A planned community from 1895, still arranged exactly as Frederick Law Olmsted drew it.
The Village of Pinehurst was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, the landscape architect responsible for Central Park and the Biltmore Estate grounds. The original plan survives largely intact: curving streets radiate from a central traffic circle, lined with longleaf pines and mature hardwoods that provide canopy cover even in midsummer.
A self-guided walk from the traffic circle takes in the key landmarks. The Pinehurst Resort's main buildings are visible to the west, including The Carolina Hotel and the original clubhouse. The village shops and restaurants occupy low-rise buildings along Chinquapin Road and the streets immediately surrounding the circle. The architecture is restrained New England transplanted to the Sandhills, with white clapboard, covered porches, and proportions that reflect the era of construction.
The walk extends naturally to the resort grounds, where the practice putting green in front of The Carolina Hotel is open to visitors and provides a connection to the property's competitive history. The green has been the site of countless pre-round and post-round putting sessions across a century of championship golf.
For golfers with a free morning or an afternoon between rounds, the village walk provides a sense of the place that the courses alone do not convey. Pinehurst was not a golf course that grew a town around it. It was a town that grew golf within it, and the village layout reflects that original relationship.