It Looks Like Alice Walton Moved Back to Bentonville

Guess who’s back in town?

Having put her Rocking W Ranch in Texas on the market for $19.7 million, and having said she’d like to dedicate more time to Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, her life’s work, Walmart heiress Alice Walton has returned to Bentonville.

Sources told Whispers she’s living in the old Walton family residence, a Fay Jones designed, stone manor on secluded acreage south of the museum.

For years a breeder of prized cutting horses, Walton recently sold all 89 of them, a figure that includes embryos, for $3.2 million at auction by Western Bloodstock LTD. Robert Patton Jr., a Fort Worth businessman and co-owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, bought the core and cream of Walton’s crop.

Walton also has a second ranch at 4,416 acres along the Brazos River listed for $28.7 million with Coalson Real Estate, according to Fortune magazine.

Back in Bentonville, there’s construction going on at the entrance to the Walton residence. To Whispers, it looks like a cul-de-sac on Northeast F Street that will turn cars around before reaching the private drive portion of the road, where it appears that a new gate feature is being installed.

That makes sense. Walton doesn’t need random tourists — or nosy locals — driving up for a glimpse of her and the elegant, L-shaped home commissioned in 1958 by Sam and Helen Walton.

With so much going on in Bentonville, and so much of it revolving around Walton’s museum, it just feels right that she’s returned to her roots.

Welcome home, Alice.