An Entire Old West Town Is for Sale. But It’s in New Zealand
The $7.5 million property includes a ranch house and a farm that grows rare, sought-after Manuka honey.
The town at Mellonsfolly Ranch recreates an 1860s frontier town in Wyoming.
Source: Sotheby's International Realty
In 2012, Rob Bartley bought a detailed replica of an 1860s Wyoming frontier town, set in the heart of a 900-acre ranch, with a handshake deal. The entire project, Mellonsfolly Ranch, had been built for a reported NZ$8 million ($5 million) by his friend John Bedogni, who founded a successful glass company. After Bedogni suffered a personal tragedy, his “interest fell away,” Bartley explains. “That’s when I got involved.”
An entrepreneur who founded Ali Arc, an aluminum car parts manufacturer with facilities in New Zealand and Canada, Bartley will say only that he paid “a lot” for the ranch and town, which Bodogni built “for his friends and to have private events,” Bartley says.