The Greystone Inn

A Swiss Chalet on a Lake That Once Vanished

Lucy Armstrong Moltz had summered at the Toxaway Inn among the Vanderbilts and the Rockefellers before she talked her husband into building on the lake themselves. She designed the house herself: board and batten siding stained grey, white trim, the pitched roofs and balconies of a European mountain chalet, finished in 1915 and named Hillmont. A year later the dam gave way, the lake drained, and the resort era of Lake Toxaway ended overnight. Lucy stayed anyway, made the house her permanent home and spent the following decades as the benefactor of a community that had lost its reason for being. The water came back in 1961. The house had never left.

Why It Works

Most historic properties in the southern mountains trade on the idea of history rather than the thing itself, which is what separates this one: the mansion is the original 1915 house, restored rather than replicated, and the story behind it is documented down to the name on the marker. The second reason is the shoreline. Thirty rooms share a private stretch of a lake that has no public access, so the quiet is structural and not a claim. The third is the range of a full inn: a restaurant, a bar in the mansion, a spa and boats, all on the property.

Why This Location

Lake Toxaway sits on US 64 between Brevard and Cashiers, in the stretch of the Blue Ridge that holds the highest concentration of waterfalls in the eastern states. Gorges State Park starts a few minutes down the road, with the drop towards Jocassee below it. The waterfalls of DuPont State Recreational Forest and the town of Brevard, with its summer music festival and its white squirrels, are about half an hour east. Cashiers and Highlands are a similar run west. Asheville is around an hour and a half by road, which makes this a base rather than a stopover. The approach is the giveaway: the last miles wind, and then the lake opens.

Fast Facts

• Price: Luxury

• Vibe: Lakeside, historic, unhurried, mountain

• Rooms: Thirty, split between the 1915 mansion, the Hillmont on the peninsula and a two-suite lakeside cottage; fireplaces, private entrances and lake decks depending on the building

• Best For: Couples, walkers and paddlers, travellers touring the Blue Ridge who want one good base

• Our Favorite Thing About the Hotel: Miss Lucy, the vintage cruise boat named for the woman who built the place, still taking guests out on the water

• Dining: The Restaurant at the Greystone and the Mansion Bar, both on site

• Amenities: Spa, private lake frontage, marina and motorboat rentals, seasonal access to the Lake Toxaway Country Club for tennis, pickleball and croquet, pets welcome, parking on site

• Attractions: Gorges State Park, the waterfalls of DuPont State Recreational Forest, Brevard (about half an hour), Cashiers and Highlands, Asheville (about an hour and a half)

Three Buildings, One Shoreline

Accommodation splits three ways and the choice matters more than usual here. The mansion holds the historic rooms, each one different, some with fireplaces, some with a private entrance and a terrace on the lake side. The Hillmont sits out on the peninsula: separate entrances, more space, and a deck over the water on every room. The lakeside cottage above the spa is two one-bedroom suites, each with a king bed, a living room of its own and a screened porch, which is the configuration to ask for on a long stay. Thirty rooms in all. Ask for the water when you book.

The Lake, the Boats and the Rest of the Day

Guests do not bring their own boats. What they get instead is a marina, motorboats to rent and two vintage cruisers, Miss Lucy and the Lightning Bug, taken out through the concierge. The Lake Toxaway Country Club opens its tennis courts, pickleball and croquet lawns to the inn from spring to late autumn. The spa covers the days when the mountains are in cloud, which they often are. Dinner is at the restaurant, drinks in the mansion bar, and the evening tends to end on a terrace facing the water. Nobody here is in a hurry, and the property is built on that assumption.