What do a soda fountain, a horse track, and a statue of a young golfer have in common? If you live in Moore County, the pocket of North Carolina synonymous with resort living, world-class golf, and training standardbreds, then you know the answer: All three resulted from the ingenuity and philanthropy of the Tufts family.
James Walker Tufts Photography courtesy of Pinehurst, Southern Pines, Aberdeen Area CVB
James Walker Tufts and his son, Leonard, embarked on a Pinehurst journey as meandering as a round of golf. And when each generation encountered a sand trap, they seized the opportunity to try something new.
From her domain in the back wing of Pinehurst’s Given Memorial Library, Executive Director Audrey Moriarty oversees the story of the Tufts family’s journey in the Tufts Archives. She greets guests and shows them around the archives. She also takes visitors on walking tours through the historic Village of Pinehurst. There, Moriarty explains that the Tufts took what life handed them and, with a new look and a fresh swing at it, laid the groundwork for Moore County’s hidden gems and treasures. Here are three to know.
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Inside Given Memorial Library, the Tufts Archives spotlights the family that turned Pinehurst into a premier destination. Photography courtesy of Pinehurst, Southern Pines, Aberdeen Area CVB
From the moment businessman James Walker Tufts breathed in the fresh country air of Southern Pines, a stop on his regular train route from Boston to Florida, he knew this part of the country checked all the boxes. He dreamed of building a health resort for people who wanted to escape big-city life in the “pine ozone” and find peace and rejuvenation.
Even though James was a millionaire when he bought 5,800 acres of Southern Pines timberland in 1895, the path he forged hadn’t always been easy. A very heavy tribute to his hard work stands front-and-center at the Tufts Archives: a 300-pound Italian marble soda fountain with silver-plated knobs.
One of James Walker Tufts’s soda fountains, the piece largely responsible for his success, can be seen in the Tufts Archives today. Photography courtesy of Pinehurst, Southern Pines, Aberdeen Area CVB
“His father died when he was 16, and James had to help his mother, so he became an apprentice at an apothecary shop for five years. In the fifth year, he saved 250 dollars and was able to open his own business,” Moriarty says. “This is the kind of soda fountain you would have had if you owned a small apothecary shop.”
Moriarty props open the soda fountain’s heavy lid and points to where the ice and flavors were added. “He started making labor-saving devices for himself, and people would ask him, ‘Where did you get that!’ so he developed a whole line of soda fountain equipment and supplies.”
Head to Given Memorial Library to check out more collectibles showcasing the Tufts family. Photography courtesy of Pinehurst, Southern Pines, Aberdeen Area CVB
In 1891, James’s wealth catapulted to millionaire status, thanks to a business merger that formed the American Soda Fountain Company. “They sold soda fountain apparatuses all over the United States — Chicago, San Francisco, Philadelphia — and when he retired at 65, he was paid 700,000 dollars for his portion, a value of about $16 million today.”
Don’t miss it: It’s free to visit the Tufts Archives at Given Memorial Library, which has all kinds of treasures in addition to the soda fountain. Visitors love the glass case filled with original pieces from Tufts’s plated silver collection (he created a line to complement the soda fountain equipment), including a hand-painted European glass pickle jar, complete with a set of delicate tongs.
Once a health resort for New England visitors, Pinehurst has evolved into a walkable and picturesque village. Photography courtesy of Pinehurst, Southern Pines, Aberdeen Area CVB
Within a year of James and Leonard’s purchase, the Village of Pinehurst had all the trappings of his dream health resort: a New England-style village complete with a general store, boarding house, dairy farm, more than 20 cottages, and The Holly Inn.
From polo to hunting and lawn bowling to tennis, archery, and bicycling, guests had no shortage of outdoor activities.
“It was like adult camp!” Moriarty says. “The resort encouraged mild exercise … For the Tufts’ guests, the goal was passive, low-key entertainment. They were sick; they were supposed to go on walks and stroll and rest and take in the sunshine and the warm air. At Pinehurst, the water was pure and the air was cleaner — that was the cure.” After all, Moriarty reiterates, nobody was running marathons in Pinehurst’s early days.
The Harness Track serves as a training ground from October through May. Photography courtesy of Pinehurst, Southern Pines, Aberdeen Area CVB
The property included barns that housed horses, and in 1915, the Tufts built the Pinehurst Harness Track — all in the name of good entertainment, Moriarty says. To this day, the horse track’s annual Spring Matinee Races show off young trotters and pacers who trained at Pinehurst through the winter months. “The soft sand on the clay-sand track is good for the baby horses’ musculature,” Moriarty says.
Don’t miss it: As the oldest continuously operating equine sports facility in North Carolina, the Harness Track still hosts dressage shows, an annual dog show, polo matches, and hunter and jumper shows. While you’re there, plan for breakfast at the Pinehurst Track Restaurant, a local favorite known for their award-winning blueberry pancakes.
Golf was never part of the original Pinehurst plan. “But people who’d been coming to the Tufts’ resort from the North who weren’t that sick would hit golf balls around and had started asking for golf,” says Moriarty. It seemed like the natural pivot.
John Dunn Tucker designed their first course, Pinehurst No. 1, and the now-legendary Donald Ross designed Pinehurst No. 2. Each course’s design worked with the soft, rolling Piedmont land. The Tufts hired ad man Frank Presby to get the word out. Full of new ideas, Presby started with tournaments. “He had a zillion tournaments — tournaments for people who never broke a hundred. Tournaments for left-handers … If you finished a game, just about, you got a trophy, you know, to encourage people to come back,” Moriarty says.
Don’t miss The Putter Boy outside of Pinehurst Resort & Country Club. Photography courtesy of Pinehurst, Southern Pines, Aberdeen Area CVB
Presby’s next big idea: The Putter Boy, Pinehurst’s first official mascot printed on all the advertising materials. It wasn’t long before sculptress Lucy Richards transformed the beloved young golfer into a bronze statue.
Don’t miss it: You can visit Richards’s Putter Boy, now residing outside the clubhouse at Pinehurst Resort & Country Club. When you go, you may notice the Putter Boy’s inordinately long club casts a shadow, hence giving the statue the alternate moniker, “The Sundial Boy.”
Curious to explore more? Click here to start planning your time discovering the hidden treasures in Pinehurst.
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