Mountain Lake remembers Patrick Swayze and filming of “Dirty Dancing”

It was Mountain Lake where Patrick Swayze first introduced “Baby” to dirty dancing, and it was the movie “Dirty Dancing” that first introduced Mountain Lake to the world.

Most of the film was shot in Giles County at Mountain Lake Hotel.  The lake itself may be down to pond-size, but it is overflowing with memories of Swayze and the movie.

“It’s unbelievable that here we are—they made the move 23 years ago,“ Mountain Lake Hotel General Manager Buzz Scanland.  “And it’s still as strong as ever.“

Scanland sat down with WSLS on one of the porches the actor made famous in the movie.  From the porch, Scanland can see another spot – the place in the lake Swayze lifted his co-star, Jennifer Gray, into the air.

“There was someone under the water holding his legs when he did it, because it’s tough to balance somebody being in the water like that,“ he said.

Pictures hanging on the hotel walls show the number of people it took to make the film.  Most of the hotel staff got to meet the crew including Swayze.  Michael Porterfield, a cook at the time, gave him a ride to Blacksburg on his bike.

“He came to the back dock and asked me for a ride,” Porterfield said.  “I said all I have is a motor cycle, and he had no problem with that.“

The staff says it was Swayze who really made the movie great.

“I don’t think you could remake the movie without Patrick Swayze,“ Scanland said.

It only took Swayze three weeks to film the movie at Mountain Lake, but in that short time he left his mark on on the hotel as he dirty danced his way into history.