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By Jon Gosa

AMERICUS — For the past 125 years, the Windsor Hotel has stood as a beacon of Victorian opulence and architecture at the precipice of downtown Americus, overlooking the city’s skyline.

Visitors from around the world, many of them famous, have graced the numerous corridors and suites of the historic structure that owner and operator Sharad Patel calls a “grand old lady.”

“Oh ,yes, we have had many famous guests come through the Windsor,” Patel said. “We are very fortunate that we have two historic sites here in Sumter County: Andersonville and former president Jimmy Carter’s home in Plains, which helps to attract tourism to the region. Over the years, we have had quite of few celebrities stay with us. They come for the sites, but they also come for the Windsor.”

Al Capone, Charles Lindberg, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Shoeless Joe Jackson, Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter, Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy, as well as Conan O’Brien, are just a few of the celebrities who have stayed at the Windsor.

Opened in 1892 to attract winter visitors from the north, the Windsor, taking up almost an entire city block, was designed by architect Gottfried L. Norman, who blended Victorian, Romanesque and Flemish styles into the five-story building boasting a stepped roof, towers, balconies, a three-story open air atrium lobby, a grand ballroom on the top floor and 100 rooms.

After changing hands several times and falling into disrepair, the hotel’s doors were closed in the early 1970s, but later underwent a $5.8 million renovation.

Steel support beams and trusses were added to the original wood and brick frame to support the sagging structure, and a yearlong restoration process returned the historic building to its original grandeur.

During the process, all of the golden oak wood in the lobby, which had darkened considerably over 99 years, was cleaned with acetone and rubbed with tung oil to restore its original color.

A Civil War-era mirror and two circa-1890 chandeliers were hung in the lobby, and the marble floor, all original, was removed during restoration, cleaned, and then replaced, piece by piece.

The entire hotel, minus the fifth floor ballroom, which now houses most of the new steel to support the building, was refurbished.

The grand re-opening celebration was attended by the Carters, as well as many former guests who returned to see the old hotel as it once was.

Visitors now can stay in any of 53 period-style rooms with all-modern amenities. No rooms in the Windsor are exactly the same, and each offers its own warmth and style.

Over the years, many who have stayed or worked there have claimed that a ghost has taken up residence in the hotel, which is now listed on the registry of haunted sites in Georgia.

Patel said he has never seen the pesky poltergeist.

“I have never seen it, although a lot of people say they have,” the hotel owner said. “I wonder if it is just something that they make up in their minds. I do not know.”

The hotel, whose beauty and old-world charm is enough, on its own, to attract visitors, also houses a full-service restaurant, Rosemary and Thyme, a pub, Floyd’s, and hosts a variety of eclectic and unique events throughout the year, including a period dress murder-mystery dinner theater that has become popular.

“This year, we are having a New Year’s Eve gala with a live band in the lobby,” Patel said. “This is such a beautiful place, it is wonderful to host such events here.”

Patel, who is clearly passionate about the historic Windsor, said he believes the hotel, along with other local sites like the Rylander, will eventually serve as a model for a total downtown restoration.

“The Windsor is great, the Rylander is great and we have a few other businesses that are great, but if we as a community could beautify downtown, if it is safe, clean and inviting, then the whole downtown will be in harmony,” he said. “I hope to see this because for 22 years that I have been here in rural Georgia, many of our factories and businesses have closed down every year. I could go on and on about the businesses that this area has lost.

“Many think we have nothing now. But, in fact, we have something special here. Not many counties in rural America, or small towns like Americus, have the assets that we have, the natural beauty and the historic sites. So if we figure it out, if we make it nicer, people will come. They already come now to the Windsor as a destination hotel, but can you imagine if the whole downtown was pretty? I believe Americus doesn’t need the factories because we could have the tourism, and I believe the Windsor could be at the center of that.”

According to Patel, during the recent 125th-anniversary gala, a moving personal experience ultimately convinced him of the power and appeal of the “grand old lady.”

“People love this place,” he said. “It inspires me when I see outside people come here. The 125th anniversary celebration this year was the ultimate testimony of what the Windsor can do. You always hear, ‘It is beautiful, it’s historic, it’s a gem or it’s breathtaking,’ all of that. But the best for me was at the 125th. The theme was ‘Go Back In Time,’ so, everybody was dressed up. We had guests from all over staying with us, and I met this young couple.

“I introduced myself, and they said that they wanted to tell me a story. The young man said, ‘Do you see my wife?’ She was a beautiful lady, a yoga teacher. And he told me that she was a cancer survivor. She had breast cancer, he told me, but now she has been clean for one year. For the last year, he told me, they didn’t do anything but take care of her. After one year, the young couple wanted to do something to celebrate what they called her ‘second life.’ The young man asked his wife where she wanted to go, and she picked the Windsor. To me, that is huge. That means you have something really special.”

For more information about the Windsor Hotel, call (229) 924-1555 or visit www.windsor-americus.com.