12 Unforgettable Historic Hotels Across America

To me, some hotels are just a place to drop your bag before dinner. A rare few are the reason I booked the whole trip in the first place.

I will always pick the place with a story over the place with the flashiest rooftop pool. Walk into a truly old hotel and you are standing where a president once slept, where a favorite movie was filmed, where an American legend got its start.

America is full of these grand survivors, and the best part is that they still hand you a key today. They come with creaking grandeur, marching ducks, revolving bars, and a ghost story or two thrown in for free.

Below, twelve historic hotels across the country that are worth planning an entire trip around. Pack a bag and pick your favorite.

1. Hotel del Coronado, California

You have seen this one even if you do not know its name. The red-turreted Victorian rising off a San Diego beach is where Marilyn Monroe filmed Some Like It Hot in 1959, and it looks every bit as dreamy in person.

Opened in 1888, “The Del” is one of the largest wooden resort buildings ever raised in the country. Come at sunset, when the white siding turns gold and the surf rolls in a few steps from the porch.

Over the years it has welcomed presidents, Hollywood royalty, and a young author named L. Frank Baum, who is said to have found inspiration here for his Oz books. The beachfront setting still feels like a movie set, because it once was one.

Where: 1500 Orange Avenue, Coronado, CA 92118

2. The Stanley Hotel, Colorado

Here is the one that spooked a master of horror. Stephen King checked into room 217 in 1974, had a restless night in a nearly empty hotel, and left with the idea that became The Shining.

The Stanley opened in 1909, built by F.O. Stanley of Stanley Steamer automobile fame. Its bright Georgian face sits against the peaks of Rocky Mountain National Park, and the ghost tours have become a destination all their own.

Stanley built it as a luxury retreat and ferried wealthy guests up the mountain in his own steam-powered cars. Today you can join a night tour, catch live music in the concert hall, or simply rock on the porch and drink in that view.

Where: 333 Wonderview Avenue, Estes Park, CO 80517

3. Grand Hotel, Michigan

Getting here is half the magic. No cars are allowed on Mackinac Island, so you arrive by ferry and finish the trip by horse-drawn carriage, clip-clopping up to a hotel that has been welcoming guests since 1887.

The Grand claims the longest front porch in the world at 660 feet, lined with white columns, geranium beds, and a row of rocking chairs made for doing absolutely nothing. Fans of the film Somewhere in Time will recognize every inch of it.

Five US presidents have stayed here, and the evening dress code still asks gentlemen to wear a jacket after six. The pool out front is named for swimming star Esther Williams, who filmed on the property in the 1940s.

Where: 286 Grand Avenue, Mackinac Island, MI 49757

4. The Peabody Memphis, Tennessee

Twice a day, a red carpet rolls out and five ducks waddle from the elevator to the lobby fountain while a crowd cheers. I dare you to watch the March of the Peabody Ducks and not grin like a kid.

The tradition dates to the 1930s and was formalized in 1940 by a bellman and former circus trainer named Edward Pembroke. The hotel itself goes back to 1869, with the grand Union Avenue building opening in 1925.

The five mallards live in a rooftop Duck Palace and ride the elevator down each morning to a John Philip Sousa march. A uniformed Duckmaster leads the whole parade, and the ducks are honored guests, never anything on the menu.

Where: 149 Union Avenue, Memphis, TN 38103

5. Hotel Monteleone, Louisiana

Order a drink at the Carousel Bar and your barstool slowly turns. The whole thing revolves once every fifteen minutes, twenty-five hand-painted seats spinning gently past the bartenders since 1949.

The hotel opened in 1886, founded by Sicilian immigrant Antonio Monteleone and still run by the same family five generations later. Hemingway, Faulkner, and Tennessee Williams all wrote here, which earned it a spot as an official Literary Landmark.

Truman Capote liked to claim he was born inside these walls, though in truth his mother only stayed here while expecting him. Grab a slowly turning seat, order a cocktail, and raise a glass to the writers who came before you.

Where: 214 Royal Street, New Orleans, LA 70130

6. Arizona Biltmore, Phoenix, Arizona

They call it the Jewel of the Desert, and the nickname fits. Opened in 1929, the Biltmore is built from patterned “textile block” concrete that catches the Phoenix light in a way no ordinary wall ever could.

The design came from Albert Chase McArthur, a student of Frank Lloyd Wright, with the master himself consulting on the project. Nearly every president from Hoover to George W. Bush stayed here, and legend says the Tequila Sunrise cocktail was invented poolside.

Marilyn Monroe called the Catalina pool her favorite, and Irving Berlin is said to have written part of White Christmas here. The palm-lined grounds and patterned concrete blocks still look like nowhere else in Phoenix. Do order the cocktail.

Where: 2400 East Missouri Avenue, Phoenix, AZ 85016

7. The Jefferson Hotel, Virginia

The grand staircase here is the kind you slow down for. Richmond’s Jefferson opened in 1895 and was designed by Carrère and Hastings, the same firm behind the New York Public Library, so the Beaux-Arts grandeur runs deep.

A marble statue of Thomas Jefferson presides over the lobby. And here is my favorite piece of trivia: the hotel once kept live alligators in its lobby pools, a quirky tradition that lasted well into the 1940s.

Tobacco baron Lewis Ginter built the whole thing to dazzle, and more than a century later it still does. Thirteen US presidents have signed the register, along with Elvis and Charlie Chaplin.

Beneath a soaring stained-glass rotunda and a lobby full of marble, checking in here feels closer to visiting a palace. Come for afternoon tea or a mint julep and stay to wander the halls.

Where: 101 West Franklin Street, Richmond, VA 23220

8. The Plaza, New York

No hotel says New York quite like this one. Standing at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Central Park since 1907, the Plaza is a French Renaissance chateau dropped into the middle of Manhattan.

It is the home of the fictional Eloise, the backdrop for Home Alone 2 and The Great Gatsby, and the site of Truman Capote’s legendary 1966 Black and White Ball.

Book afternoon tea in the Palm Court and sit a while. You are paying for the history as much as the scones.

The Beatles hid out here on their first American visit in 1964, ducking screaming fans in the halls. From the gilded ballroom to the fountain out front, every corner has been photographed a thousand times, and it still charms.

Where: 768 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10019

9. Omni Mount Washington, New Hampshire

Round a bend in the White Mountains and this white palace with a red roof simply appears, tucked beneath the tallest peak in the Northeast. Built between 1900 and 1902, it is one of the last of New Hampshire’s grand mountain resorts still standing.

Industrialist Joseph Stickney brought roughly 250 Italian artisans to raise it. In 1944 it hosted the Bretton Woods conference, the meeting that created the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

History was made in that ballroom, and you can still book a room down the hall. The wraparound veranda looks out on a golf course and mile after mile of forest, and in winter the whole scene turns to snow.

Where: 310 Mount Washington Hotel Road, Bretton Woods, NH 03575

10. The Pfister Hotel, Wisconsin

Milwaukee’s grand dame opened in 1893 and was dreamed up as the Grand Hotel of the West. More than 130 years later, it holds one of the largest collections of Victorian art of any hotel on earth, hung right there in the halls where you walk.

Ask any visiting Major League Baseball player and you will get a ghost story, since so many road teams stay here and swear the place is haunted. The ornate lobby and sweeping staircase have anchored downtown Milwaukee for generations.

Guests have included a long line of presidents and touring stars, drawn by the old-world service and the art on every wall. Ride the elevator up to the top-floor lounge for a nightcap and a wide view over Lake Michigan.

Where: 424 East Wisconsin Avenue, Milwaukee, WI 53202

11. The Palmer House, Illinois

This Chicago landmark has the wildest origin story on the list. Potter Palmer built it as a wedding gift for his wife Bertha, opened it in 1871, and watched it burn in the Great Chicago Fire just thirteen days later.

He rebuilt it as a fireproof hotel by 1875, and it now bills itself as the longest continuously operating hotel in North America. Bonus fact for the sweet tooth: the brownie was invented in this very kitchen in 1893.

The lobby ceiling is a swirl of painted frescoes worth craning your neck for, and the bronze peacock doors are a photographer’s favorite. Order the original brownie in the lobby bar and taste a piece of Chicago history.

Where: 17 East Monroe Street, Chicago, IL 60603

12. The Driskill, Texas

Of course Texas gets a grand old hotel, and it is a beauty. Cattle baron Jesse Driskill opened the Driskill in 1886 as the finest hotel south of St. Louis, all Romanesque Revival arches and Texas swagger.

It is the oldest operating hotel in Austin, and it wears its politics proudly. Lyndon B. Johnson courted Lady Bird over breakfast here and later held election-night watch parties in these rooms.

Marble columns, a stained-glass dome, and portraits of Texas cattlemen fill the lobby, and locals swear the old place has a friendly ghost or two. Grab a seat in the bar and soak up a century and a half of stories.

Where: 604 Brazos Street, Austin, TX 78701

Book the Room With a Story

A new hotel gives you a bed. These twelve give you a night you will actually remember, whether that is ducks on a red carpet, a barstool that spins, or the room that scared Stephen King.

Pick the one that pulls at you, book it well ahead because the famous ones fill fast, and go collect a little history of your own. The concierge is holding your key.

Featured image: @ Hotel del Coronado