Western North Carolina, County by County

Semi-private golf club on the mountainside above Waynesville, with a Bob Cupp course from 1986, clay tennis, a heated pool and homes set on the ridges toward Eagle's Nest Mountain.

Gated community of large wooded homesites a short drive west of downtown Waynesville, with paved roads, underground utilities and more than 200 acres held in a conservation easement.

A 200-acre lake and Methodist assembly ground dating to 1913 beside Waynesville, ringed by a paved walking path, historic inns and hillside cottages and lake houses.

Semi-private golf resort at about 3,000 feet in Maggie Valley, with a valley nine and a mountain nine that climbs 800 feet, plus cottages, villas and custom homesites for fewer than 300 owners.

Haywood's county seat at about 2,700 feet, with a National Register Main Street, the rail-era Frog Level district along Richland Creek, and Hazelwood, the former mill town that merged in 1995.

Canton, a 1908 paper-mill town on the Pigeon River 17 miles west of Asheville, and the farm valley of Bethel and Cruso running south along the river's forks toward Cold Mountain and the Parkway.

An incorporated town of 2.9 square miles laid out in the 1920s on former Biltmore Estate land, with its own police, parks and a 1922 Donald Ross golf club.

Biltmore Farms' gated community on about 1,000 acres of Ducker Mountain woodland beside the Blue Ridge Parkway, with a 9,000 sq ft wellness center and miles of trails.

A gated golf and wellness community in Arden, south of Asheville, built around a Jack Nicklaus Signature course that opened in 2005 and bordered by Pisgah National Forest.

A Biltmore Farms planned community in South Asheville at I-26 and Long Shoals Road, pairing tree-lined residential streets with the 42-acre Biltmore Park Town Square.

A roughly 500-acre planned community on a mountainside north of Asheville, straddling the Woodfin town line, with custom homes, villas and townhomes above the shops of Reynolds Village.

North Asheville's historic district and the ridge above it: 1910s Grove Park streets laid out by Chauncey Beadle, then Sunset Mountain and Town Mountain Road climbing to the Parkway.

A town of about 900 people in a cove at the foot of Graybeard Mountain, entered through a stone gate 2 miles above Black Mountain and built around a Presbyterian conference center.

A Swannanoa Valley town of about 8,400 people 15 miles east of Asheville on I-40, with a walkable State Street downtown, Lake Tomahawk and the gated Settings community on its slopes.

A gated community of about 400 acres on the mountainside above Fairview, southeast of Asheville off US 74A, with more than 175 acres kept as green space and over 6 miles of private trails.

A private, member-owned golf community in the hills above Hendersonville, built around a Tom Fazio course that opened in 1991 and is ranked among North Carolina's best private layouts.

A roughly 1,400-acre gated golf community in Flat Rock whose clubhouse is an antebellum mansion from around 1850, with an 18-hole course designed by Joe Lee.

A village south of Hendersonville where Charleston families built summer estates from the 1820s, home to the Carl Sandburg Home and the Flat Rock Playhouse, the State Theatre of North Carolina.

A hillside town on the west edge of Hendersonville, incorporated in 1925, that grew out of a lakeside resort and ends at the Jump Off Rock overlook at about 3,100 feet.

A farm-valley town of about 22 square miles in western Henderson County, incorporated in 2003, minutes from Pisgah National Forest and home to Sierra Nevada's eastern brewery.

Sixteen blocks of storefronts along a curving, planter-lined Main Street at about 2,100 feet, listed on the National Register and 22 miles south of Asheville.

A 4,400-acre gated club community on the Balsam range between Sylva and Waynesville, with about three quarters of the land protected and an Arnold Palmer signature course.

A gated lake-and-golf community in Tuckasegee on Duke Energy's Bear Creek Lake, with a nine-hole Nicklaus Design course and a Lake Club at the water.

Jackson County's seat and its older rail-stop neighbor, a couple of miles apart where Scott Creek meets the Tuckasegee, with a walkable Main Street and a 1913-14 courthouse on the hill.

The unincorporated home of Western Carolina University in the Tuckasegee valley, six miles south of Sylva, with campus-driven demand and Judaculla Rock up the Caney Fork.

The original county seat on the Tuckasegee, now a town of under 400, with river frontage and farmland running up NC 107 between Sylva and Cullowhee.

Unincorporated Jackson County village at about 3,487 feet, centered on the US 64 and NC 107 crossroads, with a 13-acre Village Green and most of the plateau's private clubs within a few miles.

Incorporated Macon County town at 4,118 feet, founded in 1875 and long a summer resort, with a walkable Main Street, Donald Ross golf at Highlands Country Club and Nantahala National Forest on every side.

A 1,470-acre reservoir at 3,492 feet in Jackson County, north of Cashiers on NC 107, with 26 miles of shoreline shared by private docks, Trillium's marina, Mountaintop's lake club and Signal Ridge Marina.

Resort valley along US 64 east of Cashiers, mostly in Jackson County, built around the 1890s Fairfield Inn site, Fairfield Lake, a small ski slope and two golf courses, with amenities run by a master association.

Private golf club in Cashiers, Jackson County, founded 1986 with a Tom Fazio course that opened in 1987 on a valley floor at about 3,650 feet; golf-first, with homes along the fairways and a selective membership.

Discovery Land Company's private club above Cashiers, Jackson County, at about 4,000 feet: Tom Fazio course opened 2006, plus a members' lake club on Lake Glenville.

Historic 1,400-acre inn and club on NC 107 south of Cashiers, Jackson County, at about 3,500 feet; established 1922, with a Fazio Design course reopened in 2021, Hampton Lake, croquet and cottages.

Private 750-acre golf and lake community on Lake Glenville, Jackson County: Morris Hatalsky course opened 1998, a club marina, indoor and outdoor clay tennis, and a new clubhouse replacing the one lost to fire in 2023.

Private 211-acre club community in Cashiers, Jackson County, with just over 100 homesites, two croquet lawns, clay tennis, a lodge and spa, and no golf course.

Gated 800-acre farm community on the floor of a granite box canyon between Cashiers and Sapphire, Jackson County, on the old Jennings trout farm, with Canyon Kitchen, trails, two lakes and 300 acres of common land.

Private, invitation-only golf community outside Highlands, Macon County: Arnold Palmer and Ed Seay course opened 1989, about 350 member families, a stocked lake, croquet and tennis.

Private club inside the gated Highlands Cove community between Highlands and Cashiers, in Jackson County: Tom Jackson course opened 2000, taken private by Old Edwards Hospitality in 2009.

Highlands' original club, founded 1928 on Dillard Road in Macon County at 4,118 feet, with a Donald Ross course first played by Bobby Jones, croquet, clay tennis, a saltwater pool and Lake Sequoyah paddling.

Member-controlled private club outside Highlands in Macon County at 4,000 feet, with a Joe Lee routing from 1979 rebuilt by Bergin Golf Designs in 2019–2021, eight pickleball courts, croquet and a waterfall green.