Five miles north of downtown Lyons, where the Front Range meets the high plains, 44.39 acres carry a story most Boulder County land cannot tell. This is the heart of the original 300-acre Ohline Ranch, held and worked for generations, and offered now as a rare piece of Colorado with real optionality. A property that rewards imagination as much as it rewards capital.
At the southern end, a private drive winds through Ponderosa pine before opening to a mountain meadow and the Ohline homestead: a thoughtfully updated 2-bedroom, 1-bath residence of 1,403 square feet with hardwood floors, original stonework, and indoor-outdoor living that feels both rooted and refined. A seasonal stream, a working apple orchard, a well house, and period outbuildings round out a setting that lives larger than its footprint. For a buyer seeking a private Colorado retreat within thirty minutes of Boulder and an hour of Estes Park, the homestead and its surrounding acreage stand entirely on their own.
There is also a meaningful path to expand the residential value of this property. Pursuing historical landmark designation for the Ohline homestead could unlock two distinct opportunities: identifying and developing a second primary residential building site on the land, and reclassifying the existing homestead as an Accessory Dwelling Unit. For the right buyer, that pathway transforms a single-home parcel into a two-residence legacy compound without compromising the character that makes the homestead worth preserving in the first place.
The remainder of the land is where this property becomes singular. Roughly 25 acres are permitted for sandstone extraction, with a 2005 mineral study identifying reserves in the millions of tons, an existing pallet inventory on site, and infrastructure capable of producing dimensional block, slab, and crushed stone. For an operator, a masonry or landscape-supply business, or a builder sourcing regional stone, this is a turnkey income asset attached to a residence. A live and work configuration almost impossible to replicate in today's Front Range land market.
For buyers thinking beyond either extreme, 1312 Steamboat Valley rewards a wider lens:
A legacy land holding. Occupy the homestead, pause extraction, and let rare Front Range acreage appreciate as inventory tightens.
A creative or craft compound. Sculptors, stone artisans, and designer-builders rarely find a property where the raw medium is already under their feet.
A private equestrian or family retreat. Meadow, water, forest, and seclusion, with the operational acreage held as buffer or future conservation.
A phased-use strategy. Live in the homestead, lease or selectively operate the quarry, and evaluate a conservation easement on the balance over time.
Few Boulder County properties let a buyer choose their own thesis. This one does.
Location remains the quiet advantage. Lyons in minutes, Longmont in twenty, Boulder in thirty, Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park within an hour. Trail access, dark skies, and a canyon-edge setting that feels genuinely removed, without being remote.
1312 Steamboat Valley is not a listing that fits a category. It is a property that asks the right buyer what they want to build, whether a home, a business, a legacy, or all three, and gives them the land to do it.
