Celebrity Travel
Highlands, North Carolina Was Founded on a Hunch About Where Two Lines Would Cross
A 4,000-foot-high plateau town founded in 1875 on a speculative hunch, Highlands has spent over a century as a low-profile summer retreat for old Southern money and, later, Tom Fazio-designed golf estates.
By BigTravel.in Editorial Team · · 2 min read
Highlands, North Carolina, sits at just over 4,000 feet on a plateau in the Southern Appalachians, a perch that made it a health and summer resort almost from the moment it existed. It didn't grow organically around a port, a railhead or a river crossing; it was founded in 1875 by two Kansas land developers, Samuel Kelsey and Clinton Hutchinson, who reportedly drew a line on a map from New York to New Orleans and another from Chicago to Savannah, and bet that wherever they crossed would eventually become significant. The lines crossed near Highlands. The bet on a major population centre didn't pay off, but the bet on a durable resort town did.
Wealth that arrived on foot, then by golf cart
The town's founders pitched it to sober Northern tradesmen and wealthy Southern planters alike, and that mixed early population set the tone: money in Highlands has rarely announced itself. The bigger shift came later, in the 1980s, when golf communities designed by names like Tom Fazio and Arnold Palmer began appearing around the town, drawing a wealthier and more seasonal population that now defines much of Highlands' economy without changing its scale. The town itself remains small and walkable, its Main Street lined with independent shops rather than chains.
Whiteside Mountain sets the skyline
Whiteside Mountain, a sheer granite face rising just outside town, is the plateau's most recognisable landmark and one of the tallest cliffs in the eastern United States. A loop trail to its summit is one of the more accessible serious hikes in the region, popular with both the seasonal residents and the day-trippers who don't otherwise overlap much with Highlands' quieter social calendar.
A town that still runs on its founders' logic
What Highlands never really abandoned is its identity as a seasonal escape rather than a year-round destination; much of its wealthier population arrives for summer and leaves before the mountain winters set in. That rhythm, more than any single estate or landmark, is what keeps the town feeling insulated from the more visible resort towns of the Blue Ridge further north.
Traveller tips
- Asheville Regional Airport, roughly a two-hour drive, is the most practical arrival point; Atlanta's airport is a longer but more frequently served alternative.
- Summer is Highlands' peak season, in keeping with its origins as a warm-weather retreat from lowland heat; spring and autumn are quieter and cooler on the plateau.
- The Whiteside Mountain summit trail is a loop of a few hours and doesn't require technical hiking experience, though sturdy footwear helps on the rockier sections.
- Parking on Main Street fills quickly on summer weekends; arriving early in the day is the simplest workaround.
Where this is
Highlands, North Carolina
