When back-to-back hurricanes struck Western North Carolina in 2004, excessive rains caused landslides that closed the major roads into and out of the Cashiers-Highlands plateau. Trees were down, power was out and emergency crews struggled to keep pace with the growing list of needs as the community began recovery efforts.

It wasn’t the sort of situation that typically would warrant a visit to the country club. But High Hampton Inn and Country Club isn’t the typical country club. For three days, owners opened their doors to all emergency personnel, offering those who were on-call and couldn’t make it home a place to sleep and eat.

“We know it’s important to help out the community where the needs are,” said David Jones, High Hampton’s general manager.

Meeting the community’s needs is why Duke Energy teams have found the seasonal inn open in the dead of winter when snow and ice has taken down power lines and employees have needed a place to stay while working round the clock to restore power. It’s also why a school near the South Carolina line receives donations of unused foodstuffs at the end of each tourist season. And why REACH was offered truckloads of furniture to sell when the inn was remodeled.

“We do so many little things,” said Mark Jones, also an inn manager.

The golf course has been used for the Cashiers Chamber of Commerce’s Golf for Education fundraiser for the past seven years, raising more than $100,000 for local schools, and the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce’s Stonewall Challenge, from which a portion of the proceeds fund the Chamber’s annual community grant program. The course also is used for a Jackson County Homebuilders golf tournament to raise money for scholarships. And discounted golf rates are offered on a regular basis for emergency personnel.

“It just goes back to community spirit and participating,” David Jones said.

This sense of community stretches back to what has made High Hampton a popular destination from the first time it opened its inn doors. Often families visiting the inn are those who come back year after year, many requesting the same week and same room they had during their previous visit. They’ll see old friends they met at the inn in years prior, make new ones and above all rely on the inn’s reclusive resort atmosphere to get away from it all and spend time with one another.

“It’s kind of like a camp for adults,” David Jones said.

Visitors won’t find a telephone or television in every room. Instead there are plenty of hiking trails, lunch and dinner buffets featuring local trout and made-from-scratch desserts, a lake for swimming and boating, a golf course lined with native flora.

“We are in the mountains, we’re not trying to be Ritz Carlton,” David Jones said.

Of course, High Hampton nonetheless has bragging rights to what Golf Digest deemed “One of America’s Great Golf Holes” on its par 3, 137-yard hole eight. Visitors may be pampered at the new spa that boasts a full menu of massage and body treatments, as well as a health club and salon. In the interest of keeping things proper, dinner requires a coat and tie — a tradition that has been tossed aside by other country clubs looking to attract a younger and more casual clientele.

High Hampton’s amenities are reserved for inn guests, country club members and those who have bought homes on the property surrounding the inn; however, the golf course and dining are open to the public. There are plans to further market dining facilities for private parties such as wedding rehearsals, meetings and banquets.

Operators are looking at ways to extend the season by keeping a few inn rooms open through the winter. The move is one that managers hope will increase customers and allow those who have visited before more time to enjoy High Hampton.

“We appreciate their loyalty to us,” David Jones said.