Add The California Post on Google Dolly Parton’s secret California hideaway where the rhinestone-loving country queen could escape from the spotlight is still on the market — as she dies aged 80.
The singer’s modest former retreat is tucked away in the town of Solvang — known as the “Danish capital of America” — and is available for $1,995,000 after being listed in April.
The white farmhouse in Santa Barbara County is a far cry from the larger-than-life image of the music icon, whose death was heartbreakingly announced by her family Tuesday.
Parton’s nephew and longtime head of security, Bryan Seaver, confirmed her passing in an Instagram post on behalf of the Parton and Owens family.
“I am representing the Parton and Owens family today, announcing the passing of my Aunt Dolly Rebecca Parton Dean,” Seaver said.
“Sister, sis Aunt Granny to one generation and Gigi to the next,” he continued. “This video announcement is something Dolly asked of me years ago before I fully absorbed it as a future reality.”
Parton’s publicity team also confirmed her death, remembering the beloved singer for a life that extended far beyond her music.
“A rhinestone life that shone bright enough for the world to see, Dolly will forever stand as an inspiration not only through her timeless music and prolific songwriting, but also her wit, warmth, and kindness that made us all feel like family,” her reps said.
Away from her rhinestone-filled public life, Parton created a quiet refuge in the heart of California’s Santa Ynez Valley.
The singer reportedly bought the 1920s-era property through Dolly Parton Enterprises in 2004 and quietly kept it as a getaway for nearly a decade.
Sitting on the corner of Alisal Road and Maple Avenue, just a short walk from downtown Solvang, the farmhouse was built to blend in rather than announce that one of the world’s most famous women was inside.
Inside, Parton reportedly went to extraordinary lengths to keep her visits private.
The windows were made to reflect the scenery outside so that curious passersby couldn’t see in. A latticework corridor led to the back door, creating a “paparazzi-proof” tunnel for Parton to come and go without being noticed.
Her main bedroom could reportedly be locked from the inside with seven locks.
“She paparazzi-proofed the whole house,” current owner Cris Lapp previously told SFGate.
Parton also left behind many touches that were unmistakably hers.
A small “wig room” remains in the garage, said to be a miniature version of the elaborate wig-storage setup at her Tennessee home.
One of the most obvious signs of her presence is above the front door: a stained-glass window that spells out “Dolly” next to her trademark butterfly.
A plaque on the white fence also marks the property as Parton’s former home.
The home’s celebrity history stayed mostly hidden for years, until property records and building permits eventually linked it to Parton’s company.
Lapp, a real estate broker with Black Oak Homes and Mortgages, bought the property for about $1.3 million in 2022 and later found signs of its famous past.
Since then, the former retreat has been turned into three long-term rental units and has become such a local curiosity that people call it “Solvang’s Dollywood.”
The property includes a three-bedroom, two-bathroom front home, another three-bedroom, two-bathroom residence in the upper rear and a one-bedroom lower unit with a three-quarter bathroom. Each has its own enclosed patio.
But Lapp has said he isn’t just looking for someone who sees the place as an investment.
“That is just me, I want a mega fan,” he previously told Noozhawk.
Another of Parton’s properties, her former cabin retreat, returned to the market less than a year after a charity sold it for $585,000, following her donation in November 2023.
The mountainside home in the picturesque town of Idyllwild, CA, belonged to Parton, 79, and her late husband, Carl Dean, for decades before she gifted it to Ronald McDonald House Charities of Southern California, which sold it in July 2024, records show.
The listing describes the three-bedroom cabin—now on the market for $768,000—as “Dolly Parton’s former Idyllwild retreat—a home as iconic as the legend herself,” per Realtor.com
“If walls could sing, this charming three-story mountain retreat would be belting out a country classic,” the description continues, noting that “nearly everything inside remains just as Dolly left it.”
Now, in the wake of Parton’s passing, both homes offer a rare window into the private world of one of America’s most cherished icons.
