Meet Us at Mistletoe, A Tranquil Tallahassee Retreat

Once part of the territory of the Apalachee and later the Seminole Native American tribes, this verdant spread located between Tallahassee and Thomasville, Ga., has passed through many hands over the past two centuries. 

Welcome to Mistletoe, an 85-acre retreat named after the plant that grows in the trees there—a picturesque locale in the Red Hills region, beloved for its unspoiled pine forests, abundant bobwhite quail and lush rolling hills. 

Today, Mistletoe is a touch demure compared to the nearby Pebble Hill Plantation, perhaps the best known of the area’s hunting plantations. But in the mid-1900s, it was much larger after a northern lawyer purchased the land and surrounding properties and named it Mistletoe Plantation (a name current owners shortened to Mistletoe because of connotations with slavery). 

It’s close to downtown, but it’s a lifetime away.
—Loranne Ausley

The land dips across the Georgia-Florida border in distant view of the Ochlockonee River. Although smaller now, the core of the property still thrives, along with a few magnificently gnarled old oak trees, offering visitors a window into another era. 

“It’s close to downtown, but it’s a lifetime away,” says Loranne Ausley, a former state senator and representative. Mistletoe has been a part of Ausley’s life since 1985, when her family joined five others to buy the property. She now shares ownership of the Mistletoe retreat with her two siblings. She’s hardly the only politician to have treasured the place. It’s been a notable haven for popular Florida Governor Lawton “Walkin’ Lawton” Chiles, who liked to do some turkey hunting from time to time.

This year, Ausley aligned the land’s historical aura with more contemporary vibes by opening Mistletoe as a bucolic retreat to a new generation of visitors. It’s an experience ready-made for hiking, swimming and leisurely dinners under the stars, with plenty of cozy spots to meditate and commune with nature. With room for 30 guests across its four houses—including the newly renovated 1880s farmhouse near the entrance—the site can accommodate weddings and special occasions, such as a recent Food Network culinary event for the television show, “Chopped.”

“It means so much to all of us and to our children that we want to keep it in the family,” Ausley says. “And so we are trying to figure out the best way to do that.”

Thanks to the Ausleys, the spirit of Mistletoe lives on, offering a quiet refuge for a new generation to call their own. 

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