People come to Highlands and Cashiers for all sorts of reasons. The cooler summer temperatures, the mountains, nature and wildlife, golf, hiking, restaurants, friends who already have homes here, or simply the desire for a place that feels different from where they spend the rest of the year.
But choosing a home here involves more than deciding that you like the area.
Highlands and Cashiers are close geographically, yet they have distinctly different personalities. And within the communities surrounding them, the experience can change again. Club community or more privacy. Long-range mountain view, lake or water view, or a wooded setting. Close to town or farther out. A home where family and friends can gather, or something that’s easy to lock up and leave.
There isn’t one version of mountain living that’s right for everyone.
We came to the Plateau in 2004. At the time, we had a home on Lake Blue Ridge in Georgia, but we had begun to realize it wasn’t quite the right fit for us.
We started looking for another mountain community and found our way to Highlands. What began as a search for a mountain escape became something much more. Over the years, I’ve come to know the Plateau not only through real estate, but by living here, working here and becoming part of the community.
That perspective helps me understand something that’s difficult to learn from a map or a property search:
Where you choose to live on the Plateau can be every bit as important as the house you choose.
Highlands and Cashiers are not interchangeable
Highlands and Cashiers may share the same Plateau, but they have very different personalities.
Highlands is, first and foremost, a town. It has a long history and an established town center, with sidewalks connecting shops, restaurants, churches and hotels. The country clubs and residential communities surround the town, so even for people who live outside the center, Highlands itself often remains part of the experience.
Cashiers developed differently. The crossroads is its geographic anchor, but much of life in the Cashiers area is centered around its club communities. Shops, restaurants and gathering places have grown around the crossroads, but Cashiers has never become a traditional town in the way Highlands has. For many people, that’s precisely part of its appeal.
Neither is a better version of the other. They’re simply different. Some people immediately respond to the energy and sense of town in Highlands. Others prefer the more club-centered, spread-out character of Cashiers. And plenty of people begin their search thinking they prefer one and discover something entirely different once they spend time here.
Understanding those differences is part of finding where you feel most at home on the Plateau.
Finding your place on the Plateau
Once you’ve narrowed down whether you’d like to focus on Highlands, Cashiers or the nearby Sapphire area, the choices become much more personal.
Some buyers want to be part of a club community, with golf, dining, activities and a built-in social life. Others want more privacy and independence. Some want to be close enough to town for dinner on a whim, while others are perfectly happy driving a little farther in exchange for a view, more land or a quieter setting.
Then there is the property itself. Long-range mountain views, lake and water views, wooded settings and easy-access properties can offer very different experiences. So can the amount of maintenance you’re willing to take on, particularly with a home you may use only part of the year.
Sapphire, just beyond Cashiers, often becomes part of the conversation as buyers explore the area. It offers a mix of established communities, mountain and lake settings, and homes ranging from easy-to-maintain retreats to larger properties. Even buyers who begin their search focused on Cashiers may find that Sapphire offers the setting they’re looking for.
Nature and wildlife are part of life here, too. The things that make living in the mountains so appealing also make owning a home here different from owning one elsewhere.
The right location isn’t simply an address. It’s the place that fits the way you want to live when you’re here.
Living here
Part of the charm of being in the mountains is getting off the straight, flat roads we’re used to elsewhere. Access varies from one property to another, from wide community roads and easy driveways to more winding mountain roads and steeper approaches. If easy access is important to you, we’ll simply make that part of the search.
Winters are quieter, with a gentler pace, but Highlands and Cashiers don’t simply shut down when the season ends. There are still restaurants, activities and plenty going on, along with beautiful snowfalls that transform the mountains for a while but generally don’t linger too long.
Power outages happen on occasion and generally don’t last long. A generator isn’t a necessity, but it can be a nice thing to have.
One of the things I especially love about living here is the sense of community. People are genuinely friendly and helpful, and you can be as involved as you’d like. There are clubs, events, cultural activities, churches and many opportunities to volunteer and become part of the community.
Highlands has sometimes been compared to Mayberry, and there is a little of that sweet, small-town quality here. Cashiers has traditions of its own, including The Summer Chapel in Whiteside Cove, where summer services are held in a historic one-room schoolhouse, one of those special local experiences that gives the area its character.
Surrounded by nature
The natural beauty of the Highlands-Cashiers Plateau is part of everyday life here.
The Highlands-Cashiers Plateau is part of a temperate rainforest, which helps explain why the landscape is so lush and green throughout the summer. Rhododendron and mountain laurel bloom early in the season, along with an extraordinary variety of native trees, flowers and plants.
Wildlife is part of the landscape, too. Bears live in our mountains, which means being smart about things like trash, and the area is also home to deer, rabbits, opossums, squirrels, chipmunks and many other native creatures.
For many people, that connection to nature becomes one of the things they love most about having a home here.