I get some version of this question every few months from buyers looking around the Highland Lakes: they’ve toured Horseshoe Bay, priced out Marble Falls proper, and someone mentioned a small gated neighborhood on Lake Marble Falls called Meadowlakes that they can’t find much about online. It’s a fair reaction. Meadowlakes doesn’t get the attention Horseshoe Bay or Marble Falls does, partly because it’s smaller and partly because it’s gated, so people drive right past the entrance without ever seeing what’s inside. What’s inside is a genuinely small town with its own mayor and city council, a golf course the whole community is built around, and direct access to one of the more dependable lakes in the chain.
TLDR (Too Long; Didn’t Read): Living in Meadowlakes, TX
- Meadowlakes is a small, gated community on Lake Marble Falls in southern Burnet County, bordered on the northeast by Marble Falls and about 49 miles northwest of downtown Austin
- Development began in the 1970s and the city incorporated in the mid-1980s with an estimated 250 residents; today’s population is estimated at around 1,996
- Meadowlakes has kept its own mayor and city council since incorporation, even though Marble Falls provides most of the day-to-day municipal services
- The community is built around a semi-private, 18-hole golf course dating to 1976, and that plus the gated entry is a big reason it draws retirees and second-home buyers
- Lake Marble Falls is a constant-level lake, so docks and boathouses stay usable year-round instead of dealing with the seasonal drawdowns some other lakes in the chain see
- Kids in Meadowlakes attend Marble Falls ISD, a seven-campus district based right next door
- Meadowlakes tends to fit retirees and golf-focused buyers better than families wanting a big yard, a lot of other kids nearby, or freedom from CC&Rs
Where Meadowlakes Sits and What the Commute Looks Like
Meadowlakes sits in southern Burnet County on Lake Marble Falls, bordered on the northeast by the city of Marble Falls itself. The two run together closely enough along RM 1431 that first-time visitors sometimes don’t notice they’ve left one and entered the other, but a gated entry marks where Marble Falls ends and Meadowlakes’ own streets begin. From downtown Austin it’s about 49 miles, which is a shorter run than Kingsland’s roughly 64 miles and a manageable, if unhurried, trip for someone making it a couple times a week rather than every day.
Most of the buyers I work with in Meadowlakes aren’t commuting into Austin at all. They’re retired, working remotely, or splitting time between here and somewhere else, and the appeal has less to do with shaving minutes off a drive and more to do with not needing to leave the gate for groceries, a hospital, or a hardware store run. Marble Falls has all of that a few minutes away.
A Small City That’s Kept Its Own Government
Meadowlakes started as a development in the 1970s and formally incorporated as its own city in the mid-1980s, when it had an estimated 250 residents. Growth since then has been steady but never fast: 1,293 people by the 2000 census, 1,907 by 2020, and an estimated 1,996 today. What’s stayed constant through that growth is the governance setup. Meadowlakes elects its own mayor and city council and has kept that structure since incorporation, even though Marble Falls handles most of the actual day-to-day services rather than the city running a full slate of departments on its own.
That’s a different model than Kingsland, up the chain on Lake LBJ, which has never incorporated at all and is governed directly by Llano County. If you’re cross-shopping the two, it’s worth knowing that Meadowlakes residents get a local council with a real say over local rules, while Kingsland residents don’t have that layer of government at all. On top of the city government, Meadowlakes also runs its own Property Owners Association, a separate entity that holds the deed restrictions, operates the gate, and typically reviews exterior changes before they happen. That’s a common setup for a gated community, but it’s one more thing to read through carefully before you buy.
The Golf Course at the Center of the Community
The golf course isn’t an amenity tacked onto Meadowlakes, it’s the reason the community exists in its current form. The par-72, 18-hole layout dates to 1976, with Bermuda fairways running under mature pecan trees that have had fifty years to grow in. It’s semi-private, meaning members get priority tee times and pricing but the public can also book a round, which is a different arrangement than a strictly private country club and one that tends to keep a course financially healthier than the private-only clubs found elsewhere in the Highland Lakes.
That golf course, combined with the gated entry, is most of why Meadowlakes skews toward retirees and second-home buyers rather than young families chasing a starter home. It’s not a place where you’ll find much new construction on spec lots. Most of the housing stock reflects decades of people building around that course and settling in for the long haul rather than flipping.
Lake Marble Falls and Getting on the Water
Lake Marble Falls, formed by the LCRA’s Max Starcke Dam just upstream of Lake Travis, is a constant-level lake. The LCRA holds it within about eight-tenths of a foot of the same range year-round, roughly 736.2 to 737 feet above sea level, instead of letting it draw down the way Lake Travis does in a dry summer. For anyone buying with a dock or boathouse in mind, that’s the single most useful fact about the lake: a boat isn’t going to end up sitting on a mud flat in August.
Meadowlakes has its own boat ramp and an adjoining fishing pier inside the gates, so residents don’t have to trailer a boat over to Marble Falls to launch, and there’s a dedicated RV parking area in the community as well. That last detail matters more than it sounds like it should. A lot of gated, golf-course communities restrict boats and RVs from sitting in driveways under their CC&Rs, and having a sanctioned spot to park a camper or a boat trailer solves a problem that trips up buyers elsewhere in the Highland Lakes.
Schools
Meadowlakes falls inside Marble Falls ISD, a seven-campus district with four elementary schools, one middle school, and two high schools, all based just next door in Marble Falls. Being this close means a short bus ride for kids rather than the longer hauls some of the more spread-out Highland Lakes communities deal with. That said, Meadowlakes itself skews toward retirees and second-home owners more than young families, so while the schools are close and well-regarded, they’re usually not the headline reason someone buys here the way they might be in a bigger, family-oriented suburb.
Who Meadowlakes Is a Good Fit For
I point buyers toward Meadowlakes when what they actually want is a quiet, gated, golf-centered life on a lake that isn’t going to leave their dock stranded in a dry year, and when they’re not trying to raise a family in a neighborhood full of other kids or shop for groceries without getting in the car. It’s a strong fit for retirees, golfers, and second-home buyers who like knowing their own small city government is paying attention to local rules, but who don’t need a commercial district or nightlife nearby.
It’s a tougher fit for anyone who wants a large lot with no CC&Rs to answer to, anyone who’d rather not pay into a POA and a golf course fee structure, or a family hoping for a neighborhood full of other kids to grow up alongside. For that, Marble Falls proper or Horseshoe Bay will probably serve you better. But if a semi-private golf course, a reliable lake, and a small town that still runs its own city council sound appealing, Meadowlakes is one of the more overlooked options left in the Highland Lakes.
If you want to see how a different governance setup plays out nearby, Living in Kingsland, TX covers an unincorporated lake community on Lake LBJ that makes for a useful contrast.
If you want to see what’s actually available right now, you can search current listings here.
