Saratay Falls: Building A Designer Mountain Retreat
If your idea of a mountain home starts with privacy, natural beauty, and thoughtful design, Saratay Falls deserves a close look. In a market where many buyers want more than a finished house, this community offers the chance to shape a retreat around the way you actually live. From wooded homesites to a custom design-build process, here is what you should know if you are considering building in Saratay Falls. Let’s dive in.
Saratay Falls is an exclusive gated community in Cashiers with a limited collection of 20 custom luxury estates on 1+ acre wooded homesites. The community is located at 805 Whiteside Cove Road and is positioned just minutes from both Cashiers and Highlands. That combination gives you a private mountain setting with convenient access to town.
The community’s natural setting is one of its biggest draws. Official community materials highlight a private 40-foot natural waterfall along with outdoor gathering areas that include fire pits, picnic areas, gazebos, and a community deck overlooking the falls. Rather than centering the experience on a large club structure, Saratay Falls leans into a quieter, nature-forward lifestyle.
For many buyers, that is exactly the point. You are not simply choosing a place to stay. You are choosing a setting for a custom mountain retreat that feels personal, low-density, and closely tied to the landscape.
The broader Cashiers setting helps explain why Saratay Falls has appeal. The Highlands-Cashiers Plateau is known for cool summer temperatures, mountain scenery, waterfalls, outdoor recreation, shopping, and restaurants. Cashiers also includes a range of private gated communities, which makes Saratay Falls a natural fit for buyers seeking a tucked-away home base near everyday conveniences.
If you spend part of the year elsewhere, location matters even more. Being close to the center of Cashiers can make it easier to enjoy dining, shopping, and recreation without giving up the quiet feel that draws people to the Plateau in the first place. That balance is often central to the decision for second-home buyers.
The result is a community that supports both retreat and connection. You can enjoy a wooded homesite and waterfall setting while still staying close to the places and activities that shape the Cashiers lifestyle.
In Saratay Falls, custom means more than choosing finishes. It means selecting a homesite and then moving through architecture, design, and construction with a builder team rather than purchasing a standard spec home. That creates more flexibility, but it also means your lot choice becomes an important part of the design process.
Current official inventory shows a small number of available homesites and preconstruction opportunities, including Lot 2, Lot 10, Lot 12, Lot 20, Lot 13, and Lot 6. Sizes currently range from about 1.31 acres to 2.09 acres, with some lots tied to 4-bedroom, 4.5-bath preconstruction concepts. Availability and specifications can change, so these should be viewed as current examples rather than fixed community standards.
In a mountain community like this, acreage is only one part of the story. Privacy, slope, driveway layout, and view potential can have just as much impact on how a home lives day to day. That is why the lot selection phase often shapes everything that follows.
A strong homesite choice should support both your design goals and your day-to-day comfort. In a wooded mountain setting, the way a home sits on the land can influence natural light, approach, outdoor living, and the overall sense of privacy. Even two lots with similar acreage can feel very different once you account for terrain and orientation.
As you compare homesites in Saratay Falls, it helps to focus on a few practical questions:
These are the kinds of details that matter in a design-driven community. A beautiful mountain retreat often begins with choosing the lot that fits your priorities, not just the lot with the biggest number on paper.
Loudermilk Homes describes itself as a custom luxury design-build firm serving Cashiers, Highlands, and metro Atlanta. The company offers in-house architectural design and construction services, along with interior design through Loudermilk Designs. It also has an established local presence in Cashiers, which is meaningful for buyers building on the Plateau.
Its process is structured around a 9-step path that includes plan and ARC approval, a design phase, construction kickoff after grading, framing, mechanical rough-ins, finish selections, and a final walkthrough. For buyers, that kind of structure can bring clarity to what might otherwise feel like a very complex project. It also helps set expectations from the beginning.
Loudermilk also uses the Loudermilk Connect app to share schedule updates, budget information, documents, and video communication during the build. For out-of-area owners, that visibility can make the experience more manageable. It creates a clearer window into progress without requiring constant trips to the site.
The strongest design cues for Saratay Falls come from the showcase-home materials tied to the community. Those materials describe a look that blends modern European architecture with rustic luxury charm. That pairing fits the Highlands-Cashiers market well because it feels elevated, but still grounded in the mountain setting.
The highlighted design features include an open floor plan, a gourmet chef’s kitchen, an oversized island for entertaining, and full-height sliding pocket glass doors that support indoor-outdoor living. High-end materials and fixtures are also part of that design language. Together, these details point toward a home that is both visually striking and built for gathering.
If you are thinking through your own wish list, the community examples suggest a few consistent themes:
This approach works especially well in a mountain environment. You can create a home that feels dramatic and polished without losing the comfort and ease that make a retreat truly livable.
One of the advantages of a custom design-build process is the ability to shape the home around your routines. Loudermilk notes that buyers can tailor architectural styles and finishes and add specialty features such as purpose-built closets, wine cellars, built-in bars, and indoor sports courts. That flexibility turns the project into something much more personal than a standard new-construction purchase.
For many buyers in Saratay Falls, the goal is not just a vacation house. It is a place that can support holidays, long weekends, summer stays, and multigenerational use over time. A well-designed custom home can better reflect those long-term plans.
That is why the most successful builds often start with lifestyle questions first. How do you entertain? How much hosting space do you need? Do you want your home to feel like a quiet private escape, a gathering place, or both?
Design inspiration carries more weight when it has local roots. In 2025, Loudermilk hosted the 28th Annual Cashiers Designer Showhouse in its Lot 5 estate home at Saratay Falls. According to the Cashiers Historical Society, the showhouse is the organization’s signature fundraiser and welcomes thousands of visitors each year.
That connection gives Saratay Falls added design credibility within the local market. It links the community to one of Cashiers’ best-known design events and reinforces the idea that this is a place where architecture and interiors are part of the appeal. For buyers who care about design quality, that context matters.
The showhouse also reflects a broader truth about the Plateau. Homes here are often appreciated not just for square footage or views, but for how thoughtfully they respond to the setting. In a community like Saratay Falls, design is part of the value story.
Saratay Falls may be especially appealing if you want a mountain property that feels private, design-focused, and manageable in scale. With a limited number of homesites and a nature-centered amenity profile, it offers a different experience from larger club-oriented communities. For the right buyer, that can be a real advantage.
It may also appeal to buyers thinking beyond immediate use. The Plateau’s cool summers, waterfall-rich landscape, and access to Cashiers and Highlands support the idea of a seasonal retreat that can also become a long-term family asset. While each buyer’s goals are different, the setting naturally suits those who value both lifestyle and legacy.
If your vision is a polished but comfortable mountain home with room for personalization, Saratay Falls presents a compelling path. The key is understanding how the lot, the design, and the build process work together from the start.
When you are evaluating a design-driven community, local knowledge can make a meaningful difference. Understanding homesite tradeoffs, current opportunities, and how a neighborhood fits into the larger Cashiers market helps you make a more confident decision. That is especially true if you are buying from out of town or balancing several options across the Plateau.
At Michaud Rauers Group, that kind of place-based guidance is central to the client experience. From luxury mountain estates to gated-community opportunities, the team brings deep Highlands-Cashiers market knowledge and a concierge-level approach that helps you evaluate not just a property, but the lifestyle and long-term fit behind it.
If you are considering Saratay Falls or exploring other custom-build opportunities near Cashiers, Michaud Rauers Group can help you navigate the options with local insight and thoughtful guidance.
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