About Us
Overview
Fairview Forest is a private, planned community in Fairview Township, Buncombe County, North Carolina. Fairview Forest totals more than 700 acres, which is host to about 175 properties, ten miles of private roads, privacy, spectacular views, and an incredible level of biodiversity.
The community is self-governed by Fairview Forest Homeowners’ Association, a corporation registered with the State of North Carolina as a not-for-profit business. Fairview Forest has Restrictive Covenants, By-Laws, and Regulations, and is managed by a Board of Directors.
Biltmore Land Development registered its first plat map under the name “Arrowhead” in August of 1972. After that, the community had a series of different developers, different covenants and different names. Names for all or part of the community included Arrowhead, Arrowhead Hideaways, Arrowhead Farms, Fairview Hideaways and Fairview Forest. The Fairview Forest name was initiated in the Covenants registered in September 1988.
Community
Fairview Forest is a magical community. Its beauty is maintained through effective organization, careful planning, fiscal responsibility, diligent maintenance and, particularly, by the support and participation of a welcoming and diverse community of residents and property owners.
Four Seasons
Each distinct season on our mountain brings special rewards and sometimes unique challenges. Fall and spring supply ample color, a textured landscape, and wonderous vistas. The majority of our trees are deciduous. Long-distance vistas, especially views of neighboring mountains, like Little Pisgah and Bearwallow, are breathtaking. Winters are generally mild with occasional snowfalls. Snow and ice can make driving on our sloping and curving roads particularly challenging, but most of us like to take advantage of getting snowed in by hiking the snow-capped ridges or curling up in front of the fire with a good book.
Terrain
Fairview Forest accounts for a large chunk of the Swannanoa Mountains, themselves a spur of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Properties in the community range in elevation between ~2200 feet to ~4500 feet. The climb to the top of the mountain is steep in some places, and treacherous when winter ice takes hold. The abundance of life supported within our little mountain cove forest biome thrives on our annual rainfall and pleasant climate. The wind, rain, and ice contribute to occasional treefalls along the slopes. Runoff and spring creeks in Fairview Forest conjoin along the cove floor to become Trantham Creek. Residents and guests enjoy the use of Arrowhead Trail, which also follows the cove floor.
Biodiversity
Fairview Forest is located in an area considered to host one of the most biodiverse ecosystems in North America. The number of different species of native plants, animals, and insects in this area is rivaled by very few locations on Earth. It’s common to see wild turkeys, black bears, deer, birds, bugs and reptiles. Rhododendron, mountain laurel, and wildflowers make up the texture of the Mountain. The creek is covered by canopies of dense evergreens (hemlock) in places, and deciduous mixed hardwoods in others. It is the rock substrates, moisture levels, and soil which generally dictate plant communities. Most of the Greenspace area along the creek could be considered a fairly “rich cove forest.
Plant Species We've Identified
Canopy Trees — Oaks, Tulip Poplar, Red Maple, Black Birch, Hickories, Buckeye, Umbrella Tree (a deciduous forest Magnolia), American Basswood, Beech, Wild Locust, Wild Cherry, Ash, White Pine, and Hemlock
Understory Trees — Sourwood, Witch Hazel, and Dogwood
Shrub Layer — Rosebay Rhododendron, Doghobble, Mountain Laurel, Spicebush, Wild Hydrangea, Elderberry, and Hearts a bustin’. Ferns and their close relatives — Christmas Fern, Bracken Fern, Hay Scented Fern, Northern Maidenhair Fern, Woolly Lip Fern, Grape Fern, and Spleenworts
Herbaceous Layer (Wildflowers and less notables) — Trilliums, Jack in the Pulpit, Asters, Meadow Rue, Wild Geranium, Bloodroot, Squawroot, Showy Orchis, Puttyroot, Ratttlesnake Plantain, Indian Cucumber Root, Dwarf Crested Iris, Lungwort, Moneywort, Wood Sorrel, Alumroot, Prenanthes, Crowfoot, Yellow Mandarin, Hepaticas, Harbinger of Spring, Baneberry, Toothworts, Black Cohosh, Goatsbeard, Bishops Cap, Ginsing, Saxifrage, Fleabane Daisy, Solomon Seal, False Solomon Seal, Bedstraw, Jewelweed, Goldenrods, Sweet Cicely, Galax, Sedums, and Violas (purple, yellow)
Vines — Virginia Creeper, Grape, and Wild Yam
Nasties — Poison Ivy, Stinging Nettles, and Greenbriar
Invasives — Bittersweet, Multiflora Rose, Microstegyum, Japanese Spirea, Chinese Privet, and Tree of Heaven