Five families purchase Lazy Z home

It has been a part of the Sisters area for over 120 years and the ranch is still a familiar landmark for travelers driving to Bend. Now, a group of Salem families has purchased a large parcel of the property and is planning to restore it to its former grandeur.

About 80 acres of the original Lazy Z Ranch located just east of Sisters between Highway 126 and Highway 20 have been purchased by five Salem families as a place to unwind and enjoy the beauty and slower pace of life in Sisters. The property they purchased includes the large ranch-style home built in 1952 and several outbuildings including a barn built in 1936.

“This house has been an ‘unhappy house’ for quite a while,” said Paul Ferder, a Salem attorney and spokesman for the families. “Now, we are going to make it a ‘happy house.’”

The five families have formed a partnership whose extended members exceed 50 people. Principals include physicians, an attorney, and a computer analyst who have known one another for the past 25 years.

“I have skied Bachelor and owned property at Black Butte Ranch since the early 1970s and have always enjoyed this area and particularly the Lazy Z Ranch,” Ferder explained. “When it came up for sale, our group decided to buy it.”

The main house is a 5,500-square-foot home with five bedrooms, five and one-half bathrooms, and a 1,200-square foot living room.

“E-ery bedroom has its own view of the surrounding country, ranging from the Three Sisters to the open pasture lands,” Ferder said. Other buildings besides the barn include a seven-bay equipment shed, a three-bay RV storage, a bunkhouse, and other outbuildings, he added.

The entire main house was built with quality lumber, straight-grained flooring with wooden pegs and dozens of built-ins including a bar. Double-paned windows and solid walls keep out highway traffic noise. Ring the doorbell at the front door and instantly comes the loud sound of a cowbell.

Throughout the house are the Lazy Z logos, one on a fireplace door and others on the original long dining room table. A wide rock wall sets off the fireplace in the living room that also includes a built-in pizza oven and a rotisserie. A smaller room that served as an office has its own fireplace.

“There are three ponds, starting with the one in front of the house and then connecting to two others by a stream flowing north,” Ferder said. “We plan to restore all of these wetlands. We haven’t decided if we will lease out the pasture for horses and cattle or maybe have some of our own. We do want to protect the geese that nest in the pasture.”

The families have made several recent trips to Bend to furnish the house.

Alfred Cobb homesteaded the area about 1885, according to Wilson and Scott’s “That Was Yesterday.” While his wife, Martha, operated a way station for early-day travelers, Cobb ran a blacksmith shop where he repaired wagons and shod horses.

Later, a two-story house was built and the area was known as the Carl Woods Ranch. Over the next half century, more land was cleared with major improvements made in the 1950s, including the construction of the large ranch house. In 1991 Joan (Hull) Koops acquired the ranch. In April 2000, she sold the 1,203-acre Lazy Z Ranch to the David Herman family of Portland doing business as Lazy Z Partners.

The family owned other real estate in Central Oregon. Several generations of the Herman family had vacationed in the area for many years.

Riding horses have been kept on the property and improvements made on the main house and other property

Ferder and his partners are interested in being contacted by anyone who has early-day photos of the Lazy Z Ranch or information on its history. Family members and others will be at the ranch and those with information can stop by, he explained.