High Vista is a golfing community on N.C. 191 south of Asheville at the Buncombe and Henderson county lines. It sits on a mountainside with panoramic views of the valley below and is about 20 minutes from Asheville and Hendersonville and about five minutes from the Asheville airport.

In the mid-1970s Geary Cordell and Dave Robinson, two friends who were also brothers-in-law, found themselves frustrated after a day spent struggling with crowded conditions on some local golf courses. They decided to build a golf course, and their dream soon became High Vista.

Cordell and Robinson recruited six friends, and the group located the property that is now High Vista. Then the original eight recruited more friends, who asked more friends to join until the group consisted of 200 people. Each charter member contributed $5,000 for the original $1 million investment in the community.

About half of the money was used to buy the property and half to build the golf course.

The original 200 members drew their lot numbers for homes in the new community.

Improvements to the High Vista community in recent years include a new clubhouse, five newly designed holes for the golf course, new grass on the golf course, a new pool complex and three new lighted tennis courts. High Vista also has a new gatehouse.

The High Vista community includes the original High Vista Estates overlooking the golf course and the newer High Vista Falls and La Vista Village, intertwined among the golf course fairways.

Associations in the community are High Vista Country Club, the High Vista Homeowners Association for High Vista Estates and High Vista Falls, and a small condominium association for La Vista Village. Some of the members at High Vista Country Club live in the community, and some live outside the community.

"High Vista is a hidden jewel. ... It is a beautiful place with a beautiful and challenging golf course," said Milo Garren, who has lived in High Vista almost three years. He is a real estate broker and vice president at J.D. Jackson Associates Inc.

His brother Terry Garren, one of the 200 charter members at High Vista, worked at the country club previously and returned in November as general manager.

Lots in High Vista now sell for about $25,000 to $100,000, and some of the lots are available from second and third owners, Milo Garren said.

Home sales in the newer section during the last year averaged about $325,000 and ranged from about $250,000 to $525,000; sales in the original section during the last year averaged about $275,000 and ranged from about $210,000 to $400,000, he said.

People who live in High Vista speak warmly of their community.

Zeke and Faye Mitchell are charter members, and their home partway up the mountain overlooks the golf course. He has his own landscaping business, Mitchell Landscaping, and she works at Steelcase. They've been married for 30 years and have a grown daughter.

"This is the only home my daughter knows," he said.

"It's a good neighborhood and community. . . . We look out for one another," Faye Mitchell said.

The Mitchells used to play golf all the time but don't have as much time now because of his business and because they are active in Pine Grove Missionary Baptist Church in Asheville, where they've been going since the mid-1980s.

"We built our house in 1980, and we were number 13 to build on the mountain," Zeke Mitchell said. He likes the privacy, the quiet and the peace of mind because it's a gated community.

"I didn't have to worry about the family when I was gone," he said. "We've had great neighbors. . It's been a great place to live."

Tom and Judy Price were the first to build a home in High Vista.

"We opened the golf course in July 1978, and we moved in here in September 1978," Price said. Their home is near the No. 11 green.

"I try to play golf a couple of times a week. It's a challenging, demanding golf course, and I like that," he said. Price likes living on the mountain because it's private and quiet.

Judy Price enjoys the accessibility of the golf course, pool and country club, where she takes aerobics and yoga classes. She likes the diversity of people in the community, from all areas and with a variety of interests.

The Prices have a grown son and daughter.

"It was a good experience for them, growing up in High Vista," she said. They made some good friends in the community, who are still friends.

Children who live in High Vista go to schools in either Buncombe or Henderson County, depending on where in High Vista their families live.

Jim Tart and his wife Stephanie bought their lot from one of the charter members and built their first house in High Vista in 1983. They sold that house and built a second house in 1998.

"My wife decided she wanted to be down closer to the club, so our son could walk to facilities at the club, including swimming,'' he said.

"What took me there originally was golf. What I've grown to love there is the fact that it has the amenities of living in a neighborhood, and it's like living out in the country," he said. "We do have great diversity in people. . We have lots of people from Western North Carolina and people from all over the country and all over the world."

"High Vista is a safe and secure gated community in a low- crime area with a small-town atmosphere," Terry Garren said. "High Vista Country Club has a bright and promising future."

Bill Stokes lived in High Vista for 10 years, was away for 10 years and returned three years ago. He is one of the original members of the community. He loves the views and the quiet, and likes the close neighborhood that still offers privacy. He works in Hendersonville and so doesn't have too far to drive to work.

"I just think it's a great place," he said.

His wife Jan Stokes agrees.

"We feel really, really blessed. The people out here are very special," she said. "Even though it's a close community, we still have our privacy. We don't feel as if someone is looking over our shoulders all the time."

Dick Moody and his wife Pam have lived in High Vista for almost five years. He is the current president of the High Vista Country Club Board of Governors.

"High Vista Country Club is a local country club, a family- oriented club," he said. "The thing we like most about High Vista is the people. We have a good mix of retirees and non- retired people, so that during the winter months most everybody is here.

"We have more friends here in five years than we've had anywhere else we've lived," he said. "We couldn't be happier here."

Dave Robinson is the original president of High Vista Country Club.

"When I leave here to go on vacation, I can't wait to come back home, it's such a great place to live," he said.

"We bought for the amenities, and we're staying because it's home, and basically that's a reflection of the people in the community," said Bill Foisy. He and wife Elizabeth have lived in High Vista for two-and-a-half years. He is president of the High Vista Homeowners Association.

As with almost any community, some negatives were mentioned.

"If you live on the mountain, it's fairly steep and it can be a little difficult getting in and out in bad weather," Terry Garren said.

Bill Stokes, a pharmacist, noted that he has an Arden mailing address and a Mills River telephone number listed in the Hendersonville telephone book.

"It makes it difficult for someone to locate you if they have your address and that's all they have to go by. I have had pharmacy school classmates who have had difficulty reaching me for that reason," he said.

Contact Billings at 232-6013 or LBillings@CITIZEN-TIMES.com.