Rock Lake Ranch

Rock Lake Ranch is a working ranch owned and operated by the Geffert family, which has been in the family for several generations. They are sixth generation Texans who take tremendous pleasure in their ancestors and the history of their home state. This gorgeous property, which was named after Rock Lake Creek, was formerly a camping area for Native Americans who were lured to the spring-fed creek that cut through the exposed sandstone cliffs. The Gefferts' great-grandparents came in the Piedmont area in the mid-1850s, when they were born. During the 1920s, their grandparents, Annie Lee and Johnny Churchwell, were still operating a self-sufficient farmhouse on the acreage they inherited. The Writer's Cottage, a shotgun-style residence built in the early 1900s in Houston's Fourth Ward, was formerly a popular hangout for writers. When it was transported to the ranch in 2005, it had been authentically restored by volunteers and professionals from Historic Houston. The Old Gibbons Creek bridge, a steel-truss bridge built in the early twentieth century and affectionately known as the "Shanghai Bridge" by locals, originally stood a few miles away. It had been abandoned since the 1980s, but it was relocated and rebuilt in 2009, and it now serves as a picturesque gateway to the Waterfront Pavilion and other outdoor spaces at Rock Lake Ranch. There are still remnants of their grandparents' first home on Rock Lake Ranch, including the Allen House and wooden barn area, as well as the old well house and cistern where their grandparents' original farmhouse previously stood. Rock Lake Ranch, with its rich family heritage and inspiring natural beauty, is the ideal setting for both reliving ancient traditions and beginning new ones.