Bois d'Arc Lake. New water, new ground.

Bois d'Arc Lake is in Fannin County, North Texas, about 14 miles northeast of Bonham. Formally the Lower Bois d'Arc Creek Reservoir, it was built by the North Texas Municipal Water District on Bois d'Arc Creek, roughly an hour and a half northeast of Dallas.

Public access opened April 17, 2024, and the lake reached full capacity at the end of that month. It is the first major new reservoir built in Texas in nearly 30 years, so a buyable market around it is genuinely new — which is exactly why the land around it is worth understanding before you buy.

About 16,641 surface acres, with roughly 172 miles of shoreline and a maximum depth near 70 feet. It was built primarily for water supply — up to 82 million gallons a day for the millions of people the North Texas Municipal Water District serves — with recreation as a secondary use.

Yes, but with an important caveat. You can own land that sits directly above and next to the water, but you cannot own the water's edge itself. The North Texas Municipal Water District owns all the land below the 541-foot mean-sea-level contour outright. So 'waterfront' here means your property line runs down to about the 541 line and the district owns the strip below it. That is normal for a district-owned water-supply reservoir and different from a private lake where you own to the water. I make sure you know exactly where your line stops before you pay a waterfront price.

Only on part of the shoreline, and only by permit. Because the water district owns the shoreline, an adjacent owner has to apply for a Shoreline Lease and Use Agreement before building a dock, clearing vegetation, or adding anything on the district's land, and a dock has to be designed by a Texas-licensed engineer. On top of that, the shoreline is split into two classifications: roughly 69 miles are 'dock capable' and roughly 65 miles are 'limited development,' where no private dock is allowed at all. In other words, close to half of the classified shoreline can never hold a private dock. So a lot being on the water does not guarantee it can ever have one. This is the single most important thing to confirm on any waterfront lot here, and it is the first thing I check for you.

The North Texas Municipal Water District. The district owns all the land below the 541-foot mean-sea-level contour in fee simple — the surveyed line is marked on the ground. Private ownership runs to that line, not into the water, and anything you want to do on the district's side of it needs a shoreline agreement with them first.

The lake only filled in 2024, so the market around it is still young — but 'new' is not the same as 'cheap' or 'guaranteed to go up.' Waterfront lots already carry a premium, while acreage a few minutes inland is where the value usually is. Rather than promise you a number, I would rather show you how to judge one: what comparable tracts are actually selling for, whether a lot can get a dock, what the county's lake-overlay zoning allows, and where the real growth is heading. That read is what tells you whether a given piece is a smart buy or an overpriced view.

It ranges widely — from acreage priced by the acre well inland to waterfront lots that carry a real premium — and the numbers move as new listings come and go, so any figure I printed here would be stale within weeks. I pull current, comparable sales for the specific type of land you want and walk you through what's driving each price. Reach out and I will send you a current read for your budget and your must-haves.

Bonham is the county seat and the largest town near the lake. Others in the area include Honey Grove, Ladonia, Leonard, Ector, Trenton, Ravenna, Telephone and Windom. Bonham has been the fastest-growing of these, with building permits up sharply since the reservoir project began.

Yes. The North Texas Municipal Water District runs free public boat ramps, picnic areas and restrooms, open around the clock at no launch fee. The lake was stocked as it filled and Texas Parks and Wildlife manages it as a fishery — it is being watched as a future top Texas bass lake, with a maximum-length limit on largemouth bass in place to protect the young trophy class. There is no state park on the lake; access is district-managed.

The right agent for a new lake is one who can read the things that actually decide value here — where your property line stops at the 541 contour, whether a lot sits on dock-capable or limited-development shoreline, what the county's lake-overlay zoning allows, and whether you are paying for the water or for real acreage in the growth path. That is the work Nychole Baxter does across Fannin, Grayson, Hunt, Cooke and Kaufman counties, treating lake-country land as land rather than an oversized house lot: pricing from genuinely comparable tracts and bringing in the surveyor, title and any specialist a deal needs. She is a REALTOR®, not an appraiser or attorney, so she gives you the market read and assembles the right experts around it. The way to judge that is a conversation about the specific parcel you are looking at.