By BARRETT J. BRUNSMAN
The Cincinnati Enquirer

The folks who frequent five-star resorts are not so different from you and me. They just dress a whole lot better.

This is evident at the Greenbrier, a 221-year-old bastion of tradition sequestered on 6,500 acres near the tiny town of White Sulphur Springs, W.Va. It features one of the most extraordinary hotels in the world. Nestled amid the glorious greenery of the Allegheny Mountains, the white Georgian facade rises six stories, its magnificent wings spread wide in welcome.

If ever afforded the opportunity to go, do so. ''Afford'' may be the key. Typical double rooms run from $188 to $292 a night -- per person. Suites and guest houses cost more. But the memories of a stay could prove to be priceless.

And, too, this charge covers gourmet dinner and breakfast (the morning menu includes a filet mignon-and-eggs dish, as well as sauteed brook trout). So you might find the trip well worth it, especially because you can avoid air fare. The Greenbrier is just a 6 ½-hour drive southeast of Cincinnati.

Dressed to fit

For some, the Greenbrier might seem worlds apart. It is a world of romance, of grandeur, of refined living on an immense scale. It is also a world with a dress code.

Before the Greenbrier, I had never encountered a hotel where the reservation confirmation included a pamphlet with a title such as ''Dressing to fit the occasion.'' It noted that, at the Greenbrier, ''one of our most important traditions is our dress code.''

Casual clothing is acceptable during the day. Khaki and wool pants prevailed on my trip last month. Open-collared shirts, whether button-downs from Brooks Brothers or otherwise from Ralph Lauren, were fine. Sweaters, regardless of whether cashmere, wool or cotton, were equally acceptable.

But come evening at the Greenbrier, men -- including young men -- are required to wear a coat and tie. Black tie is optional. Women may wear dresses (''short or long'') or evening suits.

These regulations did not deter my traveling companion. ''It is always better to overdress than to under-dress,'' she informed me. With that in mind, I decided to pack a tuxedo for each night. A black one for Friday, and a blue silk-shantung jacket over black trousers for Saturday's dinner-dance. My lady (at the Greenbrier, women and men are referred to as ladies and gentlemen) brought four changes of clothing for each day.

The trick is to blend style with comfort. For, if anything, the Greenbrier is devoted to the comfort of its guests. It can accommodate 1,500 people -- and has a staff of 1,600 to ensure everyone's visit is pleasurable.

Where the elite meet

Monarchs and movie stars have stayed at the Greenbrier -- from Princess Grace to Cameron Diaz, from the Duke of Windsor to Drew Barrymore.

Twenty-five U.S. presidents have slept here, the first being James Monroe and the latest Bill Clinton. Cincinnati's William Howard Taft visited during his successful campaign for the presidency in 1908.

The Greenbrier has spanned more than 200 years as a resort destination, in no small part because a rail line has run right outside its front gate since 1869. The company that built the line, the Chesapeake & Ohio, a Cleveland firm whose northern terminus was Cincinnati, bought the place in 1910. Its successor, the CSX Corp. of Richmond, Va., now owns the Greenbrier.

To this day, the Greenbrier remains a tuxedo junction. A hotel shuttle meets every train that pulls into the station. A trip on Amtrak from Cincinnati's Union Terminal takes about eight hours.

But the spot first became popular in 1778, when healing powers were ascribed to the waters of the White Sulphur Springs that flow under the resort. The combination of drinking the water and bathing in it was said to relieve everything from rheumatism to fallen arches. The finest families of the Old South would congregate there every summer to socialize and ''take the cure.''

Guests today can still bathe in the mineral waters -- within the confines of a multimillion-dollar spa. Some bold souls even drink the smelly stuff, which is a natural laxative.

Exquisite cuisine

We kept the Greenbrier's storied traditions in mind when we made reservations to have our Friday evening meal in the Main Dining Room.

My lady wore a black crepe dress trimmed in satin. There was a 1950s look to the dress. But then, there's a similar retro-hip feel to the Greenbrier. I was in my black tux. Due to the ''Dressing to fit'' pamphlet, we fit right in.

We gave thanks for that, as well as the food. The Greenbrier, we discovered, is an exquisite spot for fine dining. One is likely to savor the setting as much as the fare and the service: towering ceilings, massive columns, arched windows.

The Main Dining Room is elegantly appointed, with numerous oil portraits adorning pink walls. Exceptional attention is paid to the lighting. This adds to the sparkle of the crystal chandeliers, as well as the sparkle of the white wine. I even detected a sparkle in the eyes of my dinner companion -- directed at the plate set before her. It contained marinated gulf shrimp with roasted red peppers and grilled portabella mushrooms. This was followed by a veal medallion with Chesapeake Bay crab meat, along with steamed asparagus and wild mushroom pastina.

I started with apple grilled quail with caramelized salsify and wild mushrooms in a Madeira sauce. The entree was sauteed Chilean sea bass with braised fennel, served with tarragon whipped potatoes in an orange Pernod butter.

Our dinner was accompanied by a bottle of Greenbrier label sparkling white wine, for $30. It complemented the food nicely, as did the music provided by a pianist and violinist.

Tunnel of love

My friend and I carried our two remaining glasses of sparkling wine to the Colonial Ballroom. There, we found the largest dessert buffet known to man. But it was the women who were most intent on ensuring none would go to waste.

I had never seen so much chocolate in my life. ''Tunnel of Love'' chocolate cake with raspberries, chocolate-nut parfaits, strawberries dipped in chocolate. Everything that wasn't a rich, dark chocolate seemed to be a rich, white chocolate. My companion circled the table two times before swooping in for the kill: a piece of ''Chocolate bombe'' cake.

Her hunger for the sweet life was satisfied without self-recrimination, serene in the knowledge that we would be dancing the night away -- and with it, those chocolate calories.

We danced all night

There are more than 50 activities offered at the Greenbrier, from fly-fishing to horseback riding. While golf is its No. 1 outdoor activity, dancing has always proved popular indoors. Through the 19th century and into this one, the Greenbrier would throw two to three grand balls a week for guests.

This year, Valentine's Day fell during the Greenbrier's annual Big Band Weekend. More than 900 guests had romance in mind, and the music and dancing were practically non-stop.

There were morning jazz concerts, followed by dance classes, afternoon tea dances, dancing in the lounge to live jazz during happy hour and formal dinner-dances.

On Friday, we cut a rug until 11:30 p.m. to jazz played by the JMU Alumni All-Star Band. Featured were Glenn Miller standards such as ''In the Mood'' and ''Tuxedo Junction.'' The floor was crowded with splendidly dressed men and women.

On Saturday night, we danced to the swinging sounds of the Bo Thorpe Orchestra. On the floor, dancers engaged in spins and twists and twirls. Louis Prima's ''Jump, Jive 'n Wail'' rang out. Our steps picked up. It was a triumph of tuxedos and evening gowns.

The last resort

In between a Saturday morning dance lesson and an afternoon tea dance in the Cameo Ballroom, we managed to sneak in a two-hour tour of the Greenbrier's atomic bomb shelter.

The $14 million bunker was completed in 1962 -- just a few months before the Cuban Missile Crisis -- and for 30 years the entire Greenbrier complex was designated the top-secret relocation site for the U.S. Congress in the event of nuclear war. Special trains were on standby to whisk senators and representatives from Washington to West Virginia in the event of a national emergency.

The bunker's four blast doors -- weighing up to 30 tons -- were built by the Mosler Safe Co. of Hamilton, Ohio.

A Washington Post expose blew the lid on the operation in 1992, questioning the continuing cost and effectiveness of the bunker, in light of the end of the Cold War. The no-longer covert operation was decommissioned.

Now, about 2,500 people a month tour the massive facility. Since the bunker opened to the public in 1995, more than 125,000 people have seen it.

If the government has spent millions more for a new relocation site somewhere else, nobody's telling. But, unfortunately for members of Congress, this much is certain:

They no longer have reservations at the Greenbrier.

GREENBRIER