Over 300 photos of the property and the lake area are available by following the virtual tour link or site link. Enjoy the pictures first and then read this description. This property features a lake-front cabin, a guest house, a large barn, a large storage shed, community water, a well, and an aerobic wastewater management system. The property is on a county maintained roadway. The lot is 1.5 acres with undeveloped acreage adjoining to the south side of the lot. The property is situated amongst the pines on the south east side of the Lost Prairie Lake, facing west, for enjoying fabulous sunsets and shaded morning fishing off the pier. The lot is gently sloped. It is surrounded by trees of various types and abuts woodland along the southern boundary. Lost Prairie Lake is a well-managed private lake club operated by a member-elected board who work constantly to improve fishing and build share value. Looking at this place on the Internet isn t the same as seeing it. A lake place is about the ambiance and experience. You need to see it, touch it, hear it, smell it and feel it for yourself. The online photos cannot express the true grandeur and beauty this East Texas Lake holds. Many people fish, swim, boat, and sunset cruise Lost Prairie Lake. Kayaking and canoeing around the lake have become popular activities. Fishing is never crowded. There are plenty of good spots. During weekdays you will likely have the lake to yourself. The lake is busiest on 4th of July weekend when the club sports a great party for members and guests concluding with a lavish fireworks display. The Lost Prairie Lake Club community has about 30 full time residents. The remaining 20 properties are weekend homes. Quiet, serene beauty best describes the lake setting. It s a private paradise. The lake is a very nice place to live. It is beautiful and peaceful. It s a place where you know your neighbors and your neighbors know you. The Lost Prairie Lake Club membership consists of friendly, mature adults who take pride in the association and what it offers. The membership consists of middle class folk who still have some attachment to traditional community values, work ethic, civility, and respect for others. The people are nice, friendly and helpful. It is a real community where neighbors look after their neighbors and a place where you can still visit with your neighbors while out walking. It is not uncommon to see passing cars stop to visit for a minute. It s real Texas out here. The cabin is styled as the traditional weekend lake cabin built of concrete block with a stucco exterior finish. The cabin has a glazed in porch across the west side offering a commanding view of the lake. The main cabin room is spacious and with an adequate kitchen area in an offset. The cabin has a large closet room (formerly a small bedroom) outfitted with a wardrobe and washer and dryer connections. The cabin includes a refrigerator and stove which stays with the property.
The patio and RV port make the place an outdoor cooks dream-come-true. I did a lot of grilling there; chicken breasts for fajitas, sausage for breakfast, pork chops for breakfast, burgers, steaks, onions, egg plant, squash you name it, I grilled it. The smokers got a good workout, too. The place is a natural for outdoor cooking. The guest house is a spacious cottage with full bath. There s plenty of space for a microwave, toaster oven, and coffee pot so guests can make an extended stay comfortably. The guest house has a secondary use as extra storage. The closet fixtures will remain with the guest house as will the refrigerator/freezer. The guest house is privately located approximately 200 feet from the cabin with separate road access. We bunked two families of four in the guest house for a July 4 th affair and never knew they were there. The barn and shed are older structures but adequate for the service provided. The tax man has them valued low. The big barn has electricity. The old horse shed does not. I locked my boat and chained the utility trailer and riding mower. I never worried about my yard tools and equipment. Waterfront electrical was installed when the electrical service was upgraded. This was done in anticipation of boathouse construction. I never drew any plans because I was going to build a deck and use one of those $695 metal carports. The open carport concept reduces the risk of surprise at the hands of a snake or wasps. The battery chargers were going to install up high and use quick disconnects (Anderson PowerPole connectors) for the starter and trolling motor batteries so only fused 12V power would be exposed to any risk of rain. Included is a driveway sufficient for maneuvering a large motor home, a lake front motor home port, cabin with large covered patio, a storage barn. large boat shed, tool, and extra vehicle storage building and guest house. The RV port is a high clearance 50 x 19 steel structure with full water, sewer, and electrical hookups. The electrical box has 30A and 50A outlets. The RV Port, cabin, and patio area all interface together as a common unit. It is a permanent home that uses the RV as a component of the living space. The monthly electrical bill on this place is less than what most RV storage places charge. You could be using your RV every weekend plus have a convenient base for those big trips. Another important point: There is room and utilities available where hookups could be installed to park a couple of big rigs up by the guest house. Your RV friends can stay for extended visits. I posted the RV Port conversion plan drawings to the virtual tour album. We experienced the design process to see if we could accommodate our dog business plans. We realized we needed a lot more than what we could do out at Lost Prairie with our dog business. The property has excellent utility coverage. Electricity is provided by TXU. Telephone service is provided through Sprint. ATT and Cellular One have cell phone coverage
over the area. East Texas Broadband provides wireless high-speed Internet access. We used Dish Network with first-rate reception. The paved roads surrounding the lake are county maintained. Fire protection is provided by Neches Volunteer Fire Department and 84 East Volunteer Fire Department. 79 VFD also responds to fire calls. The on-site aerobic septic system serves the RV port, cabin and guest house. The aerobic septic system was installed in 2007 and is under maintenance contract by a certified company. Electrical service to the property was changed out in 2007 and upgraded to modern code compliance. There is adequate power to operate everything, full blast, all at once; 200 Amp service on the cabin and 120 Amp service on the guest house. The property across County Road 376 is a well-maintained pastureland being part of a large cattle operation. The ranch owners are shareholders and directors of the lake club. The ranch manager is the president of the lake club association. Ranch personnel frequently provide services to the lake club. Satterfield Ranch is at top-line breeder with an Internet site worth a visit. Lost Prairie Lake maintains a near-constant level at 432 feet MSL fluctuating only a few inches during heavy rains or extended dry spells. The lake is fed by several springs both on shore and beneath the surface of the lake. One of the largest springs feeding the lake is adjacent to this property. The 90-acre reservoir impounds more than 500 acre feet of water. The lake s watershed is approximately 1,600 acres. Approximately ½ the volume of the lake is replenished annually by rain falling on the surface of the lake. Two year-round creeks feed into the lake. The 1,600 acre watershed is about 4 times the requirement to maintain the lake at conservation pool. I don t recall the lake falling more than a foot during extended dry spells. I have seen an overnight rise on the lake of over 18 inches caused by a 6 inch overnight rain. The deepest point of the lake is about 20 feet. Out in front of my place and across the southern section of the hour glass shape the water is relatively shallow and the bottom mostly flat. I would say the average depth of the south end of the lake is close to 5 feet. The north end would be around 8 feet. It is about 4 feet deep at the end of my pier. A depth finder is very helpful in finding the brush tops, stumps, and drop-offs. You can easily fish the entire lake with a trolling motor. It takes about two hours of hard fishing to make one trip around the lake and, then, only casting to the good spots. So, how s the fishing? My fishing experiences have always been pleasant. I predominately fly fish for Bluegill which is generally easy pickings. The secret fly is a deer hair ball trimmed to the size of a floating fish feed pellet. I have also had good luck with a #6 Gaines popper and #10 brown or olive Woolybuggers. I almost exclusively fish the solar/lunar tables unless there s a weather event modifying conditions. I don t think there are any true trophy fish in the lake so if you want a Lake Fork trophy bass maybe you should get a place at Lake Fork. If you can settle for 10-pounders this is your place. Crappie can be had on white pony-head jigs or minnows. I have caught rock bass and goggle-eye out of the lake. There are some catfish, too, maybe even a
Blue left over the late-1960s stockings that s now a giant. The only way to know is to get some jugs out baited with perch. I am leaving the jugs for the buyer. I think the fishing is pretty good. I haven't fished much this year but last fall I managed to do well. I caught bass every trip out but I mostly fish for bluegill and the lake seems to be bluegill soup especially around the fish feeders. I guess the best indicator of the fishing is by watching the fishermen. I watch the same people fish to the same structures every day (sometimes two or three times) so I know the structures are holding fish and I know fish are being caught. They go to the same spots every time conditions change and I see them catching fish. Fish dawn and dusk and the Solunar tables and you won't be disappointed. Also, fish top water lures around the pier guard lights in the evening just as they come on but do so only if you have a strong heart and stiff rod--the strikes are explosive. I have had good luck on the red Culprit worms around the dam, too. The maintenance of the fishery is a priority of the Board of Directors. The club spends over $200 per share per year (around $10,000) on fish management, feed stock fish, restocking, sack feed, and fertilizer. Additional 2-inch Florida Bass fingerlings were stocked in June, 2008 to improve genetic diversity. 20,000 threadfin shad were added as feedstock to the lake in July, 2008. The re-stocking budget for 2009 matches the plan for 2008. The board has also constructed PVC fish structures that seem to be working. The club is continuing its matching program where private feeders are subsidized with a buy-one-get-one-free program to encourage the installation of more fish feeders around the lake. The lake is near ideal for flat-water paddling and there is plenty of undeveloped shoreline to explore. There is more kayak activity than canoeing. The woodland adjoining the property is a year around birdwatchers paradise as is the timbered bottomland behind the dam. High-power binoculars and a quality bird identification book are a must. A nearby colony of Piliated Woodpeckers frequents the lake. The lake is hosts a great variety of migratory waterfowl. Hundreds of ducks fly into the lake every winter evening. A pair of Bald Eagles resides at the lake. They make routine appearances overhead. A pair of wild Canadian Geese is now calling the lake home. There s a picture of the geese with their offspring on the virtual tour. The club makes available a space for disposal of landscape debris. Numerous ATV trails are on lake property in the woods across the road from the east side of the lake. AVT traffic along the country road is frequent and permissible. Using an ATV to haul trash to the dumpsters is a fashion statement. The club maintains an all-caliber shooting area for the use of members. There are no rules prohibiting hunting on club property other than on an assigned shareholder s lot. The membership rules prohibit shooting over the water with pistols or rifles. Shot gunning on the lake is permitted for taking game and eliminating pests.
One our favorite evening activities is Jeeping around the lake roads to look at the white tail deer. Several members feed deer on their lots. Squirrels are everywhere. This country is still wild; not a developed subdivision. Expect to hear the howls of coyotes, the screech of the owl, the serenade of frogs, the chorus of birds, and the occasional night noise that defies explanation or understanding. Google Earth indicates two Bigfoot sightings within a few miles so was that noise Bigfoot or was it a beaver? Much of the work on club property is done by committee. There are ample opportunities to join with the community on various projects. The association demonstrates that good people can make good decisions beneficial to all when people work together. I think that is what brings closeness to the Lost Prairie Lake community. Lost Prairie Lake Club is a private association organized as a Texas corporation. The Corporation owns the property; lake and land. Shareholder ownership is evidenced by a corporation share certificate. Each share has an assigned lot space on the club lands. Lot boundaries are by mutual agreement. The shareholder owns the improvements made on the assigned lot. No deed restrictions exist on the property. The lake community self-governs as a private association operated by a board of directors and regulated by a membership rules, a member agreement, and bylaws. There is no homeowners association--every member has an equal voice. Construction projects and lot development are subject to Board of Directors approval based on site plan. There are no footprint regulations and no codified building standards. No landscape committee exists. No restrictions on taking water from the lake for private shareholder use. There are no size minimums or design regulations limiting size. Instead, common sense is employed to fulfill a balance between shareholder activities, the interest of other members, and the enhancement of share value. Prospective members are elected to the association before a share can transfer. A prospective member makes application to the Club Secretary on a prescribed form and pays an application fee. The Board of Directors convenes and examines the application form and/or the applicant. The Board, with recommendation, calls for an election by the membership. An applicant is elected to membership by simple majority vote. Transfer of the share is made through the Club Secretary upon payment of a transfer fee by the seller and buyer. The transfer fee for each is $100. The admission to membership process works to assure only those persons who are capable, respectful, and responsible gain access. Membership documents, including a member application, membership agreement, club rules, and club bylaws are emailed to persons making inquiry about this property. Lost Prairie Lake Club is a private fishing and hunting association with no public use or access. The property is reserved for members and invited guests. The conduct of guests is the responsibility of the inviting members. Personal water craft, water skiing, and power tubing are not permitted by rule and agreement because they violate the tranquility of the lake. The use of outboard motors with 10 or less horsepower is
strongly recommended in the Membership Rules. Boating is restricted to member boats to protect from invasive weeds. Each member boat displays a boat ID number. The lake club has an annual assessment (dues). 2009 dues are $450 per share and are paid up. Dues cover maintenance and operations, property taxes for the undivided interest properties, dumpster service, landscape material disposal operations, hiring of a professional biologist for fishery management, fish food, and fish stocking/lake management expenses. Each member is responsible for the landscape maintenance of their own lot. More photos are available by using the virtual tour link or at my Google Picasa Album. A satellite image, centered on the property, can be seen using Google Earth at N31.787533 W-95.526272. The coordinates are in decimal degrees. The property is located approximately 2.5 hours north of downtown Houston and 2.5 hours south of the DFW Metroplex. Driving directions from Palestine to the lake are posted on the virtual tour album as a jpeg image. The drive from Palestine takes about 10 minutes. Palestine offers a variety of dining options, quality health care, and small town shopping. The nearest mall is an hour away. Local bank financing is available subject to credit approval. Call for bank information. Please call ahead to schedule your visit to the property.