted: 11/01/2012
Views: 6
Hidden in a residential neighborhood bordering downtown Aiken is this historical marker. There is no overlook or monument or geographical reminder that brings attention to this intersection of Highland Park Terrace and Highland Park Avenue.
Marker 2-42 reads
Highland Park Hotel
The Highland Park Hotel, Aiken's first grand tourist hotel, stood atop this plateau. It was built in 1869-1870 and opened in 1870. A four-story Second Empire wing built in 1874 doubled its capacity to 350 guests. Open from November to June, it was at first favored by visitors coming to Aiken for their health and later by wealthy Northerners who wintered here and formed the "Aiken Winter Colony" in the 1890s.
(on the back side)
Interior features included men's and ladies' billiard rooms and a bowling alley. The grounds included tennis and croquet courts, stables and riding trails, walking trails, and a pavilion. The hotel burned in 1898, and this site became a park. A new Highland Park Hotel, a Spanish Colonial Revival building, opened here in 1915. Originally 80 rooms, it was later enlarged to 125 rooms. That hotel was demolished in 1940.
Erected by the Aiken County Historical Society, 2009.
Marker Name: 2-42 Highland Park Hotel
Marker Location: City
Type of Marker: Historic Site
Marker number: 2-42
County: Aiken
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