Wintergreen, Va., was once a village but is now only a sprawling census-designated place in Nelson County on Route 151 just north of Nellysford and a few miles further south… It's not owned by anyone.

The resort community called Wintergreen, however, has thousands of stakeholders. It’s complicated.

Wintergreen is seen by some as an unusual “resort community” because of how over the years it has evolved into a community with a resort.

What is called the "resort community" is made up of some 3,800 individual property owners who all operate under the rules (covenants) of the Wintergreen Property Owners Association (WPOA). Most of the protected open space is owned by WPOA.

All Wintergreen property owners are a part of WPOA; their assessments are determined by an elected board of directors and payment is not optional.

The largest owner of developed property at Wintergreen is Wintergreen Resort, an independent business. The rules of WPOA give the resort special consideration and the resort, in turn, has responsibilities to the community.

The resort has by right two seats on the WPOA board of directors, but Wintergreen Resort is a separate independent enterprise within the community. Wintergreen property owners have the option of purchasing a Wintergreen Resort membership and many do.

Much of Wintergreen is open to the public, but some WPOA amenities are designated for property owners and their guests only.

Likewise, the resort has properties and services (restaurants, for example) that are open to the general public (such as The Edge restaurant and Lake Monocan), and other properties and services (such as Devils Grill, and the pools and gym at the Wintergarden) are only for resort guests and members. Property owners can purchase memberships to access the resort’s exclusive amenities that the resort‘s guests enjoy along with other special member-only benefits.

A sophisticated network of cooperating providers has evolved at Wintergreen. Just as an example: Nelson County manages the trash and recycling. Two entities own and operate the water and sewer services. Wintergreen is one of the rare communities in the U.S. that has two firms that offer high-speed fiber-to-the-home internet.

WPOA oversees a professional fire and rescue squad as well as a fully-certified police force, two swimming pools, fishing areas, a clubhouse, all of the roads, and more. Because of the complexities and responsibilities, some see WPOA as similar to a small municipal government; albeit a town in a beautiful mountain setting with a resort in the middle surrounded by breweries, vineyards, and popular tourist destinations such as the Blue Ridge Parkway.

There are also several important professional independent groups such as Wintergreen Adaptive Sports, Wintergreen Music, and the Nature Foundation at Wintergreen. Wintergreen also has several very active independent groups–large and tiny–run completely by volunteers. See more about the Wintergreen community here.

Who owns
Wintergreen Resort?

On February 11, 2015 EPR Properties, a real estate investment trust (REIT) purchased the assets of Wintergreen Resort in conjunction with a new operator of the property, Pacific Group Resorts, Inc.

The seller was James C. Justice of West Virginia. Justice had acquired the resort in the summer of 2012 and had injected capital into the property to make improvements and to stabilize the operations. (Justice, who owns the Greenbrier Resort among many other enterprises, later went on to become Governor of West Virginia.)

In 2021, Pacific Group acquired complete ownership of Wintergreen Resort from the REIT.

Pacific Group Resorts is a resort-operating company based in Park City, Utah. Besides Wintergreen Resort they also own and operate Wintergreen Real Estate.

Their other operations include Wisp Resort in the Appalachian Mountains of western Maryland, Ragged Mountain in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, Mt. Washington Alpine Resort in the Beaufort Mountain Range on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Powderhorn Mountain Resort on the Grand Mesa of western Colorado, and Jay Peak Resort in the Green Mountains of Northern Vermont.