The grandest of openings

Arriving at Ocean House in Watch Hill, Rhode Island.

On Saturday, June 26th, Watch Hill summer residents donned their finest black tie and period dress to celebrate the grand reopening of the famed Ocean House, an 1868 Victorian seaside landmark that entertained Society and Film Stars in its heyday (Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. made the film "American Aristocracy" on the veranda of the Ocean House in 1916).

After a six-year, $147 million replication down to the minutest detail (5,000 of the original architectural elements were "harvested" and placed back into the new building), this opulent hotel has opened its doors once again.

Marisa, Walter, Jr. Lindsay, Walter, and Leslie Tomensen

Georgie Lewis, Eugenie Daniel, and Adie and Mamie Von Gontard

Reha and Kathleen Kocatas and friends

Read, Kathy, Eliza, and Bill McKendree

Chuck and Deborah Royce with Dennis and Leigh Algiere

Michael Kovner with Lucy and Nat Day

Bob Hardwick leading his 19-piece orchestra

The Ocean House features 49 hotel rooms, 22 apartments, 5 restaurants, a private beach, croquet, and the luxurious OH! Spa. On Saturday night, guests dined, danced to Bob Hardwick and his 19-piece orchestra and watched fireworks illuminate the Atlantic as the Ocean House came to life once more.

Lynne Wheat and Thomas Peterffy

Heidi and Tom McWilliams

Sabrina Forsythe and Michael McCarty

Iliana Moore and Christina Evans

Bob Liebrich, Deborah Royce, Tina Barney, and Chuck Royce

Sandy and Tina Whitman

Alexandra and Tess Porter

Patricia and John Chadwick

Chad and Jackie Royce

Alexandra Porter, Susan Sterling, Bill Goodrich, Deborah Royce, and Sabrina Forsythe

Jenny and Chris Clark

Sophie and Tom Wynne

Philip Watson and Alease Fisher-Tallman

Michael Kovner and Jean Doyen de Montaillou

Jason and Julie Miller

Louise Mayer and Meredith George

Wesley Royce and Whitney Krueger

Bill Evans

Cindy Rinfret and Basil Mavrolean

Last Friday at The Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, the resort’s owner and Chairman, Jim Justice hosted an enormous star-studded party to a gala marking the opening of the Casino Club, the brand new $80 million casino Justice has created for the guests, with interiors designed by New York’s Carleton Varney.

Carleton is also the successor of the late legendary designer Dorothy Draper who did the interiors a half century ago. Since the late 18th century, The Greenbrier hospitality, architecture and interior design, impeccable service and outstanding amenities have made it a draw for guests all over the country and the world.

The Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia

The black tie event brought out governors, sports figures, prominent businessmen and their families including Edwina Sandys and Richard Kaplan, Jimmy and Charlene Nederlander, as well as Debbie Reynolds, Raquel Welch, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner, Jessica Simpson, Christine Ebersole, Barbara Eden, Shaquille O’Neal and Brooke Shields, to name just a few. The evening featured (after the ribbon cutting) a performance by Lionel Richie.

My friend Joanna Molloy, who attended, was so excited she sent me an email about the experience:

The Greenbriar is a huge elegant old plantation on 5,000 acres (!) in the non-coal part of the state. I think the PGA will hold a tournament there in a couple of weeks.

It looks like the White House x 10, with tiled indoor pool, outside infinity pool, rafting trips, a fabulous golf course, and tennis. Everywhere there were photographs of distinguished guests down through the years including the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, all the Presidents, Princess Grace; Whitneys, DuPonts.

Jim, Cathy, Jill, and Jay Justice

The next day they had a 4th of July parade with vintage convertibles. Debbie Reynolds in red and a red, white and blue scarf was in the lobby recalling how she and Eddie Fisher honeymooned there – there is photo of them riding bicycles and looking impossibly young (although I must say she looks fantastic now).

She and Carleton Varney in the lobby broke into an impromptu version of her first hit record “Abba Dabba Honeymoon,” and he knew all the words. Debbie said it was amazing because in the movie (“Two Weeks With Love”) she sang it with another Carleton (Carpenter).

Jim Justice, Brooke Shields, Cathy Justice, Jessica Simpson, and Debbie Reynolds

Brooke Shields, Jack Nicklaus, and Debbie Reynolds

Lionel Richie

Debbie, who lives in a house at the foot of her daughter Carrie Fisher’s driveway in Beverly Hills, has the largest collection of Hollywood memorabilia in the world including Judy Garland’s ruby slippers from “The Wizard of Oz” and Marilyn Monroe’s white dress which blew up over the subway grate in Billy Wilder’s “Seven Year Itch.”

Charlene Nederlander wore an incredible white lace Valentino with a diamond brooch the size of my palm, and Pat Kerr had a heart-shaped diamond on a chain the size of a walnut (I had to be careful nobody knocked my eye out).” The whole weekend was fantastic, and The Greenbrier breathtaking, and it’s only a 55 minute flight from New York. You must go!