Mountain Lake Conservancy & Hotel

Mountain Lake is one of only two naturally occurring large bodies of fresh water in Virginia and the highest lake east of the Mississippi River. It has been around for some 6,000 years, teeming with fish in spring and summer and surrounded by snowy slopes in winter, making it the perfect site for a pleasure resort.

In 1857, General Herman Haupt of Pennsylvania created just that the Mountain Lake Hotel with individual cottages for guests. The lodging units survived the Civil War, and a native sandstone building was erected as the main hotel facility in 1936. The entire property has been owned and operated by the Mary Moody Northen Endowment since 1986, the year this site was chosen as the location for filming what would become a modern movie classic called "Dirty Dancing" with Patrick Swayze. In the movie, the resort was known as Kellerman's.

Today, Mountain Lake Conservancy & Hotel offers more than 20 different types of accommodations, from single-bed hotel rooms to four-bedroom cottages. Most of the cottages still bear the names they were given more than a century ago. For recreation, there is boating and fishing on the lake, courts for tennis, volleyball, basketball, and badminton, bocce ball and croquet areas, a horseshoe pitch, and sunbathing beside a seasonal, heated pool. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are served in the main dining room. The address is 115 Hotel Circle, Pembroke, Virginia 24136.