Old St Augustine Hills

Four Hundred Years of Heritage Cannot Be Built — Only Entrusted. Some Properties Have an Address. This One has a Legacy Story — Where the Land and History Become One. Two Families. Sixty-Six Years. One Legacy. What One Family Made Exceptional, the Next Made Extraordinary. What Stands Today Cannot be Duplicated or Recreated. It is Singular. One of One. One Hundred Acres that Lives Like a Thousand, Eight Miles from the Capitol on the Oldest Road in America. Most properties make you choose: town or country, the hunt or the water, history or convenience. This one never learned to choose. Welcome to Old St. Augustine Hills ... a 100+/- acre legacy sporting estate in the Red Hills of Leon County, Florida. Wild Bobwhite quail in the uplands, bass in the spring-fed ponds, wood ducks in the cypress pond, deer and turkey in the hardwood bottoms, wooden bridges flanked with Southern magnolias, fruit orchards along the paved drive, irrigated baseball athletic field, raised bed gardens, owner's workshop: a one-hundred-acre property that lives like a thousand-acre estate, all within eight miles of Florida's Capitol and eighteen miles from the Gulf Coast. "I feel incredibly grateful to have raised our children on this beautiful property. Surrounded by nature, they learned to slow down, appreciate the outdoors, respect the land, care for the wildlife that shares it with us and understand the importance of caring for the world around them. Most of all, the memories made on this property will always hold a special place in our hearts and I hope it brings the same joy to the next family who will call this place home." - René Hanselman - Owner The Estate at a Glance 100± Acre Gated Legacy Sporting Estate, Southeastern Leon County Custom 6,000± Sq Ft Cypress Post-and-Beam Residence, Fully Furnished, 6 Bed / 7.5 Bath, Built 2005 Three Families, Sixty-Five Years of Documented Stewardship Fronts Old St. Augustine Road, the 1680s El Camino Real, a Protected Canopy Road 8± Miles to the Florida Capitol · 18± to the Gulf Coast The Residence Hand-selected cypress, post and beam, designed by René Hanselman with architect Ken Pieper. Twenty pages of custom millwork. Stained glass by Karen Pritzel at the front door, original Paul Tamanian art made for each space. A great room behind a wall of glass, and a resort-scale pool set with Tennessee boulders. In the owner's words: it is a work of art. Conveys Fully Furnished — Custom Furniture and Custom Art made for this Home, Excluding Family Heirlooms and Personal Items The Land Rolling Red Hills uplands on the Cody Scarp, the ancient shoreline where the hills step down to the coastal plain. Spring-fed ponds stocked with bass. Wild bobwhite quail at sunrise; turkey, whitetail, and wood ducks through the seasons. Turnkey Property Maintenance Equipment & Tools - Detailed list of all maintenance equipment and tools needed to maintain property will convey with purchase The Life A fully irrigated ball field, workshop, pole barn, raised gardens, and fruit orchards. It is the rare estate that gives you something to do at first light, and nothing you ever have to. Four Hundred Years on the Old Road The road at the gate has carried travelers since the 1680s. Today it is a protected Canopy Road, arched in live oaks. Very little of that Florida is left. This is some of it. The estate fronts Old St. Augustine Road, one of the oldest roads in America; and carries a heritage more than four centuries in the making. It is where the land and history become one. In 1960, a retired Navy captain named Albert Gallatin Neal bought this land, dug its spring-fed ponds, and planted more than 4,000 trees. When he passed in 1980, his widow Margaret Neal stewarded this land for another two decades --- courted by developers, she refused them all, determined that the land would go only to a family who would care for it the way the Captain had. In 2003 she found that family. David and René Hanselman became the next land stewards and built a home worthy of the ground it stands on and raised four children beneath the Captain's trees. For sixty-five years, three families have cared for this place, and each left it better than they found it. That care is what comes with this deed. "This land is so much more than a recreational estate -- it is where land and history become one. Its story deserves to be entrusted to a steward who will honor four hundred years of heritage. I don't sell land. I find its next steward." - Lori Bembry Weldon - Broker One of One At the heart of the estate stands a 6000+/- square foot fully furnished cypress post-and-beam residence -- six bedrooms, seven and half bathrooms - that feels less built than grown from its setting. René Hanselman, artist, designer, and owner of Innova Design Firm, shaped every detail alongside Ken Pieper with a single intent: to make the home one with the land. David Hanselman spent more than a year hand-selecting the cypress, tree by tree, from the incoming trucks at Sunshine State Cypress. The millwork alone filled more than 20 pages of drawings -- every custom molding and door cut with knives made specifically for the task. In the owner's words: it is a work of art. The welcome begins at a front door made as fine art -- a one-of-a-kind stained-glass tree set into solid double doors, designed by René and executed by stained-glass artist Karen Pritzel, beneath a custom pendant of stained-glass and wrought-iron magnolia leaves by the artist Jezebel of Madrid, New Mexico. Beyond it the sunken great room rises twenty-five feet to solid cypress beams, anchored by a floor-to-ceiling stone fireplace that heats the living room and kitchen areas -- and on the lake side, a fully opening glass wall dissolves the entire room into the covered porch and water beyond. “It’s been the privilege of a lifetime to live in this home on this amazing land. The memories we have are endless and timeless, leaving here will be one of the hardest things we ever do in our lives.” -- David Hanselman - Owner The chef's kitchen pairs Viking appliances and a double quartz island under a dropped pecky cypress ceiling with custom cypress cabinetry and a stone arch over the range. The breakfast room gathers under a pecky-cypress cathedral ceiling and an antler chandelier, wall-to-wall glass to the lake and pool. The master suite is a retreat unto itself -- cypress tray ceiling, a fireplace shared between bedroom and spa bath, a freestanding soaking tub set before a picture window on the water, and a private door straight onto the pool deck. A family wing rings a cupola-lit, soundproofed common room; two more guest suites rest on their own split level; and a two-story wing holds a private office -- its built-in maple desk fronted with an antique door under glass --above a true working artists studio. Whole home Lutron lighting and Sonos audio follow you from the kitchen to the water, and a buried 1,000-gallon propane reserve powers the entire home. A Generac generator runs the entire home for roughly three weeks off the grid. The three-car garage is finished with two Pella window walls, a large attic, and a separate storage room with its own entry. Soft-water systems serve the home, and a irrigation system waters the grounds. It is a rare thing to acquire not just a house, but the furniture and art made for it. Original Paul Tamanian art and furniture custom made for the exact place it occupies conveys and is valued together well over six figures. Entertaining - Second to None This home was made to gather. A resort-scale waterfall pool set with Tennessee boulders -- jump rock, shallow play platform, night lighting, heatable. A full outdoor kitchen with corian counters, built-in grill, twin frying stations, and a Restoration Hardware wood burning fireplace above the water area. A private entertaining courtyard engineered so guests flow from courtyard to pool without ever crossing into the family's quarters. It has hosted charity galas for Boys Town and the United Way, watch parties, prom photographs on the back lawn with the cypress pond behind -- two hundred guests received with ease, and not one of them ever inside the family's privacy. And on autumn Saturdays: tailgate under your own oaks and be in your seat at Doak Campbell in about twenty minutes -- then come home for the after-party. Game day has rarely been so effortless, or so well hosted. The Approach Once inside the private gate, a paved drive of more than half a mile runs beneath stately Southern magnolias, across a wooden bridge, past quail uplands, live oaks and one of two fruit orchards heavy with pear, fig, persimmon, satsuma, and blood oranges. It's a welcome worthy of the place it leads to. And once the gate closes, the outside world simply fades away. Sport and Stewardship Multiple coveys of wild bobwhite quail hold on this property -- mornings come alive with covey calls echoing through the rolling uplands -- with the habitat to be managed into a classic Red Hills "Gentleman's Sporting Estate." Wood ducks work the cypress pond, turkey and whitetail deer move through the hardwoods, and food plots and hunting blinds are already in place. The fully irrigated ball field can serve multiple purposes: a pickleball court, putting green, tennis courts or equestrian paddocks. The barn stands ready for the equipment and equestrian update. And overlooking the ball field area sits the gardening shed -- raised beds planted with wildflowers and fresh vegetables, gathered around a lovely sitting area that connects to the owner's workshop, perfect for maintenance projects and hobbies, with lights, water, and power throughout. It is the current owners' favorite spot early in the morning -- a quieter luxury still, coffee in hand and hands in the dirt. It is the rare estate that gives you something to do at first light, and nothing you ever have to do. Beyond the gate, the estate belongs to t