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Hill Country ranch with homes dating back to 1850s hits market for $42.5M

The 886-acre property has creeks, ponds and plenty of space

An 886-acre Hill Country ranch with homes dating back to the 1850s is on the market. The asking price: $42.5 million.

The property, 3 Creeks Ranch (494 Tres Arroyos Ranch Road, Fredericksburg), comprises three adjacent, original German ranches in Gillespie County, near Fredericksburg and Stonewall. The ranch is just minutes from Luckenbach and more than 250 miles south of downtown Dallas.

The property’s 1.38 square miles are fully fenced and have multiple cleared pastures, including roughly 180 acres of coastal Bermuda and 50 acres of Klein grass for hay production or grazing. Live oak, cypress and pecan are among the hardwood trees found on the land.

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The ranch is home to plenty of native wildlife, including whitetail deer, turkey and dove. More than 120 acres are dedicated as a wildlife preserve where red stag, black buck antelope and European fallow deer roam, according to the listing.

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The ranch gets its name from the abundance of water and the three creeks found on the property — Hunter Creek (4,260 feet of frontage on both sides), South Grape Creek (4,360 feet) and Hopfs Creek (5,100 feet). The property has more than two and a half miles of creek frontage, according to the listing. Five dams help with water retention.

There are also six ponds and five active water wells on the ranch. Three of the ponds are spring-fed, according to the listing. If you’re a fisher, you’ll find largemouth bass and catfish in the creeks and ponds.

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The ranch has three homes, a guest cottage and a hunter’s cabin as well as several outbuildings, including barns.

The main home was built in the 1850s and restored in 2007. The three-bedroom, four-bathroom home is roughly 5,300 square feet. It includes a chef’s kitchen, an underground wine cellar, a screened porch with built-in grill and wood-burning pizza oven, and an attached two-car garage. A tennis court with basketball hoops is next to the main house.

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A remodel in 2011 saw the addition of the screened porch and updates to the home’s primary bathroom. Adjacent to the main house is an 856-square-foot guest cottage. The cottage has one bedroom, one full bathroom, a kitchen and a living room.

Near the main house is the primary barn with four additional parking spaces for tractors or ranch vehicles. The barn has an upstairs one-bedroom apartment area and a downstairs bedroom with a full bath. Both spaces are heated and cooled.

The second home on the property, the Petsch House, was built in 1858. The two-bedroom, 2.5-bathroom house has a fully covered porch and full kitchen with dining and laundry rooms. The guest home was redesigned by architect Eric Mustard, and it was restored and rebuilt in 2020. The homestead includes a 100-year-old horse barn and fully enclosed hay barn.

The third home, the Jenschke House, is a stone home built in 1874. It was also redesigned by Mustard, a local architect. The home was restored and rebuilt in 2020.

Gary and Michelle Dolch of Compass/Austin Luxury Group are the listing agents. Michael and Susan Price, former Alaska attorneys who retired to Texas, currently own the property.

In August, the median home sales price in Gillespie County was just over $510,000, according to Realtor.com.

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