When prospective landowners look for their slice of Hill Country, they may look for running water, mature trees, bluebonnets, a scenic vista, or a pristine canvas. Not Paula Stone.

When Stone first set eyes on her property at the edge of Fredericksburg, her realtor would not even step into the house. “There was nothing inside,” she recalled, “but dead animals and rat droppings.”

Read more from HCA’s own Daniel Oppenheimer from Rock and Vine Magazine here.