HistoricSiteMarkers
Reconstruction & Gilded Age

The Glass House Resort

Kittrell, Vance County, North Carolina

Marker Inscription

The Glass House. Noted winter health resort patronized by Northern hunters and tuberculosis patients. Opened 1871; burned 1893. Site is 1/2 mi. W.

Erected by North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources

The Story

Opened in 1871, the Glass House drew Northern hunters and tuberculosis patients to the mild North Carolina climate in the golden age of the health resort. It flourished for barely two decades before fire destroyed it in 1893.

Why it matters

It reflects the Gilded Age faith that fresh air and a change of climate could cure disease, and the rise of the South as a winter refuge for Northern travelers.

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