Experience The Vastness Of Time At Primland

The lodge and golf course at Primland, a 12,000 acre resort in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

© 2022 Peter Frank Edwards

The first thing I did upon checking into my room at Primland, a luxury resort in the Blue Ridge Mountains, was lace up my sneakers. I grew up hiking with my family on the nature preserve that surrounded our house in Westchester County, New York.

A family hiking at Primland resort.

© 2022 Peter Frank Edwards

After four years of living in Savannah, Georgia, where the land is flat and the air is humid, I wanted to test out my calves in some fresh mountain air on one of Primland’s many private hiking trails.

A black bear spotted by the author on an RTV tour at Primland, an Auberge Resorts Collection ... [+] property in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Brienne Walsh

The next night, as I watched a young female black bear devour the gorgeous charcuterie board that I had just been picnicking on outside of Stables Saloon, one of the resort’s many restaurants, I realized how foolish I had been to hike alone without so much as a bear bell to protect me.

The charcuterie in question.

Brienne Walsh

It only took twenty-four hours to realize that black bears were everywhere at Primland.

The unbelievably delicious food at Stables Saloon, which also hosts live bluegrass music at night.

Brienne Walsh

Rambling by the garbage outside of Stables Saloon, which serves Southern comfort food so good I almost wept while eating the mac and cheese.

The Lodge at Primland, which is one of many types of luxury accommodations available to guests.

Courtesy Primland

Helping themselves to the complimentary snacks at the resort’s Tree Houses, which are private cabins built of aromatic red cedar, and perched 2,700-feet over the Dan River Gorge.

A view from one of the remote tree houses, which are available for rent, and were designed in France ... [+] by renowned treehouse architectural firm La Cabane Perchee.

Courtesy Primland

Rolling around in a bed of unripe apples in an orchard on the route I took on a guided — and muddy — tour of the 12,000-acre property on Recreational All-Terrain Vehicles (RTVs). Protecting their babies while I rode on horseback underneath a cathedral of oak, yellow birch, sassafras, and mountain laurel trees.

One of many scenic views from the resort.

Brienne Walsh

I only had to watch Werner Herzog’s Grizzly Man (2005) a single time in my early twenties to know that a solo encounter with a black bear would not end well for me, no matter how fuzzy. Even still, the property, which is arguably best known its award-winning Highland Golf Course, was too beautiful to resist. After taking a hike with Tim Branham, the resort’s resident naturalist, who taught me how to identify native species of flora and fungi — along with assuring me that the bears were more afraid of me than I was of them — I felt equipped to hike Buzzard’s Roost, one of the resort’s most challenging trails, by myself.

The young buck I encountered on the Buzzard Trail.

Brienne Walsh

Although my heart pounded and my adrenaline surged when a young buck rustled through a thicket of bushes, and charged onto the path, the fear was worth it for the minutes I spent watching a hawk glide through the air above the densely green Dan River Valley. It was the beginning of August, and the land was as alive as it would be all year.

The entrance to the Lodge.

Courtesy of Primland

There’s a sense, at Primland, that you’re in some sort of time wormhole, just as much present in the 21st century as you are during the Civil War, when Confederate soldiers marched through the Blue Ridge Mountains, and long, long before that, when indigenous tribes hunted for big game in the lush valleys. Part of this is because the land is still so wild.

The Great Hall of the Lodge, which was recently re-designed by Chad Dorsey Design.

Courtesy Primland

But also, the resort takes great care to preserve and celebrate local culture. The recently re-designed Great Hall of the Lodge, which offers sweeping views of the golf course, is adorned by large-scale cowhide quilts by Kyle Bunting that utilize patterns traditional to Appalachia that have been passed down through generations of women. The menu at 19th Pub, another dining option on the property, features cocktails made with home-brewed moonshine, a high-proof liquor that originated in the region in the 18th century. And the food at Leatherflower, a recently opened fine dining establishment off of the Great Hall, is sourced from local farms. The restaurant, along with the public spaces in the Lodge, the private Hawk Eye residence and the newly opened Mountain Top Tree House Suites, were all refreshed or designed by Chad Dorsey Design in the past year.

A spread at Leatherflower, the resort's newest dining option.

Courtesy Primland

“There is an incredibly rich history of making [in the region] — woodcarving, pottery, quilting, weaving and basketry to name a few,” says Grace Excano-Maniatis, the director of design at Auberge Resorts Collection, which owns Primland. “We want our guests to leave inspired by their time in the mountain and to get a real taste of the region.”

The view from the open air observatory at the Lodge.

Courtesy Primland

The sense of timelessness is heightened by the resort’s observatory, where Rani Lankford, a local high school teacher and the resort’s resident astronomer, gives fascinating nightly lectures using high-powered Celestron CGE Pro 1400 and CPC 800 telescopes. On the night I spent with Lankford, I observed the births of new planets in clouds of gas and dust, as well as saw, for the first time, the smear of the Milky Way with my bare eyes.

The Trifid Nebula taken by Rani Lankford with the telescope at the Primland observatory.

Courtesy of Primland

I only had three days at Primland, but I could have spent my summer there. It would have taken me that much time to get bored of the hiking trails, experiences and local guides, all of whom could weave a yarn worthy of a long night by the fire. And then, I would have finally been able to enjoy my suite. Which, by the way, had five-star bedding along with scenic views and a very deep tub. But why sit indoors when there were hawks, and bears, and stars, and even an extremely rare American chestnut sapling to observe outside? I returned home to Savannah, and still, sometimes at night, look up and try to find the Milky Way. I never see it. I’ll have to wait to return to Primland to step back into the vastness of time.