Most of Highlands was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1981. 12 places in town are on the National Register, among them three historic districts with 69 buildings between them. Below: maps from 1935 on and the census since 1880.
Founding year: the first Highlands post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Highlands’ History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Highlands is more historic than 57% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Highlands’ overall grade.
North Carolina towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical North Carolina town has 12.5 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Highlands’ 745 sits above most of its state (96% of North Carolina towns have fewer) while its 80 historic buildings outnumber those of 88% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C to B+. The pre-1940 share (±2.8 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Highlands’ past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Highlands was founded in 1875 after its two founders, Samuel Truman Kelsey and Clinton Carter Hutchinson, drew lines from Chicago to Savannah and from New Orleans to New York City. They felt that the place where these lines met would eventually become a great trading center and commercial crossroads. Highlands was named for its lofty elevation.
In the 1930s the town became a golfing mecca when Bobby Jones of Atlanta and some of his well-heeled golfing buddies founded the Highlands Country Club.
Today that club is one of seven successful residential country club communities in the area. The Highlands Country Club is south of Highlands on Dillard Road (North Carolina Highway 106).
The Highlands post office opened in 1875, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Highlands rank for history?
Highlands is more historic than 57% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
What is on the National Register in Highlands?
12 listings: 9 buildings, among them the Highlands Inn (listed 1990, the first), and 3 historic districts, the Satulah Mountain Historic District, the Playmore-Bowery Road Historic District and the Highlands North Historic District, with 69 contributing buildings. 80 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Highlands?
6% of Highlands’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.8 points), against a typical 4.1% for a North Carolina town; the median home was built in 1981.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikimedia Commons (12), the National Register of Historic Places (12), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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