NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
XANTERRA AGAIN HOSTS PRESIDENT OBAMA FOR DEBATE PREP;
PRESIDENT FOLLOWS IN FOOTSTEPS OF NUMEROUS PREDECESSORS WHO
ALSO CHOSE XANTERRA
DENVER, October 16, 2012 – For the second time, President Barack Obama has
chosen to prepare for a presidential debate in a location operated by concessioner
and resort operator Xanterra Parks & Resorts. This week he was ensconced in the
luxurious Kingsmill Resort in Williamsburg, Va., where he stayed in one of the
resort’s three freestanding homes, which are frequently used for high-end group
gatherings. While preparing for his final debate with Senator John McCain in 2008,
President Obama stayed at northwestern Ohio’s Maumee Bay State Park Lodge for
three nights.
The Pettus House, located on the grounds
of Kingsmill Resort in Williamsburg, Va. is a
four-bedroom private residence
featuring panoromic views of the James
River. Guests of Kingsmill Resort's Pettus
House enjoy a full complement of resort
amenities and services including three golf
courses, 15 tennis courts, spa and sports
“Maybe it is because they are located in some of the country’s most beautiful places,
or because they offer scenic locations for serious work, but whatever the reason,
U.S. presidents throughout history have frequented lodges and resorts operated by
Xanterra Parks & Resorts,” said Betsy O’Rourke, vice president of sales and
marketing for Xanterra. “Both Kingsmill Resort and Maumee Bay State Park Lodge
were chosen in part because they have extensive meeting facilities and equipment
for candidates to prep for debates in quiet and comfort and in settings that are
scenic and inspirational.”
Overlooking the James River in Williamsburg, Va. and offering a wide array of
recreational amenities, Kingsmill Resort recently hosted the LPGA Kingsmill
Championship on its River Course, one of three championship golf courses at
Kingsmill. President Obama, however, stayed off the golf courses during his visit.
While at Maumee Bay State Park Lodge, then-Senator Obama enjoyed sweeping
views of Lake Erie from the Water’s Edge Restaurant, where he dined on eggs and
club.
bacon one morning.
President Obama is not alone in choosing Xanterra. In addition to Kingsmill Resort
and Maumee Bay State Park Lodge, the concessioner has hosted numerous U.S.
presidents and their families and staffs in national parks such as Yellowstone and
Grand Canyon as well in state parks and resorts. Xanterra’s operations are in
Yellowstone National Park, Grand Canyon National Park, Death Valley National Park,
Zion National Park, Crater Lake National Park, Rocky Mountain National Park,
Petrified Forest National Park and Mount Rushmore National Memorial. Xanterra
also operates four other lodges at Ohio State Parks and Grand Canyon Railway.
Here are some other examples of U.S. presidents who visited Xanterra locations:
Maumee Bay State Park Lodge is situated
on the shores of Lake Erie in northwestern
Ohio. With extensive meeting facilities, the
lodge was well suited as a venue for
President Obama to prep for his final debate
in 2008.

President Obama visited both Grand Canyon and Yellowstone National Parks
with his family in August 2009. National Park Service rangers accompanied
the family to various viewpoints along the Grand Canyon’s South Rim and
provided them with a brief overview of the park’s geology and human
history. Xanterra’s executive chef in Yellowstone made the Obamas a meal
of sustainable cuisine items, many from the dining room menu at Old
Faithful Snow Lodge.

Bill Clinton visited both the Grand Canyon (in 2000) and Yellowstone (in
1995). President Clinton stayed in the Mary Colter Suite of the Grand
Canyon’s El Tovar and had lunch at Yellowstone’s Old Faithful Inn. President
Clinton and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton also took a stroll around Old
Faithful Geyser.

President George Herbert Walker Bush visited both the Grand Canyon and
Yellowstone. His visit to Yellowstone in 1989 occurred the summer after the
historic Yellowstone fires. He was briefed by park officials about Yellowstone
fire science.

Long before he became president, actor Ronald Reagan visited Death Valley
– then still a national monument – when he was a regular host of the wildly
popular “Death Valley Days.” Sponsored by 20 Mule Team Borax – which
was appropriate because the discovery of borax was pivotal in the history of
the region – “Death Valley Days” was originally a radio program and then
also achieved stunning success as a television program, airing for 16 years
before its final episode in 1968. Death Valley was designated a national
park 1994.
President Warren G. Harding toured the
Mammoth Hot Springs area of Yellowstone
National Park in a Yellowstone Park
Company touring car. Yellowstone Park
Company later became Xanterra Parks &
Resorts. Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel is in
the background.

During his visit to Yellowstone National Park, President Jimmy Carter
traveled to one of the islands on Yellowstone Lake to fish with National Park
Service officials. After his presidency, Carter returned to the park and had
pizza in the employee pub at Lake Lodge. He even signed the wall of the
pub, and his signature is still visible today.

President Gerald Ford was already familiar with Yellowstone National Park
when he visited in 1976; he had been a 23-year-old National Park Service
ranger in 1936. Ford once said his time in Yellowstone was “one of the
greatest summers of my life.” One of his duties was to meet and greet VIPs
at the Canyon Lodge. He also protected other park rangers who fed bears at
the bear-feeding truck, a popular visitor attraction at the time. The park
long ago stopped feeding bears and other wildlife.

Grand Canyon Railway has hosted numerous U.S. presidents before, during
and after their terms. Those presidential passengers included Theodore
Roosevelt in 1903, 1911 and 1912; William Howard Taft in 1909; Franklin
Delano Roosevelt in 1940 and Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1950.

Instead of staying in one of Yellowstone’s lodges, President Franklin Delano
Roosevelt chose to stay at the private home of Harry Child, the owner of the
Yellowstone Park Company, which operated the park lodges and other
concessions. His reason: he did not want the general public to see him in
his wheelchair. Designed by Robert C. Reamer, the same architect who
designed the Old Faithful Inn, the large home is a single-floor prairie-style
structure, so it can easily accommodate a wheelchair. Recently passing its
centennial, the home is occupied today by the general manager of Xanterra
Parks & Resorts in Yellowstone.

Calvin Coolidge visited Yellowstone in 1927. Although Yellowstone
Superintendent Horace Albright tried to engage President Coolidge in parkrelated politics, Coolidge was more interested in fishing than talking.

Calvin Coolidge was also pivotal in granting funding for Mount Rushmore. In
1927, he visited Custer State Park in South Dakota’s Black Hills, not far
from the site where sculptor Gutzon Borglum planned to carve the giant
faces on Mount Rushmore. Borglum hired a plane to fly over the lodge
where Coolidge was staying and dropped a wreath from the plane with an
invitation for Coolidge to attend a dedication ceremony for the mountain.
Coolidge not only agreed to attend but following the ceremony, he promised
federal funding for the project.
President Obama and his family toured
Hermit's Rest during his visit to the South
Rim of Grand Canyon National Park in 2009.
The historic structure was designed to look
like a mountain man's hideaway. Xanterra
operates the concessions in the building.

The U.S. president from 1921 until he died from a heart attack in 1923,
Warren G. Harding enjoyed playing cards and visiting with close associates
– sometimes called the “Ohio Gang” by newspaper reporters – in a cabin in
Ohio’s Deer Creek State Park that was owned by his chief strategist and the
U.S. Attorney General at the time, Harry M. Daugherty. The restored and
furnished “Harding Cabin” is available for rent, and is particularly popular
with small groups such as wedding parties. The cabin overlooks Deer Creek
Lake and features sleeping accommodations for up to eight people, a full
kitchen, laundry facilities, fireplace, private boat dock and screened-in
porch.

President Harding visited Yellowstone National Park in 1923, shortly before
he died. Staff in the park named a geyser after him and observed a moment
of silence in his honor.

President Theodore Roosevelt made his final visit to Yellowstone National
Park in 1903. Although he was on a two-week vacation, he managed to
squeeze in some business too. Roosevelt, Harry Child and Robert C. Reamer
reviewed plans for the Old Faithful Inn, which was completed the following
year. During that trip he also laid the cornerstone for the Roosevelt Arch at
the northern entrance to the park. The arch bears the inscription: “For the
benefit and enjoyment of the people.” President Roosevelt also visited the
Grand Canyon – in 1903, before it was a national park and again in 1911.

In 1883, President Chester Arthur rode a horse from the southern to the
northern entrance of Yellowstone and met supporters at the Mammoth Hot
Springs Hotel entrance before departing the area aboard the newly
completed Northern Pacific Railroad. Although it was still under construction
and lacked a complete roof, President Arthur dined at the Mammoth Hot
Springs Dining Room before his departure.

In 1872, President Ulysses S. Grant signed the bill that designated
Yellowstone the world’s first national park. It was a move that has been
called America’s best idea. President Grant never visited Yellowstone.
###
Xanterra Parks & Resorts® (consisting of several affiliated Xanterra entities) operates lodges, restaurants, tours and activities at
national parks and state parks and resorts. Xanterra Parks & Resorts is the country’s largest park concessioner. Xanterra Parks &
Resorts has operations in the following locations: Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Zion, Crater Lake, Rocky Mountain and Petrified
Forest National Parks, Mount Rushmore National Memorial, Furnace Creek Resort in Death Valley National Park and five Ohio State
Park Lodges as well as the Geneva Marina at Ohio’s Geneva State Park. Xanterra Parks & Resorts also operates Windstar Cruises,
Kingsmill Resort in Williamsburg, Va. and Grand Canyon Railway in Williams, Ariz.
Xanterra Parks & Resorts has been committed to the preservation and protection of the environment for many years. Through its
environmental program, “Ecologix,” Xanterra Parks & Resorts has been recognized repeatedly for environmental leadership in the
hospitality industry and is the recipient of many honors, including major awards from the U.S. Department of the Interior, National
Park Service, Environmental Protection Agency, Travel Industry Association of America, American Hotel and Lodging Association,
National Parks Conservation Association, Conde Nast Traveler, National Geographic Traveler, Colorado Department of Public
Health, State of Arizona, Arizona Department of Environmental Quality and Utah Department of Environmental Quality.
For more information about Xanterra Parks & Resorts, links to individual properties and reservations numbers, visit
www.xanterra.com.
Xanterra Parks & Resorts
6312 S. Fiddlers Green Circle
Suite 600 North
Greenwood Village, CO 80111
Media contact:
Mesereau Public Relations
1-720-842-5271
[email protected]
[email protected]
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