Historic hotel guided tours bring past to life

For travelers who seek out historic hotels, learning about a property firsthand and from an expert is a lovely perk. No brochure or website can make history come alive — or indulge questions — the way a human guide can. In fact, for many travelers, guided tours are the highlight of trips to such iconic properties as the Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia, which served as a secret bunker for members of Congress, or the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colo., which has a rich history both as a resort built by an automobile magnate and as the inspiration for the Stephen King novel “The Shining.”

The following lodgings, all featured on the Historic Hotels of America website (historichotels.org), offer guided tours of their fascinating properties, making your time there a truly memorable experience.

Jekyll Island Club Resort, Jekyll Island, Ga.

After an exquisite day at the majestic Jekyll Island Club Resort off the coast of Georgia, my companion asks, “What was your favorite part?”

It’s a tough call. The 5,700 acres of island tranquility once served as a private retreat for a group of America’s wealthiest families — picture Vanderbilts and Morgans. In 1947, the state of Georgia bought the island, and in 1983, architect Larry Evans and lawyer Vance Hughes proposed restoring the historic building. The Jekyll Island Club opened as a hotel in 1986. Now owned by Northview Hotel Group, it has 157 rooms, with more units to come this year.

The stately Queen Anne-style architecture, breezy verandas and trees filled with swaying Spanish moss make for a relaxed and elegant atmosphere. But my favorite part? That was Sherri Zacher, the Jekyll Island Club Resort’s concierge, who conducts the history tours.

Sherri is Siri when it comes to club information; it seems there’s nothing she doesn’t know. She fed us fascinating tidbits, sharing details about the secret 1910 meeting disguised as a duck hunt that laid the groundwork for the Federal Reserve, and showing us Joseph Pulitzer’s favorite seat for an after-dinner smoke. Her childhood memories of trips to the island lent the presentation a personal feel and allowed us to experience a sense of connection and inclusion, to feel solid as a Rockefeller in this grand history-heavy retreat.

371 Riverview Drive, Jekyll Island, Ga.; 855-535-9547, jekyllclub.com. Rooms start at $149. Tours: Monday through Thursday at 2 p.m. Free for hotel guests; $15 per person for nonguests. Reservations recommended.

Omni Mount Washington Resort, Bretton Woods, N.H.

Under the front veranda of the Omni Mount Washington Resort is a bar that no one was supposed to know about — well, no one with a badge.

This was a Prohibition-era speakeasy. The term for an illegal establishment that serves alcohol came from having to fool police, according to Craig Clemmer, the resort’s director of sales and marketing. One brick could be removed from the wall for a lookout, and if the police were approaching, guests would be told, “Dump your cups and speak easy,” he says. The Cave, as the bar is now known, still offers a Prohibition Punch, which Clemmer describes as “a Roaring ’20s-era cocktail served in a tea cup.”

The 200-room Spanish Renaissance Revival-style hotel was newsworthy when coal and railroad magnate Joseph Stickney opened it in 1902: “To have hot and cold running water and a private bath in every room in this hotel was unheard of at the time,” Clemmer says.

310 Mount Washington Hotel Road, Bretton Woods, N.H.; 603-278-1000, omnihotels.com/hotels/bretton-woods-mount-washington. Rooms start at $219. Tours: Daily, 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. Free for guests. Private group tours, catered tours and tours for motor coach groups can be arranged.

Mission Inn Hotel & Spa, Riverside, Calif.

To look at the Mission Inn, you’d never guess this giant, labyrinthine complex began as a humble adobe and boardinghouse in 1876. The owner’s son, Frank Miller, a world traveler and lover of beauty, opened today’s hotel on the site in 1903. He constructed it in the Mission Revival tradition popular at the time, and kept adding to it in a variety of architectural styles, including Spanish, Moorish and Mediterranean revival.

Miller’s “life’s motto was ‘Dramatize what you do,'” collections manager Karen Raines said. And that he did, amassing a mammoth collection of art, religious artifacts and other antiquities. The hotel has more than 8,000 pieces, some of which it displays in rotating exhibits in the hotel and at its museum.

Some areas viewable only on the tour include the Grand Parisian Ballroom, with its 1903 custom-made Kimball pipe organ, and the Saint Francis of Assisi Chapel with Tiffany stained-glass windows.

3649 Mission Inn Ave., Riverside, Calif.; 951-784-0300, missioninn.com. Rooms start at $199. Tours: $13 for adults; children 11 years and younger are free with a paying adult. Weekday tour times: 10 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. Weekends: 10 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m., 2:30 p.m. and 4 p.m. Reservations recommended.

Palmer House, a Hilton Hotel, Chicago

Being both warm and palatial is a neat trick, but, then, the Palmer House has some magic to it. The original hotel was a wedding gift from business and real estate magnate Palmer Potter to his bride, Bertha Honore Potter, a cultural leader, renowned art collector and advocate for women. The first Palmer House opened in 1871 but fell to the Great Chicago Fire. Palmer then rebuilt what was advertised as the world’s first fireproof hotel. The current 1,641-room hotel is the third incarnation, built in the 1920s in Classical Revival style.

17 East Monroe St., Chicago; palmerhousehiltonhotel.com, 312-726-7500; Rates from $109. Tours: Tuesday through Saturday from 12:45 to 3 p.m., subject to availability. Reservations required 24 hours in advance. The lunch tour is $70; tour alone is $430.