Victor Inn Ruins

Victor Inn – also called Pacolet Mills Hotel and Victor Hill Hotel due to its location atop a hill overlooking Victor Park – was built circa 1920 for the Pacolet Manufacturing Company. (A photo of the hotel dated 1918 exists, and it was likely established around that time.) Both the park and the hotel were named for Victor Montgomery, the second president of the textile mill and the son of the mill’s founder and first president, Captain John H. Montgomery. The company began operations in 1883 but lost two of its three mills to the flood of 1903. The business rebuilt in 1907 and restored its reputation as one of the South’s leading textile companies.

The hotel initially accommodated teachers at the mill village schools as well as mill officials. The mill schools sat on the hill above the Pacolet amphitheater, and stairs led teachers from the Victor Inn to their classrooms. Like the ruins, these steps remain.

The inn later served as a standard hotel for traveling guests as well as a boarding house. The hotel boasted an open porch with views of the Pacolet River and a delicious menu which featured fresh fish from the Catawba River. The Victor Inn also was available for catering and events. Above, the ruins are adorned for the town’s annual Christmas Light Show.

The textile company was sold to Roger Milliken in 1947 and operated under the name Deering Manufacturing until 1978 when it became known as Milliken and Company. The Victor Inn was torn down in the early 1960s, and the mill finally closed in 1980.