Last year, Maggie Hardy Magerko wrapped up a $30 million renovation of Nemacolin Woodlands Resort, including the elegant Chateau Lafayette Hotel, one of many tempting lodging options on the grounds. The new garden and fountain terrace in front of the Chateau enhances its jaw-dropping façade, modeled after the Ritz Paris. The Ritz, however, doesn’t house the eclectic, $45 million Hardy art collection, nor is it surrounded by a 2,000-acre playground with more than 50 activities for romantics, families and sports enthusiasts. Nor does the Ritz have the world’s only female Forbes 5-star, AAA 5-diamond chef, Kristin Butterworth, chef de cuisine of the Chateau’s inimitable Lautrec Restaurant. My visit was prompted by the resort’s golf news. Pete Dye, architect of Mystic Rock, is creating another 18 holes on terrain as rugged and dramatic as Mystic Rock. I took a four-wheel drive tour of the layout with Mike Jones, the resort’s new director of golf and recreation. The new course opens in 2017. Jones comes to Nemacolin from Hawai’i’s Kapalua, one of the world’s top golf resorts. He’s joined by a new director of golf instruction, Eric Johnson, formerly at Oakmont Country Club, host of the 2016 U.S. Open. The recruiting of these high-profile golf experts is mirrored in many upper-level staffing changes. Magerko, with the blessing of her dad, Joe Hardy, founder of 84 Lumber and the resort, is serious about making Nemacolin Woodlands a household name. Two June episodes of ABC’s reality romance The Bachelorette filmed at the resort. JoJo Fletcher, the bachelorette, stayed in the Chateau’s posh Presidential Suite and was wooed by suitors who shared the resort’s Arden Estates, the ultimate bachelor pad. Feel free to recreate the show’s romantic interludes during your stay, or write your own script!

Nemacolin Woodlands Resort

1001 Lafayette Drive Farmington, PA 15437