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This neighborhood tucked away in a corner of Eagle Mountain Lake with million-dollar views has history as rich as some of the homes currently on the market.
Just ask Realtor Robby Carson, also known as “Mayor of Dickson,” as in the Road.
“The DNA of Eagle Mountain Lake is superb. Lechner, Dickson, and Boat Club roads are the deepest and richest streets in Eagle Mountain Lake,” Carson told the Star-Telegram during a recent tour of Dickson Road — arguably one of the most historic streets in the Fort Worth universe, if rock ‘n’ roll royalty is your jam.
It’s not an idle boast. Carson, who has lived by the lake since 1965, got his title conferred to him by friends and townsfolk. And by his telling, he has seen it all.
“There’s not a Realtor alive that could talk about the lake like me,” he said.
Carson currently has listings for 10 homes spread across bucolic bends of Eagle Mountain Lake, two of which have multi-million dollar asking prices. Why? Location, location, location. It is only 15 miles from downtown Fort Worth — and Dickson Road, which runs along a high bank, has breathtaking views of the lake.
And the celebrity connections are gaudy, if not impressive.
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Neighbors still whisper about their brushes with the late Glen Frey of the Eagles. The American rock band rented this home on the lake — 9007 Dickson Rd. — for 12 summers in the 1970s through the 1980s to write songs, Carson said. It was their “Hotel California” among the live oaks and blue waters of the North Texas lake.
Past occupants of some of the homes are names you would find among a list of veritable who’s who in American history: “Since 1848 there is documentation showing that a governor, a U.S. Senator, U.S. House of Representative, a founding father of the Civil War, a philanthropist that helped form Fort Worth and TCU, famous ranchers, and pioneers in many well known businesses in the area have owned” land in the area, the local real estate agent said.
Eagle Mountain Lake: A critical resource, fun aquatic retreat
Eagle Mountain Lake was created after a dam — 85 feet tall and 4,800 feet long — was built on the West Fork of the Trinity River in the early 1930s. Not long after the 8,694-acre reservoir was completed, homes began popping up along the miles of the lake’s beautiful shoreline.
The reservoir is a main source of drinking water for many homes served by the Tarrant Regional Water District. As droughts come and go, and the specter of climate change clouds the state’s ability to access water, area lakes play an outsized role in keeping homes and industry fed with a resource as fickle as it is critical.
But beyond its existential importance to this thirsty region, it has become a magnet for many in North Texas seeking relief from the heat. Its blue cool waters and favorable winds makes the lake a draw for sailors near and far.
Developments have sprung along the many coves and bends from Fort Worth to Azle to communities in neighboring Wise County. As Carson claims, it has been a popular destination for years among the well-heeled and famous. Several public boat ramps scattered around the lake give the hoi polloi access. Marinas, including the Fort Worth Boat Club, attract avid boaters and members of the area’s high society.
It is not surprising that some of the properties along this pretty lake have histories rich in gilded tales and celebrity.
Million-dollar views, gilded Texas history
Take 8935 Dickson Rd. for example, a 4,200-square-foot house that sits on a little less than an acre with four bedrooms and three and a half bathrooms. It is currently on the market for $3.35 million. Sure, it has unrivaled views of the water and architectural flourishes to boot. But a closer look at the home’s former owner conjures up a prosperous Texas of yore that intersects with global events one may find in history books.
A former Texas lawyer named Elton Hyder lived in this house with his socialite wife, Martha. Hyder’s legend, for starters, includes prosecuting Japanese war crimes. He supervised the Manchurian invasion phase of the case against Prime Minister Hideki Tojo, who was hanged in 1948.
Before his marriage to the Fort Worth oil heiress, he became one of the youngest assistant attorney general in Texas history in 1944. Three years later he wed Martha, who became the driving force behind Fort Worth’s world-renowned Van Cliburn piano festival.
The house on a finger of land on an eastern shore of the lake, boasts one-of-a-kind features such as grasscloth wallpaper, a stone fireplace and original wood from when the home was built in 1945. It has a chef’s kitchen, a 180-degree view of the water and a boat dock, accessible down a terraced concrete stairway.
A ‘Hotel California’ sitting high on a bank of Eagle Mountain Lake
Just up Dickson Road from the Hyder home sits the property the Eagles used as a muse for several sweltering summers in their heyday. The lakefront bungalow with a rooftop deck hosted gatherings of the famous rockers and many of their closest friends.
Frey, Don Henley and the rest of the Eagles treated this lakeside house as their North Texas hangout, Carson recalls. It was during these summer visits that Frey met his first wife, Janie Beggs.
In his telling, Carson said he went to high school with Ed Farmer Beggs, Janie’s brother. When Janie was first dating the Eagles frontman, Carson said, he bumped into the couple.
It was the summer the album “The Long Run” came out. Carson and his buddy Ed Farmer were out and about for a joyride around the lake when they ran into Janie and Frey, the real estate agent recalls.
“Ed Farmer and I pulled up and got to say hi and then left,” Carson said. “I’m still in awe over it.”
Now, bumping into the famous musicians was not exactly a rare feat. They seemingly were everywhere, and the Fort Worth Boat Club was a popular destination. Apparently, in Carson’s telling, Frey and Henley frequented the marina.
“I’m still kicking myself for not saying hi,” the real estate agent said.
Today, the house the Eagles found as a suitable perch, is on the market for $2.59 million. Originally built in 1968, this home was bought by HGTV in 2018, renovated to look like a California beach house with space to build an infinity pool.
The 2,350-square-foot home sits on the highest point on Eagle Mountain Lake, giving it a commanding view of the surrounding scenery. The backyard has a tram to take guests down to the boat dock. The zaniest pieces of the property are the things that have been left undone: the aforementioned infinity pool and a 3,500-square-foot steel structure in the backyard that can be turned into an event space.
The Mayor of Dickson has hung around the lake for over six decades for a reason. These nuggets of history, Carson said, turn Eagle Mountain Lake into a timeless library of stories that will never grow old.
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