These lakeside domiciles will have you itching to drop anchor and stay a (long) while.
by Alison Rich
Fort Worth businessman Bobby Patton is no stranger to these pages. Earlier this spring, we waxed about his recent co-ownership of the Los Angeles Dodgers. (Talk about a score!) And his major-league entrepreneurial spirit has the local investor helming a healthy lot of deals that focus primarily on real estate and oil and gas.
But it's never all work and no play for this hard-at-it honcho. This time around, we thought we'd take a laid-back look at his and wife Sherri's Eagle Mountain Lake hideaway.
"What led me to it initially is that I bought it as an investment property," Patton said of the lodge-like domicile and accompanying 7.5 acres that he and his spouse have owned for seven years. "And we enjoy the heck out of it."
With two kids (13 and 11) and a big band of buddies, there's a lot of enjoying going on out here on a regular basis - not the least of which takes place at the crown jewel of this lake estate: the vanishing-edge pool.
"The pool is the highlight," said Patton of the smooth-as-glass oasis, which blurs onto the horizon beyond. "We also love to play tennis, so the tennis court is a big deal for us as well. We cleared out an old barn for it. And because we built it on that footprint, we didn't have to cut down a single tree."
A detached garage near the front gate stows the couple's watercraft and an array of nautical gadgetry that keeps the troops entertained for hours on end. The prevailing southern wind supplies a spot-on combination of fresh air and cooling breeze.
A lake-loving homeowner with the keen eye of an entrepreneur, Patton derives his pride in a two-fold fashion: part pleasure, part pocketbook.
"My personal satisfaction is that I do not think this is a real estate investment that has gone down in value, and I can't say that about the rest of my real estate portfolio," he said with a chuckle. "It's appreciation and recreation. It's hard for me to enjoy something that I think I'm losing money at."
So does Patton ever tire of trading his Cowtown address for his Friday–Sunday ZIP?
Not for a second.
"The only thought I ever have," he said, "is why the heck am I leaving to go back to the city?"
His interest whetted by a particularly memorable fishing trip to Montana, Marvin Girouard knew that a house by the water would be the perfect get-away-from-it-all retreat.
The former chair and CEO of Fort Worth-based Pier 1, Girouard was a veteran road warrior who frequented exotic locales while navigating a schedule that would put most execs to shame. But he and wife Felice, both native Texans hailing from the coast, weren't about to abandon the Lone Star State for the northern Rocky Mountains. Jettisoning their Park Hill residence to jaunt to the land of grizzly bears and Ponderosa pine whenever the fancy struck just wasn't their idea of laid-back living.
But where would they find homespun peace, privacy and plenty of H2O in landlocked North Texas? As luck would have it, the solution lay very nearly in their own backyard. It just took them 30 years to find it.
Flash back three decades (i.e., before the advent of iPhones and GPS), and the Girouards were on the hunt for a lake called Eagle Mountain on a byway called Boat Club Road. Alas, try as they might, the hapless couple never quite made it to their destination. Thwarted by their fruitless hunt and all too ready to rethink their evening's plan, the couple's quest went adrift.
That is, until about 10 years ago when they spotted the ideal lakefront dwelling, located in a proximate spot to Fort Worth on one of the highest, most beautiful points on - you guessed it - Eagle Mountain Lake. (Yes, folks, they eventually located the correct turnoff to Boat Club Road.)
"I wanted a place where you could get up in the morning, sit outside, drink coffee and watch the sun come up, and then you could drink Jack Daniels, play guitar with friends and watch the sun go down at night," said Marvin, who spent 32 years at Pier 1, retiring five years ago. Not one to shy away from an honest day's work, he soon after assumed a lead directorship post at Brinker International, from which he stepped down just a few short months ago.
Sorely in need of rehabbing when they first fetched it, their 4,500-square-foot contemporary abode gleams in understated elegance. Besides its commanding sightlines that stretch across Eagle Mountain and out toward the fabled Fort Worth Boat Club, the modern hacienda-like home includes a gleaming swimming pool flanked by a covered pavilion; a secluded stone cabana complete with newly updated bath, shower and kitchen; and a huge, closed-in boathouse with two lifts - all amid a 3.5-acre sanctuary-like setting.
"What's amazing is that it's not like the other lakes around here, where there are hundreds of boats. It's almost like a private lake," Marvin said of his personal paradise.
Pick up a calendar, point to just about any weekend in the summer, and you're bound to find Marvin and Felice (married for 46 years and parents to three grown kids) soaking up the ambiance while their children and their grandkids, 13 and 10, frolic in the pool and lake.
"I'm all about family, so I love being out there when they are here enjoying it," Felice said. "That's my favorite thing."
Of course, you'll also likely run across self-professed handyman Marvin quieting a squeaky door, repainting a wall or just busying himself with his fix-it project du jour. (There's no caretaker at the Girouard getaway, thank you very much. Marvin and Felice do much of the work themselves.) Oh, and he'll probably be plying his puttering trade while boogying to Buddy Holly and Merle Haggard via the interior/exterior stereo system.
"The best part of it is how quiet and peaceful it is," said Marvin, a consummate storyteller who gleefully regaled this writer with tales about his Eagle Mountain majesty. "I forget how much I like it until I start talking about it. And every time I talk about it, I fall back in love with it."
A busy auto industry pro who rarely zips anywhere without his trusty smartphone in tow, Robbie Baker lives out his weekdays in a tidal wave of appointments and must-dos.
But when Friday finally rolls around, Robbie, wife Kara, and his passel of sons - 13, 12 and 5 - load their SUV to the gills and point their wheels to Possum Kingdom Lake.
Nestled alongside the water, their 3,000-square-foot, two-story and its attendant 1.5 acres are the family's home away from home, as well as the ultimate fantasyland for three young boys.
"It's a great place to get my kids away from the city for family time," said Baker, TCU grad and proprietor of RLB Auto Group. "There's no homework here. We just come out and do nothing, except maybe take a nap. It's a great place to raise your kids."
Their fully stocked stable of "toys" includes boats and Sea-Doos and various other aquatic accouterments, along with a swim platform that lowers into the water. Launching regularly from the top of the dock, a flying trapeze satisfies everyone's inner Tarzan. When the family needs to relax and refuel, Dad whips up some burgers on the patio grill.
The Baker bunch whiles away the bulk of their hours at their two-story dock, which extends quite a ways out into PK's watery depths.
"We spend most of our time here swimming, boating and watching the kids," Baker said.
They also power up their boat and take a quick trek to nearby Hell's Gate, where they tie up their watercraft and hang out with fellow lake-residing friends. A gap in the sandstone cliffs framing the lake, rising some 110 feet high, Hell's Gate is a nature-made memorandum of what coming out here is all about.
When you take in the resplendence of the place, it's almost impossible to imagine that the whole of the area was engulfed in flames in spring 2011. And while the land still bears scars here and there, Possum Kingdom is like a phoenix risen from the ashes, its indomitable spirit evident in the enjoyment it continues to shower on families like the Bakers.
"The most satisfaction from being here is watching my kids grow up and having fun away from the city. That's my biggest deal: the kids," Baker said. "When I'm old, I want to be able to reflect back on the times we shared here. And we'll bring our grandchildren here, too. … There's no stress. It's so relaxing."
So what will the Baker five be doing on the Fourth? Besides viewing fireworks from the dock, they'll be partaking in an annual tradition: Each Independence Day, they measure their growing boys, carefully penciling in the respective heights on a closet wall.
"That was the only thing," Baker said, "that I was afraid of losing in the fire."
For Torrey and Colleen Moncrief, there are a raft of reasons why full-time lake living floats their boat. Not only did they nab the "best piece of land on the whole lake" for their 12,000-square-foot estate, Torrey said, but the dwelling fits them and their kiddos - 16, 10 and 6 - to a T.
"This house works for us. It's all about the view and the lake. Everything funnels from the patio to the backyard and out to the water," said Torrey, who owns Torrey Moncrief Custom Homes and has been married to his lovely bride for 17 years.
Situated on 41 rolling acres, the lakefront property features unobstructed vistas that unfold all the way to Comanche Peak.
Outdoorsy sorts to the core, the Moncriefs have a marine montage that includes a 33-foot Eliminator, 23-foot MasterCraft X-Star and various WaveRunners, Jet Skis, and Hobies, to name a few - all of which stay safe and sound in a separate climate-controlled garage. Other features include a boat ramp and boathouse - Torrey secured a variance to build out farther and larger than normal - and a slide and rope swing.
The boathouse is a great place for watching fireworks, the couple said. "We had 75 friends out there last year," Torrey recalled.
On weekends, the gang is prone to paddling over to the shore-side eatery across the lake to grab breakfast in the morning or a bag of burgers for lunch.
Instead of installing an entire kitchen outside, Torrey and Colleen opted to slot the bulk of it in the interior, reserving the outside for a commercial-grade KitchenAid grill and JennAir warming drawer. Granite counters encase the prep zone. Although they can assemble outside at one of several vignettes, visitors can also escape the heat at a full-size table inside - with views reaching as far as the eye can see.
"This way, everything stays clean," Colleen said.
"This is the party spot," Torrey added. "Everybody stays in here, the patio area and the pool, which also has a tanning deck."
The family often retires to the patio for casual suppers, jamming to piped-in tunes and toasting s"mores on the firepit. Palm trees shipped from Florida channel a beachy tone. A heated and cooled pool closet corrals outdoor components, keeping them clean and (a must for lake living) mildew-free.
"I love the lake," Torrey said. "The value of the homes always goes up on the waterfront. And it's a great place to do stuff with the kids. We can just turn them loose."
"It lets us be very family oriented," Colleen added. "We do everything together."
"It's like a 365-day vacation," said Torrey, who designed and built the home. "Everyone likes to come here. It's a gathering place. … It's unbelievable."
