The Story Behind Longview
From The Cliffs
to Longview.
Updated October 2026 · Longview Carolina
Few people know more about building luxury communities in the Upstate than Jim Anthony. He founded The Cliffs in 1991, opened The Cliffs at Glassy near Landrum in 1993 and grew the company into a collection of private golf and lake communities stretching from Lake Keowee to Asheville. Longview Carolina is what he built after asking a simple question about all of it. What were people really buying?
The Question
What Owners Were Buying
In Anthony’s experience, most homes at The Cliffs were second homes. By his estimate, only about one in five owners lived there full time, and only about 1 percent of those full-time owners played golf regularly. Golf, he concluded, wasn’t the main reason people bought.
Anthony came to believe full-time owners were paying for green space, privacy and a quiet place close to nature, and that golf courses and club memberships were an expensive way to deliver them.
The Cliffs, now owned by South Street Partners, still centers on retirees and empty-nesters looking for second or third homes, according to a 2026 report in The Post and Courier.
The Answer
Green Space and Privacy, Without the Club
That insight led first to Riverstead, a gated community in the Upstate with more than 400 acres, about 250 of them set aside for conservation, and two miles of river. Instead of fairways, Riverstead was built around farmland, trails and the river itself.
Longview Carolina carries the same idea closer to town. Its 180 acres on Longview Mountain outside Easley hold 88 homesites, a community farm, greenhouses, more than two miles of hiking and biking trails, campsites and the Pinnacle Pavilion at the summit. There are no golf courses to maintain and no club to join, so owners pay a fraction of what a private club costs in membership and dues.
Sports come and go with age. A life outdoors lasts.
Longview Carolina · Easley, SC
The Long View
Sports Fade. The Outdoors Lasts.
Anthony also noticed how people’s lives change with age. Competitive sports tend to fall away as the years go by. Hiking, biking, fly fishing and camping tend to stay with people far longer. A family that builds an outdoor life together can keep it for decades and pass it on to the next generation.
That is why Longview puts its resources into the land instead of amenities people outgrow. Trails wind through the woods, the farm needs hands every season, campsites wait under the trees, and the Blue Ridge is close by. Table Rock State Park is about 30 minutes away, with the Jocassee Gorges and the region’s trout streams an easy drive beyond.
The same conviction runs through his work outside real estate. In 2004 he founded Zest Quest, a nonprofit focused on children’s health.
On the Trails
The Farm
The Summit
Common Questions
Longview and The Cliffs
- Who developed Longview Carolina?
- Longview Carolina was developed by Jim Anthony, who founded The Cliffs in 1991 and later developed Riverstead.
- Is Longview Carolina part of The Cliffs?
- No. Longview Carolina is an independent community. The Cliffs is now owned by South Street Partners, and Longview has no affiliation with it.
- Are there communities like The Cliffs near Greenville without a golf membership?
- Yes. Longview Carolina in Easley offers the gated privacy, mountain views and green space many Cliffs buyers look for, without golf or a club membership. It is about 25 minutes from downtown Greenville.
- Does Longview Carolina have a golf course?
- No. Longview centers on a community farm, more than two miles of hiking and biking trails, campsites and the Pinnacle Pavilion at the summit, with a pool and pickleball courts planned as the community grows.
- What is Riverstead?
- Riverstead is a gated community in the Upstate that Jim Anthony developed before Longview. It covers more than 400 acres, with about 250 acres set aside for conservation and two miles of river.
Keep reading with our guide to agrihoods in South Carolina, or see the story of Longview Carolina.
Sources
- Jim Anthony biography · Clemson University, 2008
- From proximity to pickleball: Behind The Cliffs’ sales gains of 2025 · The Post and Courier, February 2026
- Riverstead – A New Way to Live in the Upstate · WSPA 7News, December 2019
- Riverstead · riverstead.com
The Cliffs is a trademark of its owner. Longview Carolina is not affiliated with The Cliffs or South Street Partners.
See It for Yourself
Green Space, Without
the Club
Schedule a private tour to walk the trails, see the farm and take in the view from the summit.