PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- The AAA Five-Diamond Ponte Vedra Inn & Club in Northeast Florida is commemorating its history with a year long 80th birthday celebration.

In 1922, the National Lead Company, an organization dedicated to mining the mineral-rich beach area, built a nine-hole golf course, log clubhouse and polo field for its employees. Famed British architect, Herbert Bertram Strong, designed the golf course using 100 mules dragging slip pans to shape course contours. He also dredged lagoons to build a series of earthen mounds to dot the fairways and create dramatic undulations. The name of the complex changed in 1928 to the Ponte Vedra Inn & Club, and the golf course later became known as the Ocean Course.

The first guests of the Ponte Vedra Inn & Club came from many different locations in the eastern and midwestern United States, including Grosse Point, Mich., Newport, R.I., and Greenwich, Conn. They stayed at the Ponte Vedra Inn & Club to enjoy the sun, sports and social networking.

As the mineral market slowed, the National Lead Company decided to expand marketing of the resort community in Ponte Vedra. A tennis court, the first in Northeast Florida, was added to the Ponte Vedra Inn & Club. Additionally, the state of Florida began to build a road along the shoreline from Ponte Vedra Beach to St. Augustine in 1929, now called State Road A1A, opening up the area to more tourist business.

In the 1950s, The Ponte Vedra Inn & Club hired renowned course designer Robert Trent Jones to expand the Ocean golf course to 27 holes. The resort later commissioned Robert Trent Jones to design the front nine holes of Ponte Vedra Inn & Club's Lagoon Course. In 1977, designer Joe Lee added nine more holes, and in 2007, the Ponte Vedra Inn & Club hired highly acclaimed Bobby Weed to fully restore and enhance the layout of the Lagoon Course.

The Ponte Vedra Inn & Club opened a luxurious spa in 1987. In November 2006, The Ponte Vedra Inn & Club expanded the spa, creating the region's largest, at 30,000 square feet. The state-of-the-art facility offers the latest technologies and therapies. InStyle magazine, Vogue magazine and The Oprah Winfrey Show have all given the Spa at the Ponte Vedra Inn & Club rave reviews.

The Ponte Vedra Inn & Club combined resources with the Lodge & Club, also in Ponte Vedra Beach, in 1997. The two properties became known as the Ponte Vedra Beach Resorts. The two destinations share a common goal of providing extraordinary, personalized service to each guest. Those standards have stood the test of time, and have been synonymous with the Ponte Vedra Beach Resorts for eight decades.

In 2002, AAA named The Ponte Vedra Inn & Club a Five-Diamond resort. The property has retained that status for six years and received the honor again in 2008. Only 36 resorts in the United States are recognized with five diamonds from AAA.

The Ponte Vedra Inn & Club now celebrates its 80th year with a wide variety of recreational activities including golf, tennis, swimming, sailing, horseback riding and fishing. The resort also offers 30,000 square feet of meeting space, seven dining options, 250 elegantly appointed, oversized sleeping rooms, more than 5,000 square feet of shopping space, the spa and an oceanfront fitness center.

About the Ponte Vedra Inn & Club
Established in 1928, the Ponte Vedra Inn & Club in beautiful Ponte Vedra Beach has a long tradition as Northeast Florida's finest private club and oceanfront resort. It enjoys a prestigious AAA Five-Diamond rating. Situated on miles of wide pristine beach, the property features 250 guest rooms and suites; two 18-hole golf courses; a highly rated tennis program; full-service spa; gym facility; fine boutiques and world-class dining. For more information about the resort or to make reservations, visit http://www.pvresorts.com.

Media Contact:
Michelle Guglielmo
Burdette Ketchum
904.645.6200 (o)
904.485.6597 (c)
mguglielmo @ burdetteketchum.com