These are exciting times for the town of Clinton, Okla. Not only is it hosting the 2007 Route 66 Festival in June, but a long-neglected landmark east of town is being refurbished into a steakhouse.

The White Dog Hill restaurant will be in the clubhouse of the former Clinton Country Club, located on a hill three miles east of downtown and a quarter-mile north of Route 66. Owner Nelson King hopes to have the restaurant open by the end of 2006.

The clubhouse and nearby caretaker’s quarters were built out of native red sandstone in 1926. The private, nine-hole course that used sand greens closed about 1960. It served as a residence until its abandonment in 1983. It deteriorated into an illegal dump and as a haven for vandals for nearly 20 years, until Nelson acquired the property.

“If the place hadn’t been built like a bunker, it wouldn’t be standing,” Nelson said.

Nelson lived in Miami, Fla., for years as a designer for Cartier, but he is an Oklahoma native and has relatives in the Sooner State. During road trips to see family, he noticed the lonely stone building on the top of the hill.

“I thought it was a neat structure,” he said. “I saw it from the highway, and I thought, ‘I really want this.’”

With money in his pocket after selling his home in Miami, he purchased the ruins of the clubhouse, the caretaker’s quarters and four acres on which they sat.

“People keep telling me: ‘I’ve always wanted that place but didn’t want to take it on.’”

He informally called the grounds White Dog Hill, after his mixed-breed pet (shown right) of the same name. The name stuck.

Nelson initially lived off-site, but vandals kept breaking into the property to wreak havoc. He finally moved into a small trailer on the property two years ago, and he spent six to nine months just cleaning up damage from the vandalism.

The dining room, still being remodeled, is shown below.

Nelson says the restaurant will be a supper-only operation except for Sundays, which will include brunch. He describes it as a steakhouse in which he’ll use as many fresh ingredients as possible.

“There’s too much processed food,” he says. “I want to do more handmade food.” In fact, the old flower beds in front of the clubhouse (shown below) are being used to grow herbs.

Nelson also has a young chef lined up to run the kitchen. White Dog Hill eventually will serve beer and wine once the proper licenses are acquired.

The caretaker’s quarters (shown below) is not usable, but Nelson hopes to eventually convert it into an auxiliary kitchen in one room and a wedding chapel or private-party area in the other room.

Nelson noted that Clinton didn’t have a landmark Route 66 restaurant since the beloved Pop Hicks burned down in 1999. When White Dog Hill opens, he hopes that hole is filled.

(Photos by Clinton photographer Sherri Jones. Hat tip to Helen Baker.)