The beat and buzz and busyness of Atlanta can be a powerful attraction or a deafening roar. Or maybe a bit of both.

For those who want a quiet lifestyle without straying too far from the city, it's easy to have it all.

Big Canoe, Bent Tree and Lake Arrowhead -- all mountain/golf course communities that began in the 1970s primarily as retirement and resort meccas -- offer havens for the harried, and all are within a reasonable drive of Atlanta.

In recent years, more families have made permanent homes in the three communities, thanks in part to telecommuting and the growth of corporate centers and business offices in the area.

Want to see for yourself? You can visit all three in a day while comparing amenities, landscape and prices. The three form sort of a wide triangle north of Canton.

Big Canoe, which straddles Dawson and Pickens counties, offers a polished approach to mountain living. Want a few examples? In the past few years, it has been home to the Cooking Lite Fit House, which was the Southern Living featured home of the month for July 2003. The community also showcased the Bob Timberlake design house, another Southern Living plan. And, most recently, Big Canoe was selected to host the spring 2005 Street of Dreams home tour.

With developer Big Canoe Co. still very much involved, amenities and features keep being added. So do new neighborhoods, including Wildcat, where homes are priced from the $450,000s, and Hillside at Cox Mountain, priced from the $300,000s.

You can take your pick of homes in the wider community, which range from resale condominiums from the mid-$100,000s to full-blown estates that might cost $1 million.

You can live in a fairly traditional neighborhood or on a far-flung mountaintop. There are plenty of choices at Big Canoe, which spans 8,000 acres.

Dave and Dolly Blake moved there two months ago from Atlanta. Dave retired from Emory University two years ago and now runs a consulting business from his home office.

"We came out here to look -- and we fell in love," he said. "The air was cleaner, the scenery was beautiful, and there was this general peacefulness."

The Blakes are building a house in Wildcat. Meanwhile, eager to soak up the atmosphere, they're renting a house in the community while waiting for their own place to be completed.

"Wildcat really attracted us," Dave Blake said. "It's got all this acreage for common use -- open fields of wildflowers -- it's a very special place."

Wildcat also has a play area that includes soccer fields, a baseball field and a basketball court, and a pool will soon follow. And don't forget about the 20-plus miles of trails throughout Big Canoe -- a walker's delight.

"I love to walk, and there are more miles of trails than I'll ever be able to walk," Dolly Blake said. "It's a wonderful life. We're commingling with wildlife, and we're living in a beautiful home."

All amenities at Big Canoe are open to all residents. There also is a very active social calendar that attracts a good crowd. You can take your pick of concerts under the stars, team sports for kids and adults, and clubs, classes and other events for every age group.

"It's a great place to raise a family," said Mark Young, who moved to Big Canoe eight years ago with his wife, Jan, and three children. "The kids can have the freedom to take off in the morning, go to the swim club -- and we don't have to worry. Everybody knows everybody, and we all watch out for each other's kids."

Bent Tree, a little west of Big Canoe in the town of Jasper, offers a different take on mountain living. Since 1984, when the developer left, the community has been completely owned and controlled by its property owners, who are responsible for all maintenance of amenities, roads and common areas.

Resales in Bent Tree start in the low $100,000s, with new homes ranging from about $150,000 to $350,000.

"We love the way the community is run -- by the owners, not developers," said Mary Blackburn. She and her husband, Ben, are retirees who have lived at Bent Tree since 1993.

"The neighborhood has retained its essential character over the years," Ben Blackburn said. "One change is that there are more young families moving in, and that's for the better."

Bent Tree doesn't have the neighborhood-within-a-neighborhood approach of Big Canoe. Instead, homes are scattered throughout the community's 3,500 acres.

"I like the overall ambience of the area," Ben Blackburn said. "It's not crowded by neighbors. We've got our privacy, but we go to church with the same people we play golf with. We see each other on a daily basis. It's a very friendly community."

And there are still "lots of animals, lots of deer -- more than you really want." They're all part of the scenery.

Lake Arrowhead, in northern Cherokee County, is the closest to Atlanta of the three mountain communities, yet it offers the same wilderness feel.

With fewer than 900 homes scattered over 8,000 acres of rugged terrain, its pristine lakes, mountain views and country club amenities help shape its appeal. Resale condos can be had for under $100,000, and homes without great views are priced from the mid-$100,000s.

Over the years, the community has been embroiled in disputes with the developer, Purcell Co. Lawsuits involving upkeep of the neighborhood were settled in the property owners' favor in 1987. And last year, property owners again battled the developer when Purcell tried to impose revised community covenants.

"We worked through the issues and got the covenants passed with a few good things -- and a few bad things," said Roger Akers, president of Lake Arrowhead's property owners association. "Now it's time to bury the hatchet."

He and his wife, Toni, moved to Lake Arrowhead four years ago. "We're water people, and we spent a year or more looking," Roger Akers said. "We found a place at Bent Tree, but found out you couldn't have a dock, and that was one key issue. . . . We drove through Lake Arrowhead, and it had golf, the lake, the natural woods and mountains. This is the place where we decided to put down some roots."

And, Akers said, "this is the place that will go to our daughter one day."