Night view of Horseshoe Lake from our porch
I often tell people that one of the reasons I love Horseshoe Lake so much is because "all of the gunshot victims end up on the dinner plate." On one of our first mornings there, I was drinking my coffee on the porch and gazing at all of the birds making their way by on the water when I heard what sounded like gunshots. For a split second I thought I was back in Memphis, but quickly realized that those shots were coming from the private hunting club just across the water. No urban shootouts at Horseshoe.
My wife and I first got the itch for Horseshoe after spending some time there over the years at the lake house of some great friends who regularly invited us over for weekends. One reason we found it so attractive is that it is a 50-minute drive from our home in Memphis, yet it feels like a world away. I contacted a real estate agent there and met him so he could take me on a tour of homes around the lake. I quickly learned that there was very little for sale--at least nothing that would work for us. Not long after that I was contacted by my friend, Walker Uhlhorn, who told me about a tract of lakefront land he had acquired, with plans to create 20+lots, each with 100 feet of lakefront. This land had never been developed for homes. We bought a lot and hired an architect. That was a smart move on Mr. Uhlhorn's part, because now all of those lots are gone--and most have houses on them.
The economics of Horseshoe illustrate a classic case of supply and demand, I once heard a money manager say, when asked why he liked the stock of Vail Resorts (MTN, $137) so much: "Because God is not making any more mountains." Well, God is not making any more lakefront land at Horseshoe, either. The last lot I know of that sold went for 40% more than what we paid for ours four years earlier.
As Scarlett O'Hara's father said in Gone with the Wind: "Land is the only thing in the world worth working for, worth fighting for, worth dying for. Because it's the only thing that lasts." And here we're not talking about just any land, but lake front land. Would you want to have a weekend house at Horseshoe that wasn't on the water? You could surely get it for a whole lot less.I know of several lake houses that are the full-time homes of their owners, but the vast majority are second homes, or what I like to call "weekend homes." This helps explain why there are not more commercial establishments in the immediate area. It doesn't make sense to own a store when there are no customers around during most of the week. This has implications for what you'll need to take with you for the weekend and what you'll need to keep stocked at the house.
Buying or building the lake house itself is only the first of many demands on your wallet. Most houses have a dock, and if you're going to have a dock, you might as well have a boat. My friend Hart Robinson owns the Boat Center in Memphis, and that is where we bought our pontoon boat. Hart also has a company called "Piling Row" that builds docks. So, one-stop shopping for us. It is always a pleasure doing business with Hart.
I have written in this space before about home generators, and how I think they will become a standard feature in homes. They are truly a "must have" at the lake, where the power goes out with some frequency. It's nice to have an extra refrigerator and freezer for stock-piling beer and meats. I really couldn't buy a load of steaks without the peace of mind that comes with the generator. Of the houses near us that have generators, most of those are Generac. Ours is hooked up to the natural gas line and comes on automatically when the power goes out (I refuse to deal with propane tanks--too many accidents waiting to happen).
I have never been much of an "outdoorsman," but lake living is turning this city boy into one. If your wallet has anything left in it, you will want to get some useful supplies. We love Yeti (YETI, $45) products and now have several Yeti coolers of various sizes and a multitude of drinking mugs. The coolers are engineered to perfection. The cooler walls are thick, so a Yeti is noticeably heavier than, say, a Playmate cooler, but a Yeti can keep drinks cold for days.
Another company I am just learning about is American Outdoor Brands (AOUT, $9), separated from Smith and Wesson in 2020. The market cap is quite small at about $113 million. I recently bought a small position, following my rule of buying only small positions in tiny companies--and this one has so far today, as I write this, traded only about 22,000 shares. They sell just about anything the aspiring outdoorsman might need, except firearms--they left that with Smith and Wesson. But AOUT does offer lots of products for the care and maintenance of guns.
One feature about Horseshoe that we have come to love is that a number of our Memphis friends now have houses on the lake, on that big swath of land that Mr. Uhlhorn developed. This gives the place a "neighborhood feel." We will be sitting on our porch and see people we know walk by on the lake path. They will typically be carrying a cocktail (in a Yeti mug, of course). And, being good neighbors, I always offer to refresh that cocktail for them. My nextdoor Horseshoe neighbor (yet another Uhlhorn) even introduced me to a drink I had never heard of. It's called a "paper plane" (why I don't know), and it's in a category of drinks known as "equal parts cocktails." As the equal parts name suggests, the paper plane has four ingredients in perfectly equal parts. Here's how you make it:
Fill a cocktail shaker with ice (you'll need a cocktail shaker just for your lake house bar)
Pour in:
one measure of good bourbon
one measure of Amaro Nonino (an Italian liqueur)
one measure of Aperol
one measure of fresh lemon juice (that's right--the same amount of lemon juice as the other three ingredients)
Shake it up and strain into a glass
This is the best-tasting cocktail I've ever had. When I make one for a friend, he always wants a refill--which I am more than happy to oblige. Since everything in this drink, except for the lemon juice, is alcohol, you could get pretty wasted if you drank multiple cocktail shakers full. But you're at the lake and not driving anywhere.
When we first had our house, we liked to go out to eat at a place called "Kamp Karefree." It has closed and is now for sale. It can be yours for the small sum of $2.1 million. But it is 3.39 acres of waterfront property and turnkey ready as a restaurant and marina. We now dine out at Highwater Landing, which is behind Bond's Grocery and is usually open Thursday through Saturday. They have excellent fried catfish and cheeseburgers, among other tasty fare. Speaking of Bond's Grocery, it is a true Horseshoe landmark. They have a limited selection (this is not Kroger) but they are just a few minutes drive from anywhere on the lake.
By the way, my wife bought me a fishing pole, so this year I think I'll use it, maybe hook us some dinner. Now, which end goes in the water?
One final note. If you are interested in Horseshoe Lake history (and there is a lot of it), I recommend the book The History of Horseshoe Lake by Nikki Lentz Walker. It's a fascinating read and a most helpful resource. We actually met the author recently sitting at the bar at HighWater Landing.
Life is short. Get busy!
Jim
Disclosure/Disclaimer: My family members and/or I own shares of MTN and AOUT. Individual stocks are mentioned here for the sole purpose of illustrating investment concepts, and nothing stated here should be construed as the advice to buy or sell any security.
Copyright 2026 James Brinkley Taylor, Jr.
Email me with any questions, comments, or feedback:
jbrinkleytaylor@gmail.com
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