Transylvania County, North Carolina

Transylvania County holds the headwaters of the French Broad River, with the Blue Ridge Parkway tracing its northern ridgeline and more than 250 waterfalls earning it the name Land of Waterfalls. Brevard, the county seat, sits at the entrance to Pisgah National Forest and is home to Brevard College and the Brevard Music Center, whose seven-week summer season fills the town with student and professional musicians. Its walkable downtown, famous for its white squirrels, draws second-home buyers and full-time residents alike.

To the west, Lake Toxaway is the largest privately held lake in North Carolina, anchored by Lake Toxaway Country Club and the Greystone Inn, a lakeside mansion built around 1915 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The original resort lake, created after the railroad arrived in the early 1900s, was lost when its dam failed in 1916 and rebuilt in 1960; today its shoreline is lined with lakefront homes. Closer to Brevard, Connestee Falls is a gated community with four lakes and an 18-hole golf course, named for the 85-foot waterfall just off US 276 that is now a county park, while Cedar Mountain, on US 276 a few miles from the South Carolina line, is the main entry point to DuPont State Recreational Forest.

Luxury properties here range from lakefront and golf-community homes to private acreage bordering Pisgah National Forest, DuPont State Recreational Forest and Gorges State Park.