Texas native Tommy Lee Jones moved to New York City to pursue an acting career back in 1969, but he knew he had found real success when he realized he could head back to the Lone Star State.
“There was a time when I became aware that I could live anywhere I want to,” “The Fugitive” star told The New York Times in a profile. “So, in my wisdom, I went home.”
These days, “home” for the 80-year-old actor is a sprawling ranch in San Saba, TX. Jones resides on the 6,000-square-foot property with his wife, Dawn Laurel-Jones, 62, who is from San Antonio.
In addition to a two-story limestone residence that was built as a fort in 1856, the massive plot of land is a full-fledged retreat. There is not one, but two polo fields, and an array of animals from horses to dogs to feral pigs.
The property is a fully operable ranch, and in 2006, Jones told Texas Monthly all about what a typical day is like.
“In the summers, we’ll work cattle, and then at about 7 o’clock at night, we’ll start playing polo,” he said. “We’ll play until about 9, and then when we’re done, we put the meat on the fire and watch the dark come. It’s a good life. Everyone is happy.”
Although Jones is famously private and has not shared imagery of the home, he did share a quote that piques interest.
“I didn’t want any fences around the house,” he said while telling the Times of the feral hogs that dig up his yard. “As you can see, the house has an architectural statement to make.”
Inside, the abode is just as fascinating. The publication reported that the living room is furnished with two Frank Lloyd Wright slate-top tables and a Gustav Stickley sofa that is more than a century old.
Antiques and collected art pieces can be found throughout the home, as well as other finds from the property itself, such as flint arrowheads, shed antlers, and small animal skulls.
Jones has ridden horses for most of his life and took an interest in polo in the 1970s. He regularly hosts polo matches at his ranch, which is home to 25 horses.
According to Social Life Magazine, Jones has been expanding his cattle ranch for decades after first acquiring it in the 1980s. He has built onto the property with additional parcels of working ranchland over time.
The couple’s passion for polo has made an impression on more than one of their homes. In 2019, Jones offloaded his Florida equestrian estate for $11.5 million. The 55-acre property, known as “San Saba,” the same name as his hometown, is 72 miles north of Miami in a town called Wellington.
While that residence was considerably smaller than the Texas ranch he lives in today, its polo facilities are remarkable.
Bradley A. Scherer, the listing agent who handled the sale, told Mansion Global that the estate was “one of the only, if not the only, property listed during 2019 that was a true, full-service polo facility with existing polo fields.”
Jones had purchased the Florida estate in 2002 for $2.95 million, then acquired a secondary parcel for $550,000 in 2012. With an additional third parcel, the land was all sold in a single transaction, after it lingered on the market for eight years.
The original asking price was $26.75 million.