The Field Guide  ·  Highlands & Cashiers

Old Edwards Club at Highlands Cove.

The plateau's most buyer-friendly club, the highest elevation of the five, with an 80 percent equity refund and a Forbes spa in town.

Fall color across the Highlands-Cashiers plateau
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No. 04

Old Edwards Club at Highlands Cove

The plateau's most buyer-friendly club, the highest elevation of the five, with an 80 percent equity refund and a Forbes spa in town.

Southern Escapes Score
83/100
Lifestyle & Setting17
Amenities & Club15
Value & Appreciation18
Access & Location17
Exclusivity & Prestige16

Old Edwards Club sits at roughly forty-seven hundred feet, the highest of these five, which buys the coolest summers and the most dramatic ridgeline views. The four-hundred-acre gated community runs from condominiums to cottages to single-family homes, closer to walkable Highlands than the Cashiers clubs, and its membership ties to the Old Edwards Inn and Spa, a Forbes five-star property in the village. A Tom Jackson course earns Golf Digest recognition, and a generous family policy covers parents, children, and grandchildren under one membership.

The standout is structure: the club refunds eighty percent of the membership fee on exit, unusual on the plateau and genuinely buyer-protective. Specific real estate and fee figures are less transparent than peers and should be confirmed. For a buyer who wants Highlands village at the doorstep, a spa connection, and downside protection on the buy-in, this is the smart-money pick.

Homes
Condos to ~$3M+
The draw
Old Edwards Inn & Spa tie, 80% equity refund
Membership
Equity, partly refundable; by inquiry
Why locals rate it
  • Highest elevation, coolest summers, best village access
  • Eighty percent equity refund is rare and protective
  • Forbes five-star spa connection in town
What to weigh
  • Tom Jackson course carries less nameplate cachet
  • Real estate pricing is less transparent than peers
  • Smaller amenity bench than Mountaintop
Your Weekend Itinerary

Highlands' Main Street weekend, with golf above the village and a par-three course lit for night play.

Saturday morning

Breakfast at Mountain Fresh Grocery, in-house roast and a proper butcher, then the Tom Jackson course at Highlands Cove, eighteen holes above the village.

The twilight nine

The Saddle at GlenCove, Old Edwards' twelve-hole Beau Welling par three between the towns, lit for play after dark. Bring the ringer and the skeptic both.

The culture

The Bascom's exhibitions run all season, and the Highlands Playhouse stages professional summer theater two blocks off Main.

The table

Madison's at Old Edwards Inn, seed-to-plate from the hotel's own garden. The Ugly Dog Pub afterward if there is bluegrass on.

Sunday

The US 64 waterfall corridor west: walk behind Dry Falls, idle past Bridal Veil, brunch back on Main Street before the plateau lets you go.

Currently Offered

What is quietly available, right now.

Inventory inside these gates moves quietly, and the best of it often trades before it is broadly marketed. Ask us what is available in Old Edwards Club this week, including what has not hit the portals.

Considering Old Edwards Club?

We know this address from the inside.

Before you tour a single home, an Advisory Conversation tells you whether Old Edwards Club actually fits the life you are trying to build, and what the move is worth under the new Carolina tax math.