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Looking to buy property this year? Well, you can purchase this entire Old West town for less than some single-family houses sell for in your nearest city.
The replica, known as the Old Cow Town Resort and Mill Creek Ranch, is like a Hollywood movie set except these aren’t just façades, they’re actual structures. Located in Saguache, Colorado, you can live out your Laura Ingalls Wilder dreams and even throw in a touch of ‘Bonanza’ too (the main residence is called the Ponderosa Lodge). So what does $4.7 million buy you?
The entire property is 320 acres and contains 22 bedrooms across five residential buildings plus a dozen other buildings of various functions. This results in 28,715 square feet of frontier living, plus another 10,000 square feet of animal housing, including a 800-square-foot chicken coop.
First, we’ll mention the actual historical structures: three original cabins from the Hoagland Stagecoach line, not habitable but amazing to look through. And now the replica buildings, built in 2007: a de rigueur saloon with a bar long enough to send a glass of whiskey sliding; a fully-operational hotel with 12 guest rooms, punched tin ceilings and a rollicking pianny. A greenhouse larger than some homes at 1,235 square feet keeps your flowers and vegetables thriving.
There’s also a livery stable with five stalls and a barn with 13. If the horses need something to pull, take them to the property's stagecoach museum; the historic carriages come with the property. If you like mini golf, there’s a course. Want to shoot? There’s a shooting range. Want to host a concert? There’s an outdoor stage. There’s a dance hall in the same building as the jail (today's earworm: 'Cut. Footloose.'). There’s a cute blue chapel with a bell tower. Brought your own lodging? There are 24 RV hookups. Then there’s a bank and a general store and even an old abandoned wagon in a field to build your own narrative around. Plus, two ponds, two creeks, three wells and one irrigation ditch.
The main home is the Ponderosa Lodge which sits at the base of a foothill and has three bedrooms and the kind of interior (wooden beams, stone fireplace, taxidermy) you’d expect. In the living room, a narrow glass floor walkway sits over a flowing stream fed by a cascading wall of water; it leads into the master bedroom in a bridge-like fashion with railings.
Suggested uses for this complex include framing it as a vacation destination, a wedding spot, or — since the property borders the Bureau of Land Management and National Forestland — maybe just a place for enjoying the view and sittin’ a spell.