Now nationally recognized as a world-class golf resort known for its Southern hospitality, Maggie Valley Club & Resort wasn’t always the sophisticated destination it is today.

In the 1800s, what is now Maggie Valley Club & Resort was the homestead of Sentelle and Mary Francis Moody. Long before a golf course existed, the land was used for farming. In a gesture of hospitality that the farm would later become known for, the Moody family generously opened their home to those willing to work the land. In exchange for the farming, the Moodys provided room, board and education to their residents. As those residents shared stories of their lives with relatives and friends, the Moody Farm began to grow a reputation for the quality home-cooking and gentle hospitality they provided.

When visitors to the area were looking for somewhere to stay, the Moody Farm was one of their first stops. As their home filled, the Moodys converted small cabins on their grounds into guest cottages; and so western North Carolina’s tourism trade began!

By the 1960s, golf resorts were becoming very popular. An ambitious man named Wilmore Brenner gathered the support of a group of investors to purchase a significant portion of the Moody Farm, including the tobacco and cornfields of the farm’s front bottomland. This land became the front nine holes of the Maggie Valley Club & Resort’s golf course, now known as the Valley Nine. After a painstaking transformation that required the fairways to be sewn by hand three times, the first Maggie Valley Country Club golfers christened the course late in the summer of 1963.

As the surrounding areas developed, the demand for homes along the course grew, and later, a second set of nine holes were added. This set became known as the Mountain Nine, a section of the course renowned for its views.

Today, Maggie Valley Club & Resort sits on the same land that was once home to Mary Francis and Sentelle Moody, and we like to think that they’d applaud our vision. While we offer guests every amenity, we’ve never forgotten the spirit of true Southern hospitality that began with the Moody Farm.

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