ELEVATE: A Field Guide to the Plateau & Beyond, from Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Meadows Mountain Realty in Highlands-Cashiers, NC. Fall 2026 issue.
ELEVATE A FIELD GUIDE TO THE PLATEAU & BEYOND VOL. 20 | FALL 2026
INSIDE THIS ISSUE: A SIGNAL IN THE TREES Why the first red leaves of fall turn early What Grows After You Arrive Giving back at Lake Keowee Order Out of Chaos Mahjong night in Highlands And more...
Dry Falls under a turning canopy.
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W Welcome. A MESSAGE FROM JUDY MICHAUD, Owner/President of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Meadows Mountain Realty
Welcome to our fall issue of ELEVATE: A Field Guide to the Plateau & Beyond. You may notice a small change to our name. We added “& Beyond” because some of the stories we want to tell sit just past the Plateau, at Old Edwards Reserve at Lake Keowee and in Brasstown. The Plateau is still home, and it is still where most of these pages begin. In June, I joined members at the Reserve for An Evening of Impact, the spring dinner and auction of the Reserve Charitable Foundation. By the end of the night, they had raised roughly half a million dollars for organizations across Pickens County. Our lead feature follows that money beyond the gates, to groups like Feed a Hungry Child, which sends weekend meals home with more than seven hundred children. One member told us the Foundation was a main reason they chose to live there. After that evening, I understood why. There is also an update on Laurel Village, where the first cottages are now framed. The red leaf on our cover is Virginia creeper. I have watched it climb the trees along my walk every September without once wondering why it turns early. In “A Signal in the Trees,” Andrew Renfro of the Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust explains why, and it’s not what you think. The same feature remembers the Highlands residents who bought the top of Satulah Mountain in 1909 rather than see a hotel built there. “The top of Satulah is ours to keep forever,” Thomas G. Harbison wrote that year. I have lived here for more than 35 years, and that sentence still moves me.
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Welcome. CONTINUED
If you need a plan for how to enjoy the season, Ilona Vos from our Cashiers office shares where she goes in October. Nearly every story in this issue is about someone taking care of something they love. Melanie Couch and Nancy Dyleski have turned strangers into regulars around their mahjong tables. Derek Taylor is bringing back Highlands Hardware & Lumber Co., decades after his father ran the original. Bill Futral asks us to remember the tradesmen behind every house, and our own Betty Holt celebrates 100 years of the John C. Campbell Folk School. Welcome to Lesley Madden and Kristin Cameron, the newest members of our team, and thank you to our clients for trusting us this year. For your next fall gathering, my daughter, Tricia, shares her slow- roasted pernil. She promises it will make your house smell amazing, and I can vouch for that. My advice? Take the long way home one afternoon this fall. When you see red climbing a tree that has not turned yet, you will know who it is for.
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In This Issue FALL 2026
Calendar of Events
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What Grows After You Arrive The Reserve Charitable Foundation Taking Shape at Laurel Village New Cottages at Old Edwards Reserve A Signal in the Trees A Deeper Look at Fall Foliage on the Highlands-Cashiers Plateau
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ON THE COVER: A Flagging Virginia Creeper Leaf
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Where I Go in October Ilona Vos’s Favorite Fall Drive
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Order Out of Chaos Mahjong with Mountain Mahj Collective What Are They Building? Highlands Hardware & Lumber Co.
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PUBLISHER Judy Michaud GRAPHIC DESIGNER / EDITOR Mick Mayer CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Betty Holt, Ilona Vos (828) 526-1717 MeadowsMountainRealty.com OFFICES 488 Main Street,
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A School for Life 100 Years of the Folk School Built For The View Builder Spotlight: Bill Futral From Our Family to Yours Tricia’s Slow-Roasted Pernil Proudly Represented Sold Spotlights this Quarter
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Highlands, NC 28741 2334 Cashiers Road, Highlands, NC 28741 175 Highlands Cove Dr, Highlands, NC 28741 196 Burns Street, Cashiers, NC 28717 190 Village Green Loop, Sunset, SC 29685
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Meet The Team
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IN THIS ISSUE
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MARK YOUR CALENDAR
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 22 Rock the Plateau Salon Series: Kathleen Edwards An intimate listening-room series for touring songwriters. Kathleen Edwards opens the fall run with songs that feel “conversational, unsparing, and deeply human.” S.G. Goodman follows on November 19 and Tift Merritt on December 17. Highlander Mountain House, Highlands | Ticketed Visit Website to Buy Tickets. FRIDAY - SATURDAY, OCT. 23 - 24 Pickens Appalachian Folk Festival Two days of bluegrass, old-time music and storytelling in Pickens County, home to the nonprofits in this issue’s lead feature, with Murphy Campbell, Swamp Rabbit Bluegrass, food trucks and artisan vendors. Hagood Mill Historic Site, Pickens, SC | FREE Visit Website to Learn More. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27 The Enchanted Forest Trick-or-treat along the trails of the Highlands Botanical Garden and meet some of the creatures we associate with Halloween. Costumes encouraged, all ages welcome and no registration needed. Highlands Biological Station, Highlands | 5-6:30pm | FREE Visit Website to Learn More. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 29 Ghost Ballads at Peregrine Preserve An evening of “haunting and beautiful Appalachian songs about ghosts, murderers, and demons” at the Land Trust’s new Peregrine Preserve on Whiteside Mountain. Free and open to all with an RSVP. Peregrine Preserve, Whiteside Mountain | 6-8pm | FREE Visit Website to RSVP.
OCTOBER THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15 Naturalist Walk with Andrew Renfro Explore the plants, animals, lichen and fungi of the Plateau with the Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust’s Land Conservation Director, the guide behind this issue’s “A Signal in the Trees.” Free and open to all with an RSVP. Peregrine Preserve| 1:30-4:30pm | FREE Visit Website to Learn More. THURSDAY - SUNDAY, OCT. 15 - 25 Highlands-Cashiers Players: Dracula Double Feature & Other Haunting Treats Two comic one-acts by Dennis Snee. “Almost the Bride of Dracula” spoofs classic horror, and in “Midlife Dracula” the Count faces a crisis not of immortality, but of purpose. Two weekends only. Highlands Performing Arts Center | Thu-Fri 7pm,
Sat 5pm, Sun 2pm | Ticketed Visit Website to Learn More. FRIDAYS, OCTOBER 16 & 23 Leaves of Change
Naturalists Alex Waite and Maddie Wikstrom lead a walk on the Kelsey Trail on why leaves change color and the seasonal processes behind it. A field companion to this issue’s leaf guide. All ages, no registration. HBS North Campus, Highlands | 9-10am | FREE Visit Website to Learn More.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17 Chi-Town Transit Authority
Back by popular demand, this Chicago tribute covers the band’s late ‘60s and ‘70s jazz-rock through its ‘80s ballads, with a full horn section and the close vocal harmonies the originals were known for. Highlands Performing Arts Center | 7:30pm | Ticketed Visit Website to Buy Tickets.
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YEAR ROUND EVENTS MONDAYS
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30 Goblins on the Green
Cashiers celebrates Halloween a night early. The library, the rec center, the Boys and Girls Club of the Plateau and local businesses fill the Commons Lawn with family activities. Costumes welcome. The Village Green, Cashiers | 6-8pm | FREE Visit Website to Learn More. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 31 Halloween on Main Main Street closes to traffic for trick-or-treating at downtown shops, with free hot dogs and hot chocolate, live music from 64 and Down and High 5, and DJ Mike Murphy. Main Street, Highlands | 6-8pm | FREE Visit Website to Learn More. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 31 - SATURDAY, DECEMBER 26 Holiday Market at The Bascom The galleries become a holiday shop of handmade ceramics, glass, jewelry, textiles and woodwork by studio members and regional artists, with workshops, ornament crafts for kids and hot chocolate all season. The Bascom, Highlands | Tue-Sat 10am-5pm | FREE Visit Website to Learn More. NOVEMBER SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 7 Hotel California: A Salute to the Eagles Billed as the longest-running show of its kind, this Eagles tribute is known for faithfully reproducing the band’s Grammy-winning sound. Highlands Performing Arts Center | 7:30pm | Ticketed Visit Website to Buy Tickets. THURSDAY - SUNDAY, NOV. 12 - 15 Highlands Culinary Week With Highlands Food & Wine not returning in 2026, Highlands Culinary Week fills November with four days of chef dinners, tastings and music, including Whiskey & Flannel at The Stubborn Bull, a food drive for the Highlands Emergency Council. Various venues, Highlands | Ticketed by event Visit Website to Learn More.
• Mahjong Mondays - Skyline Lodge in Highlands WEDNESDAYS • B luegrass - The Ugly Dog Pub in Highlands THURSDAYS • Blues Night with Scott Low - The Ruffed Grouse Tavern FRIDAYS • L ive Music - Hummingbird Lounge at Old Edwards Inn SATURDAYS • L ive Music - The Vineyard at High Holly SUNDAYS • B luegrass Brunch - Highlander Mountain House THIS SEASON SHADOW OF THE BEAR Rhodes Big View Overlook, US 64 Mid-October - Early November On sunny days, a shadow shaped like a bear walks across the valley below for about 30 minutes in the late afternoon. Road-shoulder parking only. Weekdays are quieter. www.discoverjacksonnc.com ICE SKATING IN THE PARK Kelsey-Hutchinson Founders Park, Highlands November 19 - February 28 Thursdays through Sundays, with extra hours over Thanksgiving and Christmas weeks. $8 with or without skates. www.highlandsnc.org LIGHTS ON THE GREEN The Village Green, Cashiers Thanksgiving Weekend - Early February The Village Green stays lit for the holidays from the November 27 tree lighting into February. Free. www.villagegreencashiersnc.com
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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 28 Light Up the Park & Main
Highlands lights up for the holidays with carols and treats in Founders Park, the Mayor reading “’Twas the Night Before Christmas” and Santa arriving by fire truck. Small Business Saturday fills downtown earlier, 11am-4pm. Kelsey-Hutchinson Founders Park, Highlands | 6-8pm | FREE Visit Website to Learn More. DECEMBER TUESDAY - SATURDAY, DEC. 1 - 12 Twelve Days of Christmas The Cashiers Area Chamber’s daily run of live holiday music at businesses around town. Performers and venues post to the Chamber’s community calendar as the series approaches. Marching bands, handmade floats, llamas, camels and Santa make their way down Main Street in the town’s morning parade. Main Street, Highlands | 10am | FREE Visit Website to Learn More. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 5 52nd Cashiers Christmas Parade The parade runs from Frank Allen Road through the Cashiers Crossroads and south on NC 107 to Cashiers School Road. With Highlands parading Various venues, Cashiers Visit Website to Learn More. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 5 Highlands Christmas Parade
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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 14 Folk School Community Dance The John C. Campbell Folk School’s big Second Saturday dance, with old-time musicians Erynn Marshall and Carl Jones and caller Charlotte Crittenden. Every dance is taught. A Brasstown potluck comes first at 5:30pm. Keith House, Brasstown | 7-10pm | $10-20 suggested donation Visit Website to Learn More. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21 Mark O’Connor’s An Appalachian Christmas The three-time Grammy winner returns with Maggie O’Connor for an encore of his holiday program, drawn from the 2010 album critics called “elegant” and “heavenly.” Highlands Performing Arts Center | 7:30pm | Ticketed Visit Website to Buy Tickets. Cashiers opens the season with the Mistletoe Market in Lewis Hall, visits with Santa in the afternoon and the tree lighting at the Gazebo at 5:45pm. Rain or shine. The Village Green, Cashiers | 10am-7pm | FREE Visit Website to Learn More. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 27 Gingerbread House Workshop at The Bascom Bring the grandchildren to build a gingerbread house from a buffet of candies, then enter it in the popular-vote contest. Morning and afternoon sessions. Children attend with an adult. Register by November 26. The Bascom, Highlands | 10am & 1pm | $75 per house Visit Website to Register. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 27 Christmas on the Green
that morning, you can catch both. Cashiers Crossroads | 3-5pm | FREE
Visit Website to Learn More. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11
Music on the Mountain: Andy Leftwich The four-time Grammy-winning fiddler brings a mix of bluegrass, country, swing, jazz, Irish and classical influences to the lodge at Table Rock State Park. Gaines Lodge, Table Rock State Park, Pickens, SC | 7pm | $20 Visit Website to Buy Tickets.
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SATURDAY, DECEMBER 12 Fireside Sale at the Folk School
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 17 A Highlands Christmas with Mike Kinnebrew A Highlands Christmas tradition. The singer- songwriter and his band perform Christmas songs, stories and his own music in the Martin Lipscomb Theatre. Highlands Performing Arts Center | 6pm | Ticketed Visit Website to Buy Tickets. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 31 Skate the New Year In The Founders Park ice rink stays open from 1pm until 1am on New Year’s Eve, so you can skate straight into 2027. Kelsey-Hutchinson Founders Park, Highlands | 1pm-1am | $8 Visit Website to Learn More.
Regional artisans fill the Keith House, Dining Hall and Davidson Hall with jewelry, weaving, forged iron, photography, quilts and turned wood, with live holiday music. The Craft Shop takes 15% off for the day. John C. Campbell Folk School, Brasstown | 10am-4pm | FREE Visit Website to Learn More. SATURDAY - SUNDAY, DEC. 12 - 13 Sapphire Valley Winter Arts & Crafts Show Handmade crafts, folk art, food and live music fill the Sapphire Valley Community Center. The same weekend, the Sapphire Valley Ski Area plans to open for the season, weather permitting. Sapphire Valley Community Center, Sapphire | 10am-4pm Visit Website to Learn More.
Editor’s
NOTE
I have been telling everyone I know about what I learned from my interview with Andrew Renfro about fall foliage, the subject of “A Signal in the Trees.” It’s really exciting to uncover a concrete example of just how interconnected the natural world can be on the Plateau. It’s even more exciting to see how that interconnectedness is mirrored in the community. I’ve met new friends in Melanie and Nancy of Spruce Interiors, and I look forward to joining one of their mahjong events sometime. Creating a little order in all the chaos of modern life, while giving myself permission to put my phone down and meet new people, feels completely therapeutic. Derek Taylor opened my eyes to just how deep the roots go, and how it is all coming full circle in front of us with the return of Highlands Hardware. I’m more
than ready to support a local business so deeply committed to the community around it.
I was not expecting to learn about all of the places and relationships Bill Futral has built in these mountains. My conversation with him completely changed my perspective on High Camp and the passion behind it. I can’t wait to see what he and his incredible team build next. And then there was the Reserve. I went into my conversations with the people behind The Reserve Charitable Foundation curious about how a community could raise so much money in a single night. What I found became more inspiring with every conversation. Behind the numbers were relationships, years of volunteer work and people who seemed genuinely invested in what happens beyond the gates. We held three interviews that day. I left with a smile on my face and a heart full of hope. That story begins on the next page. I hope you enjoy discovering it as much as I did.
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At Old Edwards Reserve at Lake Keowee, a charitable foundation offers a window into the people who live there and the place they have chosen to call home. FEATURE After You Arrive What Grows
It all started with something a member told us at dinner.
On June 7, at An Evening of Impact, the spring dinner and auction of the Reserve Charitable Foundation, one member told us The Foundation had been a main reason they chose to live at the Reserve.
The comment came during an evening devoted to raising money for organizations across Pickens County. Wine on the tables, a band, bid paddles going up over dinner. It is one of only three charitable giving events the Foundation holds each year, and it did not look or feel like one.
By the end of it, roughly half a million dollars had been raised. The 2025 event raised over $267,000. The growing response was worth following. So was the comment.
Above: Judy, Mitzi, Tom and Tri- cia join members at “An Evening of Impact” T op Right: Raising paddles during the auction. Bottom Right : Members toast at dinner. Photography by Morgan Lamb
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Rick and Laura Rother moved to The Reserve in 2020.
With the help of friends who were already members, they had been circling the Reserve for roughly a decade by the time Rick retired in 2018. When the time came, Rick and Laura moved quickly. They bought a lot, drew plans and started building. “We started looking up here and quite honestly didn’t look anywhere else. We just knew the Reserve was the place we wanted to be , ” Rick said. Laura went on to say... “The Foundation played another role in our decision.” A few weeks later, Rick and Laura Rother gave us the same answer. “We were really impressed with the work being done here.” “ “and being a part of this community was really important to us because we were both involved in a lot of charity work in Atlanta and wanted to have something to do in retirement.” Today, Rick chairs The Foundation’s board. Laura has spent several years as a Reading Buddy at Pickens Elementary and is preparing to chair The Foundation’s next spring event.
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“Members are understanding, more and more, that what they do has an impact on the surrounding community.” “ To see that impact, you have to leave the gates.
Rother believes the growing response has something to do with seeing more clearly where the money goes. Over the past several years, The Foundation changed the emphasis of its communications. “We’ve changed the whole format and focus of our annual report and member communication. Four years ago, you would have seen a bunch of members having a lot of fun and going to concerts. Now you’ll see the charities supported, the positive impact of the foundation and our three pillars highlighted.”
A member rejoices in winning an auction which supports non-profits across Pickens County. Photo by Morgan Lamb
ELEVATE is published by Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Meadows Mountain Realty, which rep- resents property at the Reserve and sponsors The Foundation’s Golf Classic.
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Becky Gilstrap has been at the Reserve since 2008 and has led The Foundation since 2019. Its entire staff is Gilstrap and Assistant Director Sarah Center.
WHERE IT GOES ENDING HUNGER Pickens County Meals on Wheels · Feed a Hungry Child · Senior Center of Pickens County CREATING SAFE SPACES Pickens County Advocacy Center · Safe Harbor · Samaritan Health Clinic · Family Promise of Pickens County · The Dream Center · The Legacy Home of Recovery · FAVOR Upstate · Neigh- borhood Cancer Connection · Purple Heart Homes, Golden Corner Chapter · Upstate Warrior Solution · Oconee Humane Society SUPPORTING LIFELONG LEARNING Camp iRock · Dolly Parton’s Imagina- tion Library · Center for Developmen- tal Services · BRIEF · Happy Hooves Therapeutic Equestrian Center · Jocassee Wild Child · Ripple of One TWO FUNDS The Foundation is a 501(c)(3), funded by member and corporate donations and by three events a year. The Reserve Lifestyle Fund is separate, funded by a percentage of every real estate sale. It pays overhead and member programming.
“ “We want to encourage mem- bers to look beyond our gates and see the needs that exist within the broader community.” Gilstrap points to a local principal who noticed children coming to school on Monday mornings with stomach aches and going to the health room. “It turns out... the children had not eaten since Friday at lunch at school.” The principal and several others in the com- munity took charge and started Feed a Hun- gry Child. It now sends weekend meals home with more than seven hundred children. The Foundation has funded it for over fifteen years. “Our hope is that, over time, the number of chil- dren who need this food will decrease rather than grow.” Feed a Hungry Child is one of 21 organizations The Foundation supports. Pickens County Meals on Wheels is another.
A member reviews the artwork up for auction at “An Evening of Impact” Photo by Morgan Lamb
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Pickens County: just under 500 square miles, 86 percent of it rural, about 131,000 people.
The Foundation raises money at three events: • Evening of Impact Dinner & Auction • The Charity Golf Classic in the fall • An Artisan Shop Sale Organizations serving Pickens County apply each year. A review committee examines who they serve, what their work accomplishes and what they need. Each organization The Foundation supports is connected to a Reserve member advocate who volunteers there or is part of their board. The desire is to have someone with boots on the ground to keep everyone updated. HOW IT WORKS
Donations and event proceeds go out as grants. The only cost they carry is running the events themselves, so roughly ninety-five cents of every donated dollar reaches a charity. Kim Coward, a member who spent decades on nonprofit boards, has seen what giving looks like without a foundation in the middle. “You don’t write 30 checks. And you don’t have competing entities competing for resources.” “You write one check.” “
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Today, the
Two days before the Fourth of July, the three Young at Heart senior centers operated by Pickens County Meals on Wheels came together at the McKissick Center in Liberty to celebrate the country’s two hundred and fiftieth birthday. There were hot dogs for lunch and ice cream afterward. Bingo and board games filled part of the day. Cornhole and live music filled more of it. “Most people want to stay at home as long as they can and we hope they’re able to do that by coming to thesecenters,”saysKimValentin,ExecutiveDirector.
16 “We apply every year and every year we have been fortunate enough to be chosen as a grant recipient.” “We wouldn’t be able to do what we do without The Reserve Foundation.” “ FALL 2026 The centers are for seniors who can still get out. Meals on Wheels also serves 375 homebound seniors on its weekday routes. For nearly twenty years, Foundation money has been part of that work. So have Reserve residents. Valentin says they show up beyond the delivery routes, assisting at the senior centers, calling bingo, helping with senior events and working in the Meals on Wheels office.
The community came together in celebration of America’s 250th Anniversary at the McKissick Center in Liberty, SC.
This summer, Reserve owner James Whitley took his children with him to deliver meals. “I’ve given to The Foundation monetarily, but I also wanted to give time. And to me, it’s important for my children to understand the importance of giving back.” What he remembers is what happened at the doors.
Visit their website:
“To see the joy bringing someone a simple meal can bring them, you know, the smiles on their faces. It was a really good experience that I enjoyed a lot and my kids enjoyed.” “
Click or Scan QR to learn more about Pickens County Meals on Wheels
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From left : Rick Rother, Laura Rother, Becky Gilstrap, James Whitley
The founders of this community had a vision to connect members with arts, education and outreach. The outreach began in 2006, with gifts totaling $7,500. In 2009, The Foundation was created so those gifts could be tax-deductible. Two decades on from that first $7,500, this community has given more than $3.3 million to non-profits across Pickens County. James Whitley, a member since 2010, knows some of the original founders and is careful about speaking for them. His perspective is that they saw a place worth building well, and understood that building it carried an obligation to the county around it.
I think the charitable heart in them continues to grow” “And I think people here, by and large, realize that they’ve been tremendously blessed in their life. And I think upon arriving here and spending time here, that sentiment grows. And with it, You can see a house in an afternoon. The people around you take longer. Somewhere along the way, The Foundation became more than one of the reasons the Rothers chose the Reserve. It became part of the life they built there, and part of how they came to know the place beyond the gates. “
BY THE NUMBERS 2006
$3.3M+ Total giving since.
$453,000
Charitable grants began.
Awarded grants in 2025.
$50K+
$500K
Scholarships awarded in 2026.
Raised at An Evening of Impact.
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“And in this world that moves very fast, those moments... where you pay a little bit closer attention to your friends and to your loved ones, to nature around you, that’s where I think joy is found. And that’s what I hope people experience when they come to the Reserve.” - James Whitley, Owner
Members celebrate a record-breaking night of philanthropy at “An Evening of Impact,” 2026 Photography by Morgan Lamb
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The Jack Nicklaus Signature course at Old Edwards Reserve at Lake Keowee. Courtesy of Old Edwards
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THE CHARITY GOLF CLASSIC WHERE IT STARTS
The Foundation raises its money three times a year. The Charity Golf Classic is the one in the fall, two days in October on the Jack Nicklaus Signature course. This year it sold out on the first of August.
18th Annual Charity Golf Classic Monday and Tuesday, October 19 and 20, 2026 Four-person scramble Shotgun start, 11:25 a.m. Dinner buffet and awards, 4:30 to 6:00 p.m.
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Meadows Mountain Realty is a 2026 Platinum Sponsor of The Reserve Charitable Foundation’s Golf Classic.
VOLUNTEER
Becky Gilstrap, Reserve Charitable Foundation 864-481-4010 foundation@reservekeowee.com Volunteers are still needed.
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at Laurel Village TAKING SHAPE With the first cottages now framed and work underway on the short course, Laurel Village is moving from plans on paper to construction on the ground.
22 The day had its own itinerary. At check-in, each broker received a passport to be stamped at the four tour stops, turning the visit into a circuit through the parts of the community now taking shape. Completed passports became entries for three prizes that extended the experience beyond the afternoon. The grand prize was a weekend escape for two at Old Edwards Reserve, FALL 2026 before guests moved among Laurel Village, the Tennis Center, the 200-slip Marina and The Landing. At Laurel Village, they walked the construction site, previewed proposed amenities and received a brief look at the short course now underway. Laurel Village is beginning to take physical shape at Old Edwards Reserve. Framing is up on the first cottages, roof lines are visible, and exterior sheathing has been installed. Photographs from July show the first homes rising from the site, moving the project beyond plans and renderings. That progress set the backdrop for a private broker open house on July 16, when invited agents from across the region gathered at Old Edwards Reserve. Owner James Whitley welcomed the group at The Landing and outlined what is now underway across the community
including two nights at the Guest House, a round of golf, a day on the lake and dinner at the Reserve’s Orchard House. Other prizes included a spa and dining experience at Old Edwards Inn & Spa in Highlands and golf for four on the Jack Nicklaus Signature course. The tour also brought guests to the tennis center to meet the Reserve’s tennis professionals and to the marina for a preview of the planned waterfront pool renovation. At The Landing, renderings and a community map offered a broader view of the Village Core and Market, placing the construction visible outside into the context of what is still ahead. Lunch from One Wicker Cheese Co. added a familiar Highlands name to the day. The cottage collection carries that sense of place into its naming. Aberdeen, Dornoch and Prestwick each take their names from Scotland’s golf heritage, a quiet thread connecting the homes to the sporting landscape around them. Meadows Mountain Realty’s broker open houses at Old Edwards Reserve are by invitation, with the next date still to be announced. Real estate professionals interested in joining can reach out to mick@bhhsmmr.com to be added to the invitation list.
Top left: Framers install ZIP System sheathing on the first Prestwick cottage, drying in the structure against weather. Bottom left: James Whitley walks brokers through the construction site during the open house.
Top right: Crews set the foun- dation formwork for a Dornoch cottage, the Blue Ridge rising beyond.
Laurel Village from the air on July 16, cottage sites and the new short course taking shape.
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The Cottages
PRESTWICK 4 BR | 4.5 BA | 3,008 SQ FT
Named for Prestwick Golf Club on Scotland’s southwest coast, birthplace of The Open Championship in 1860. Prestwick is the full-family cottage. Four bedrooms and a dedicated office answer the buyer who is not quite done working, and the largest primary- level footprint of the three welcomes grown children, in-laws, and long weekend guests without compromise. Landscaping included.
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Click here or Scan QR to view floorplans
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DORNOCH 3 BR | 3.5 BA | 2,436 SQ FT Named for Royal Dornoch, the remote masterpiece in the Scottish Highlands often called the purest links course on earth. Dornoch is the architectural showpiece of the lineup, anchored by a two-story great room and a screened porch with fireplace. Its three- bedroom layout offers generous space
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for guests and entertaining while maintaining an intimate cottage fee Landscaping inlcuded.
Click here or Scan QR to view floorplans
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ABERDEEN 4 BR | 3.5 BA | 2,173 SQ FT Named for Aberdeen, the granite city on Scotland’s northeast coast and a cradle of centuries-old championship links. Aberdeen is the right-sized retreat: primary suite on the main level, a screened porch with fireplace built for shoulder-season evenings, and an upstairs bedroom that doubles as a playroom for visiting grandchildren. The cottage for couples who want simplicity without giving up hosting. Landscaping included.
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Click here or Scan QR to view floorplans
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TAKING SHAPE AT LAUREL VILLAGE
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107 Summer Sky Lane GlenCove by Old Edwards Cashiers, NC Featured Listing
AT A GLANCE
107 Summer Sky Lane, Cashiers, NC 5 bedroom suites · 5.5 baths · two-car garage · two suites on the main level Dedicated office · second gathering space · suite above the garage
Covered porch with brick fireplace · slate roof · Wolf and Sub-Zero appliances · fiber available · furnishings negotiable GlenCove by Old Edwards · Built 2026 by Horizon Construction Group · MLS# 1004090
Listed by Jennifer Blake and Ed Hillis, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Meadows Mountain Realty
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107 Summer Sky Lane was built for the weekend everyone comes up at once, and for the quiet weeks in between. The house sits in GlenCove by Old Edwards in Cashiers, North Carolina, with five bedroom suites, two of them on the main level and one above the two-car garage. Edgens Herzog Architects designed it, and Horizon Construction Group built it and designed the interiors. From the drive it reads as a classic mountain house: three wood doors set into a brick gable, under a slate roof that goes on once and stays. GlenCove members share Copper Beech Lake, miles of trails, golf, racquet sports, wellness, dining and gardens, so a day can start on the lake and end at dinner without leaving GlenCove. A membership is available with the purchase, subject to club approval and the terms of the sale. Community water and sewer and fiber- optic internet are already in place. Past the front doors, the brick and slate give way to bright rooms and warm hardwood floors.
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107 SUMMER SKY LANE CONTINUED
The kitchen opens to the great room and the dining room under exposed beams, with Wolf and Sub-Zero appliances and a stone fireplace across the room. Breakfast for a full house is an easy morning here. Anyone who has owned a mountain house will head straight for the mudroom, with its window seat and cabinets for boots and coats. The primary suite has a freestanding
tub and a walk-in glass shower. A dedicated office and a second gathering space add room for everyone, and the suite above the garage gives longer-staying guests a place of their own. Out back, the covered porch has a brick fireplace under a vaulted wood ceiling, which makes it as much an October room as a July one.
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Click Here or scan the QR code to view listing details.
FEATURED LISTING
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A SIGNAL IN THE TREES One of the first red leaves of fall is carrying a message. It is not addressed to us. FEATURE
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sourwood turns crimson on a road bank in the second week of September. It looks like a tree getting ahead of the season. Andrew Renfro reads it differently: the tree is not early, it is on time, signaling something that has not arrived yet. On the path out to Sunset Rock, the Land Conservation Director for the Highlands- Cashiers Land Trust stops at that distinction. The sourwood is keeping an appointment that is not set by the surrounding canopy. From an overlook, the Plateau can read as one continuous forest. Up close, the trees are answering different conditions and relying on different ways to move what comes next. Fall makes those differences visible. A red leaf can be an advertisement, a sign of strain or simply a tree keeping its own schedule. The color is the part we notice. What matters is what put it there and what is moving around it. The appointment is for the birds.
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An early red leaf can be more than a sign of the season. For some species, color is a signal.
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Renfro explains, “and not every tree species or plant species does it, but a lot of them, such as the sourwood, sassafras, Florida dogwood and black gum will start changing their color when their fruit is ripe, and it’s an indicator for migrating birds to come. As if to say, hey, I’m ready for you to disperse my seed different places.” The mechanism is plainer than it sounds. A plant’s fruit ripens. The seed needs to move away from the parent plant and birds can do that simply by eating the fruit and continuing on. The trouble is visibility. Virginia creeper berries are nearly black. So are sassafras. Against a summer forest they can disappear. The dark berry needs a billboard. The audience is not local. Many of the birds responding to these signals in the fall are on their way to Central America, and they need concentrated fuel along the way. “Those berries are super high in things like lipids and fats, and they help fuel that migration” “There’s an ecological process referred to as flagging”
In an analysis of fall fruits, the Center for Conservation Biology found sassafras the most energy-dense of the lot, averaging more than sixty percent fat. “ A sassafras standing on a ridge above Highlands is helping pay for a flight to Central America. It will not see the bird again, nor does it need to. Flagging can turn one tree early. But not every early color is a signal.
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At Sunset Rock, some trees grow on only four to six inches of material over solid granite. “That’s all mostly duff too. That’s not even dirt.” With so little beneath it, a tree can begin changing before the same species rooted more deeply a few yards away. Renfro says the difference can be large enough to read across a mountainside: “Looking out on the mountains, you’ll see an area that maybe is not as pronounced of an outcrop as this, but it looks like it’s forested and then all of a sudden, two weeks before the fall color hits, it starts turning. And you know that there’s probably shallower soils there or some type of environmental stressor.” From the road, the result can look almost identical. One tree turns red because its fruit is ready and it wants to be seen. Another turns early because the ground beneath it is thin and the tree is under strain.
That distinction runs through the whole season. The chemistry inside a changing leaf is remarkably consistent. What varies across the mountain is when that chemistry begins, what sets it in motion and which colors a tree produces once the green starts
to disappear.
Left: An American robin feeds among Virginia creeper berries, doing exactly what the plant needs: carrying seed beyond the parent vine. Above : Andrew Renfro examines the thin layer of soil and duff above the granite at Sunset Rock. Bottom Right : American chestnut survives across the Plateau mostly as sprouts rising from persistent root systems.
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Sourwood can open the season in the first week of September. Its deeply furrowed alligator bark and crooked trunk are easy to recognize once you know them. Red maple can turn in the same week for the opposite reason; its winged seeds leave on the wind without needing to attract anything. By mid-September, Virginia creeper can run scarlet up a trunk that has not changed at all. A few days later comes sumac . According to the Finger Lakes Land Trust, its fruit has so little flesh and fat that it resists spoilage, leaving clusters upright on bare stems through winter when little else remains.
Chlorophyll gives a working leaf its green. As fall sets in, chlorophyll breaks down and is no longer replaced. The yellows and oranges that emerge were already there, pigments that had been masked by the green. Red is different. In many trees, the anthocyanins responsible for red fall color are made in the leaf during autumn. On the Plateau, the answer to “when the leaves change” can be as varied as the reason to turn. THE LEAF COLOR GUIDE:
SOURWOOD FLAGGING Oxydendrum arboreum Crimson to scarlet
VIRGINIA CREEPER FLAGGING Parthenocissus quinquefolia Deep crimson
RED MAPLE MOST WIDESPREAD Acer rubrum Scarlet
SUMAC ROAD SHOULDERS Rhus spp. Scarlet-orange
PEAK ON TH
SOURWOOD RED MAPLE
VIRGINIA CREEPER SUMAC
YELLOW BIRCH
AMERICAN CHESTNUT SASSAFRAS
SEP 1
SEP 15
OCT 1
OCT
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Late September brings yellow birch in the cool, wet ground along creeks and coves, where a whole drainage can go gold inside a week. American chestnut follows in early October, its sprouts still turning brilliant yellow on the same seasonal schedule. Sassafras arrives around the same time with red, orange and gold on a single branch. It is flagging too: its dark-blue fruit ripens in fall, rich fuel that birds quickly carry away. Scarlet oak waits until last, carrying the season into November, its pointed lobes distinguishing it from white oak.
By November, the timeline has become more than a calendar. Eight species are changing on different schedules, for different reasons, across the same mountainside. This mix has changed before.
YELLOW BIRCH THE HIGH GROUND Betula alleghaniensis Rich gold
SASSAFRAS FLAGGING Sassafras albidum Red, orange, gold
SCARLET OAK THE LAST WORD Quercus coccinea True scarlet
AMERICAN CHESTNUT THE GHOST Castanea dentata Brilliant yellow
E PLATEAU OCT 11-25
Oct 8-22
Oct 8-25
Sep 25-Oct 15 Oct 1-18 Oct 1-18
Oct 6-20
Oct 8-26
SCARLET OAK
Oct 26-Nov 10
T 15
NOV 1
NOV 15
NOV 30
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Before the blight, roughly one tree in four in a forest like this one was American chestnut.
In forests like these, Renfro says, American chestnut once accounted for roughly a quarter of the trees. Blight from Asia functionally removed it from the canopy. The roots survived, and sprouts still rise and turn brilliant yellow each fall, but oaks largely filled the niche chestnut left behind. From the first view on the Whiteside Mountain
Trail, Renfro points northeast toward Cashiers: “When you hike the Whiteside Mountain Trail The autumn forest we recognize today is already a changed one.
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Keeping those pieces connected matters for more than the view. Protected land that joins other protected land gives wildlife and plant species more room to move through the landscape. Six people oversee 5,600 acres across 145 places. The scale makes conservation a community undertaking as much as an organizational one. “We can’t be everywhere at once. So the community is a really important part of us being able to effectively do our job and steward these places into perpetuity.”
“It’s hard to think about what forever means, but it is what we are striving to do, and land conservation is one of the only ways that you can achieve forever to a meaningful degree.” “
and you get to that view where you’re looking kind of northeast back towards Cashiers, you’re looking across a lot of protected peaks, Chimney Top, Timber Ridge, Sheep Cliff, Laurel Knob, all of those we conserve.”
- Andrew Renfro Land Conservation Director Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust
www.hcltnc.org
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OURS TO KEEP
forever
Riders on the Satulah summit. Courtesy of the Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust.
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What followed was a series of mergers and a widening map. The Association joined the Highlands Community Club in 1934 to become the Satulah Club. It merged again with the Ravenel Park Association in 1987. It took its first conservation easement in 1996, six acres beside the Highlands Biological Station. In the early 2000s, as the work moved into Jackson County and Cashiers, it became the Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust. In 2025, partnering with the Open Space Institute, HCLT bought 104 acres adjoining Whiteside Mountain. The land had been slated for high-end residential development; now instead, HCLT and OSI are planning for future public access. Renfro tells the story of a sourwood on that property. While fundraising for the acquisition, it held its red from the first week of October into November. “I like to say that helped sell the donors on contributing to the project.” One hundred and sixteen years after Satulah, the same decision, made again. “
n 1909 a hotel was planned for the summit of Satulah Mountain. A group of Highlands residents who called themselves the Highlands Improvement Association raised five hundred dollars and bought the land instead. Fifty-six acres, at 4,543 feet. Thomas G. Harbison, writing that year: “The top of Satulah is OURS to keep forever.” They built a stone shelter at the summit for anyone who wanted to stay the night, in their own words, “for the purpose of beholding the beauties of the sunset and the starlit heavens.” The foundation is still up there. “ The Association had been founded twenty- six years earlier, in 1883, to protect, preserve and promote the natural beauty of Highlands. It is the oldest land trust in North Carolina and among the first twenty in the country. Five years after Satulah, in 1914, the Ravenel family gave the organization ten acres at Sunset Rock. It was only the second property it had ever held, and the deed required that the public be allowed to reach it. That is the walk at the front of this feature.
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THANK YOU.
If you enjoyed this article on fall foliage, you may also enjoy our year-round nature programs, led by naturalists like Andrew Renfro. We create immersive, educational experiences for the public by hosting events on the lands we conserve.
Click the graphic or scan the QR code to RSVP for Andrew’s Naturalist Walk on Thursday, October 15.
We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and the oldest land trust in North Carolina, protecting more than 5,600 acres across Jackson and Macon counties. We do not take this role lightly , and we are honored to help save these unique and irreplaceable lands through the involvement and philanthropy of readers like you, our community. Take your first step toward conservation with the Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust today by visiting us online at www.hcltnc.org or attending one of our free public events: www.hcltnc.org/events .
If you choose to support our critical work today, please make checks payable to Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust and mail them to P.O. Box 1703, Highlands, NC 28741, or donate online: www.hcltnc.org/give . Get outside. Connect with the land and with one another today at the Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust. Protect what matters to you.
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MY FAVORITE DRIVE Start in Cashiers and end in Franklin. Whiteside Mountain first, then Rhodes Big View, into Highlands, and down US 64 past Bridal Veil Falls, Dry Falls and the Cullasaja Gorge. It is about an hour of driving. Leave half a day, because you will pull over. What I did not understand for the first few years is that the order matters. You start near five thousand feet and finish near two thousand, and the season runs later the lower you go. Done in that direction, one afternoon shows you several weeks of fall. “Sourwood is one of the first trees that transforms into bright red crimson colors, while the rest of the forest is still green, reminding us that nature never rushes, yet it always arrives exactly when it’s meant to.” “ This is my eleventh fall in Highlands, and it is still the season I wait for most. The cooler air, the changing light and the slower
WHERE I GO FROM OUR EYES several weeks of fall.
In October
Words by Ilona Vos
It is the scent of woodsmoke in the evening air and the golden glow over the Blue Ridge. It does not arrive all at once either. The leaves take several weeks, and October is the best of it, whether you spend it on a porch with a blanket and a cup of coffee or driving through the sea of gold and red. After eleven of these, here is where I go. SUNSET ROCK The one I come back to most. The short walk stays enclosed in forest until it opens suddenly onto the Blue Ridge and downtown Highlands. Sitting on the granite, watching the light move across the mountains, the late sun makes every color richer. Land Trust property, open to the public. WHITESIDE MOUNTAIN The best hike on the Plateau, a two-mile loop, and the highest ground on this list at 4,930 feet. Go early. The lot fills. RHODES BIG VIEW OVERLOOK The town’s most popular overlook, and the place to stand for Shadow of the Bear, which runs mid-October into early November on clear afternoons. BRIDAL VEIL FALLS Right on US 64 west of Highlands. You can see it without leaving the car. DRY FALLS A mile and a half further down the same road, and worth the steps. You walk behind the water. CULLASAJA GORGE The whole run of US 64 between Dry Falls and Franklin. Pull off where you can. BLUE VALLEY OVERLOOK I pass it every morning on my way in. Quieter than the rest, and where I take people who want the panorama without the crowd. HORSE COVE ROAD Relatively low, slightly warmer and late. When Highlands has gone bare, this is still going. Fall here is more than a season.
pace make the town feel different for a few weeks.
Ilona Vos is a broker in the Cashiers office of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Meadows Mountain Realty. Living on the Scaly
Mountain side of the plateau, she brings firsthand knowledge of Scaly Mountain, Highlands, Cashiers, and the surrounding communities to buyers
and sellers throughout the area.
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Cullasaja Falls, at the bottom of the gorge. The color runs later down here than it does on the plateau.
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FROM OUR EYES
ORDER Order
Out of Chaos
Nancy Dyleski and Melanie Couch built Mountain Mahj Collective around racks, mats, tiles and a room full of people willing to put their phones down.
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Spruce Interiors, there is rosé. The game moves easily between those two settings. A high schooler can share the table with a player in their eighties. “Everybody plays together. It’s multi-generational.” “ Almost none of the regulars knew one another before Mountain Mahj Collective put them at the same table. We asked whether any of those strangers had become friends. “All of them.” Now the regulars keep track of one another. They notice who has been away and who has returned. “They tell us their travel plans now.”
our racks face the center of a mat as colorful tiles stand in rows against them. Each player begins with thirteen except for the dealer, who gets fourteen and discards first. The phones stay down, without effort. Mountain Mahj Collective is the name Melanie Couch and Nancy Dyleski use for the nights they host. Both step in when a player needs guidance, keeping the format centered on guided play. The basic expectation is that players know the fun- damentals and have played once or twice before arriving. A good turnout is somewhere between a dozen and twenty people, with the rest of the town’s calendar affecting the number. At Oak Steakhouse, the group has a designated bartender. Light bites are served with the moun- tains visible through the window. On the patio at
Above: From left, Nancy Dyleski and Melanie Couch, the duo behind Spruce Interiors and Mountain Mahj Collective.
Opposite: A good night brings a dozen to twenty players to the table.
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