History of Hotel Bentley:
On November 15, 1979, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. (There are 3 historical markers at this location)
It was constructed in roughly 1908. The story goes that Joseph Bentley, a timberman from Pennsylvania, was here scouting timber. He purchased something like 90 acres between Alexandria and Boyce. And after a hard day’s work, he came to a local hotel here in Alexandria and was refused service. They said ‘oh no sir, your clothes are too dirty, you’re not dressed appropriately. You’re not allowed to stay in our hotel. So he turned around and made it his mission to build the finest hotel this side of the Mississippi River in Louisiana.
Joseph Bentley made it a point to have the hotel constructed with local or American-made materials. He used limestone from the Red River in Rapides Parish to create structural support for the hotel, including beams that go 35 feet into the ground to support the structure. However, he could not get all the resources he wanted from the U.S. at the time. So, he had marble imported from Italy. The structure is primarily made of marble with over 10,000 square feet of mosaic finishing. The color palette of the floor is made up of five colors: green, gold, red, black and ivory. It took the artist two years to lay the mosaic flooring.
Hotel Bentley includes a Grand Ballroom, which is the only one in Cenla. It can hold 500 people for events such as weddings, military balls and speaking events. The room is the largest room at around 5,000 square feet.
The current Mirror Room used to be reserved as the gentlemen’s lounge back in the day, where gentlemen would sip on cocktails and other beverages.
“I know that the generals and lieutenants would probably smoke their cigars and have some whiskey here while possibly planning the maneuvers on a casual level,”. “A lot of that was planned right here in the Hotel Bentley and this was kind of their substation or off-battleground station. You had Eisenhower, you had Patton and a lot of the generals were here planning the Louisiana maneuvers. For anyone that’s not familiar, the Louisiana maneuvers were some of the largest training camps in the world for our nation’s defense.”
Unexplained Phenomenon at the Hotel Bentley:
While the hotel has undergone several renovations since 1907 some believe that this is one of the most haunted spots in the state. And some truly believe that Joseph Bentley never left the hotel, if you get what I'm trying to say.
Several guests have spotted him mainly on the third floor of the hotel but they have also seen him in the Mirror Bar Lounge as well. However, Joseph Bentley isn't the only person that has been spotted in the hotel.
Another common sighting is a young woman who fell to her death in an elevator shaft, and another man who fell over the grand staircase in 1985.
A few visitors to the Hotel Bentley claim to have heard the voices of Generals Patton and Bradley discussing war strategies.
How To Claim The Find
In order to log this cache, you must prove that you visited The Hotel Bentley as a virtual geocache. Posted with your log, or sent to me in an email or message, you must include a picture of you (selfie not required) ie hand and at least part of The Hotel Bentley in the same frame, and you conspicuously displaying your GPS, GPS watch, map & compass, sextant, globe, or whatever other device you used to navigate to the geocache. In the event that your GPS device and your camera are the same, you may take the picture while pretending to hold your GPS. This picture will serve as proof that you were at The Hotel Bentley specifically for this virtual geocache. As per Geocaching HQ guidelines, you may blur, obscure, or hide your face if you wish, but I do need to see at least part of a body, part of the hotel, and a navigation device (or a pretend one) PROMINENTLY displayed in the picture.
Virtual Rewards 3.0 - 2022-2023
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between March 1, 2022 and March 1, 2023. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 3.0 on the Geocaching Blog.