The Coves: A Community Inspired by Nature

The Coves is a private, exclusive community that expresses its environmental friendliness in significant yet practical ways. This is a place for people who are excited about--and committed to--living in harmony with the area’s natural beauty. That’s how the development was conceived, how we treat community resources, and how our Owner’s Association and residents' club encourage homeowners to treat the design, construction, and maintenance of all of our homes and shared community assets.

The Coves is a Community that is Alive and Growing

Every day, The Coves is putting in to practice amenities, design principles and technology that support our core values. Alive today are:

• Paved Streets & signage that feel like extensions of the Blue Ridge Parkway
• 24/7 Gated Community with perimeter fencing & video monitoring 
• Water, Electrical Wiring, Septic infrastructure
• 5.2 miles of walking trails with “big view” rest stops 
• 2.8 miles of designated biking road and trails
• Shared Community Boat slips (to supplement individual home docks)
• Private Storage Area for boats, trailers & RVs
• Ridge top RV stations with utilities (water/power/septic) for shared use by homeowners & their guests
• High Speed “Mesh” WiFi throughout the property (with Shentel backbone)
  • Antenna on each home enable WiFi & Smarthome Activation
  • E911, basic phone service, and WiFi redundancy
  • WiFi accessible on shoreline docks, Common Areas & Trails
• 2 Solar Power Arrays with capacity to power 12 homes

​About the Developers

Optima Properties and CILP, developers and owners of The Coves, have a passion for designing and building communities that emphasize and preserve the natural qualities of the land. Our goal is to afford future generations with a community lifestyle that provides access to nature while helping to ensure its protection. Through careful master planning, land use covenants, and land preservation techniques, we strive to create communities that minimize the impact on the land and preserve significant natural and open space. The partners of Optima share over four decades of land and community development experience.

Home page image represents home designs available at The Coves. All renderings are copyrighted by Mountain Retreat Living and cannot be copied or used without permission.

The Coves Amphitheater Debut

The Coves Amphitheater hosted its first concert of the season on Saturday April 17th. Headlining was Crawford and Power with net proceeds going to benefit SML Good Neighbors, Inc. and 5 Points Music Foundation.

New Events Announced

Recently announced events at The Coves Amphitheater include The Marshall Tucker Band, The Mavericks and Kenny G!

Learn more about upcoming events by visiting our online ticketing and information page.

A Passion for Natural Design

The Coves Community has a passion for design emphasizing the natural qualities of the land and extending the concept of one’s home to include far more than the confines of a lot boundary. Our homes, shared spaces and trail amenities are also configured to consciously blur the distinction between “indoor” and “outdoor” living and to constantly encourage residents and guests to enjoy all that nature surrounding them has to offer.   With Smith Mountain Lake being one of the finest freshwater lakes in the eastern United States, we also provide creative ways to constantly view, access, and enjoy the water.

Since its inception, The Coves singular purpose was to create a community that brought the best of home design and construction, technology and innovative preservation techniques that would minimize the impact of construction on the land, preserve significant natural and open spaces, and foster a sense of privacy.

We also endeavor to design and construct buildings that are both environmentally responsible and economically sensible, and promote adoption of current technology to facilitate comfortable, efficient, and secure enjoyment of one’s home and the shared spaces around it.