IF YOU GO
The King and Prince Beach & Golf Resort, 201 Arnold Road, St. Simons Island. Accommodations include oceanfront suites including the deluxe St. Simons Suite or the two-story Governor's Suite; premium oceanfront rooms including three oceanfront Tower Rooms and eight oceanfront Cabana Rooms, each with its own parlor and private patio; king or double-queen oceanfront rooms; partial oceanview rooms; resort-view rooms, standard rooms, beach villas and private guest houses. Amenities include golf, tennis and an exercise facility. Spa/massage services are available in the Royal Treatment Cottage. Information: 912-638-3631. Reservations: 877-724-3170. www.kingandprince.com.
Like many metro Atlanta residents, our family has vacationed at the King and Prince Beach & Golf Resort on St. Simons Island for years. Decades, actually. My husband’s aunt and uncle, who live in Savannah, had their first date there. They’ve been married 38 years.
We last visited in October, when the St. Simons Food & Spirits Festival was going on, locals were still talking about the scenes that the Will Ferrell comedy “Anchorman 2” filmed near the famous St. Simons pier and lighthouse — and a major renovation project to update the King and Prince’s lobby, bar and restaurant areas was just getting underway.
“It was quaint and comfortable, but in reality it was outdated,” said Bud St. Pierre, the King and Prince’s director of sales and marketing. “It really was kind of plain.”
Not anymore.
The seaside destination, which opened nearly eight decades ago, has just finished a huge and head-turning overhaul. The property had completed room renovations in past years, so this project focused on the public areas.
Most notably, the indoor pool and hot tub are gone. They might have been fun for some guests (especially parents eager to occupy children on rainy days), but made for a noisy backdrop for dinner parties and had a way of making the surrounding areas sort of humid.
With the departure of the indoor pool area, the main portion of the outdoor pool will be heated now, St. Pierre said.
Gone also is the little coffee bar that had been set up in one corner of the lobby inside the hotel, and farewell to the 1980s-era decor. Thank you for being a friend for all these years.
Following the renovation, the lobby now features a huge fireplace with a comfy seating area in the section where the indoor pool used to be. The color palette is sleek and sophisticated, with bold tile patterns, long expanses of hardwoods, large, dramatic chandeliers and smaller light fixtures with a vintage look.
The restaurant, rechristened Echo, is still in search of a new executive chef and will stress locally sourced fare in keeping with modern diners’ farm-to-table sensibilities.
The 2013 St. Simons Food & Spirits Festival, which lured Atlanta food titans including Linton Hopkins of Restaurant Eugene, Holeman & Finch Public House, H & F Bottle Shop and H & F Bread, wrapped at the King and Prince.
St. Simons Food & Spirits Festival director Brittany Walker said the King and Prince will be a big part of this year’s festival, which is planned for Oct. 1-5.
“They’re going to be hosting the brunch again,” she said, adding that Echo will be part of a festival tasting-tent event. “We are very excited.”
Plans are still coming together for this year's festival, but you can stay up to date by checking saintsimonsfoodandspirits.com.
According to the hotel’s history, the King and Prince opened as a seaside dance club in 1935 and as a hotel in 1941. (Fun fact: Can you guess who was first to sign the guest register? Atlanta Constitution editor and publisher Clark Howell.) The property housed military operations during World War II, serving as a naval coast-watching and training facility.
The King and Prince reopened as a hotel in 1947, became a member of Historic Hotels of America in 1996 and was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 2005. The renovation respects the hotel’s history while embracing a fresh, modern look.
Incredibly, the work was completed in just three months.
“We had a crew working anywhere from 10- to 16-hour days, seven days a week,” St. Pierre said. “It was pretty cool to watch. The space is beautiful.”
Buckhead resident Amy Bonesteel Smith said her 11-year-old son, Ellery, went down during his spring break in mid-April; her two older kids had other spring break schedules.
“My son and I were crying when we had to leave,” she said. “The weather turned perfect and it was just gorgeous.”
The King and Prince was the first beach her now-19-year-old experienced, but her 11-year-old had not gone before.
“My husband used to go when he was little,” she said. “The renovation looked great. It’s such a good mix of history. It was nice to rediscover.”
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