Glen Alpine Springs Hotel opened its doors in July 1878. At that time, it was the largest frame structure in North Carolina, built by Colonel Thomas George Walton for the princely sum of $30,000. Glen Alpine Springs Hotel was an elegant mineral springs resort whose guests included Governor Zebulon Vance and railroad magnates William Henry Vanderbilt and Jay Gould. The hotel ballroom seated 200 guests and food for the hotel was shipped from New York. When the property was sold in 1900, it became Glen Alpine Springs School (1902-1909). The abandoned structure burned in 1936.