99999 Eagle Bald Trail, Burnsville, NC 28714

We almost drove past it. Eagle Bald Trail climbs so far above Burnsville that the GPS gives up, then we found tracts 29 and 30 of Ogle Meadows. We stepped out at 5,350 feet into air that felt like September in August. The lot averages about a 25% grade, and right beside the road the ground lays back into a gentle bench. We walked onto it, turned west-northwest, and watched ridge after blue ridge run out to the sky. Oak and hickory filled the south and west lines; the rest was open meadow. My homework was straightforward. A boundary survey located the 60-foot platted right of way. A soil scientist confirmed the well-drained Wayah-Burton loam near the homesite would take an engineered septic system. The covenants asked for what we wanted anyway: one single-family home, at least 1,200 square feet, approved plans, and nothing over the ridge law's 40-foot cap. Of course there’s no flood zone up here and no landslides mapped on the tract. The house sits on the flattest pad on the land,...