One of my friends is trying to do some writing research, so I am asking on her behalf.
She is looking for a lake in US, preferably somewhere warm, so it can be a summer home. The lake must be swimmable and have clear to semi-clear water for story reasons, so it can’t be completely opaque or filled with algae, and it must allow private ownership, because the property has to have a dock. She was asking about our local Canyon Lake originally, but Canyon Lake is managed by the US Corps of Engineers and you can’t have a private dock, you can only use public access.
The property also needs to be at least somewhat reasonable price-wise, because her family is middle class, so a $3,000,000 lake “cabin” is right out. They don’t own the entire lake, just a property on the shore.
Any thoughts?
Lake Chelan in Washington state. It’s in Eastern Washington, which is beautifully warm in the summer months. There are plenty of homes on the lakefront. Some are very expensive, but depending on when the home was purchased, many are still reasonably priced. Most have their own docks. The water is crystal clear, swimmable in the summer months (but not off months because it’s glacier melt.)
+1
Lake Gaston in Virginia. You can see at least 6-7 feet down. Great temp in the summer and a large variety of homes depending on the part of the lake, some middle class, some very fancy.
High Falls Lake in Georgia. 600+ acres of gorgeous clean lake. Great fishing and unbelievable wildlife. The boat motors are limited to 9.9hp so it’s very quiet but no water skiing or jet skis. 60 miles from Atlanta, 30 miles from Macon, Ga. The most beautiful sunsets I’ve ever seen, night after night.
Langlois Lake in Carnation, WA. No gas motors allowed. Super deep lake. Lots of trees in the bottom. Girl Scouts used to own a portion for their summer camps. Not sure if they still do. A few houses on the lake, not many. When my husband and I were first dating, he would take me there. Small boat. He would get the back 3rd for fishing. I would put down 2 sleeping bags, 2 pillows on the bottom of the boat and just float, lay and read. Those were the BEST dates.
Have her look at Lake Gaston. There are homes with docks on the North Carolina and Virginia sides. She can take her pick!
If you’re looking for a smaller, less known lake, there’s Lake Massapoag in Sharon, MA!
In the summer it’s beautiful, clear and warm and there are private homes on the shore with their own docks, either for year residents or summer homes.
I spent my childhood summers on Schroon Lake in the Adks. Just north of Lake George. It’s a smaller lake, 9 miles. Not as touristy or crowded as Lake George. My family had a private beach, in a cove that stretched to the point, with our boat dock in the cove area. Lake water was clean enough that it is what was pumped into our house for use. I can’t speak of the water now as I haven’t been in a few years.
Brant Lake, NY
Mitchell Lake near Ely Minnesota and there’s cool stuff nearby like a wolf sanctuary.
Lake LBJ. Small community of Granite Shoals has many private shoreline onwers of all classes. Beautiful views. Lots of different price levels.
Bull Shoals Lake, on the border of AR & MO, is supposed to be crystal clear, popular for recreation, but not as crowded as some of the better known lakes. The Corps of Engineers allows private docks in limited development areas. I haven’t seen the lake myself but have heard good things.
Beaver Lake, also in north AR, is beautiful. I think existing private docks are grandfathered in. I took a boat tour of the lake back in the 90s, and you could see down to the mountaintops/trees underneath in some places. It was crystal clear. It’s also near the popular tourist destination of Eureka Springs.
Lake of the Ozarks in MO has private homes with docks (not sure if grandfathered only or still allowing new). It’s a very busy lake, but some of the coves off the main lake are calmer. One of my relatives had a lakeside cabin in a cove and loved to sit on their boat dock, fish, and watch the ducks. The water was very clear there – not sure about the main lake.
Hope this is helpful!
I think the north shore of Lake Travis has some reasonably priced cabins and I know that you can have a private dock on it.
Not positive, but I beleive both Lake Tahoe and Lake Mead allow for private homes. Of the two, I prefer Tahoe. Of course, I haven’t been there for many years, but it was beautiful, and extremely clear. Lake Mead has clear areas, but they can get fouled with drifting plants at times.
There is a wonderful lake in Apopka Florida called Bear Lake. It is spring fed so it will never see low water conditions during the dry season. the clarity of the water is strictly guarded by advising the surrounding residents when not to fertilize their lawn in an effort to retain the deep water clarity which can be anywhere from 6ft to 10ft and more. The homes surrounding the lake are anywhere from the 450k to 1.4 million dollar range.
The lake is warm and beautiful all year and is small enough to be a wonderful retreat and large enough to ski on. Because it is a private access lake there are no weeds on the edges just pristine landscape leading to it’s edge.
All of the residents surrounding the lake have a private dock some with boat houses attached.
She could check out Smith Lake in Alabama. It’s still in fairly good shape and it has the added creepiness of being a man-made lake that required the flooding of a town. According to one source I read, there are actual cemeteries still at the bottom of the lake. But it’s used a lot for watersports and swimming because why not? The lake goes from shallow to dropoffs of hundreds of feet. So if this is a romance, you probably don’t want to go near Smith Lake, but if it’s a mystery or something dark, Smith Lake is your go-to.
Lake Keowee in South Carolina , the water is clear and just beautiful.
Lake Lanier in GA is a good option too and it’s near Atlanta .
New Hampshire. There are multiple lakes at the bottom of the White Mountains.
Winnesquam (On golden pond filmed there), Winnipesaukee, Merrymeeting Lake, Sunapee, Mirror lake, Ossipee Lake, etc. All pretty clear (ranked amount the clearest in the US), all with private ownership, and sandy bottoms. While it is not warm year round, they are certainly warm enough to swim in July-August. Lake water temp for Winnipesaukee in August is around 75.6°F / 24.2°C
Thousands of lakes in Michigan that are warm 6 months of the year.
How about north Georgia? Lake Rabin, Lake Burton, Lake Lanier, Lake Oconee, Lake Hartwell
Dale Hollow Lake (Reservoir) on the Tennessee/Kentucky border. One of the cleanest lakes in the country, and while there are expensive lakefront homes there are also more reasonable properties (lots of more remote stretches of shoreline). Many fond memories of swimming and house boating there, could see 30+ feet down.
Somewhere warm year round or only summer? I would highly recommend Payette in Idaho, but gets snow in the winter (with fantastic skiing). Still can find some reasonable places. Maybe. Depends on when this place was to have been purchased by the family. Clear Lake or Lake Mendocino in Northern California are great options as well.
West Virginia and Virginia have some beautiful lakes. Take a look at Smith Mountain Lake in Virginia. It is gorgeous and gets warm enough to swim in.
stiles pond in boxford, ma
amazing in the summer. super clear and gorgeous.
Missouri Ozarks
Yup! ???????? Also Tablerock in Missouri/Arkansas
Lake Santa Fe / Little Lake Santa Fe has private homes around it and it does have swimming. The water has tannins in it but it has some springs so it is not as bad as others. It is warm although my Floridians would not swim in it in winter. Like any Florida lake it has alligators but people still swim in it.
Forgot to include. Homes are around $324,000 according to local real estate site. My co-worker owns a home with a private dock on Little Lake Santa Fe so they are allowed.
How about Lake Jackson in Sebring, Florida? It allows private ownership, is warm, and the water is fairly clear.
Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri or Tablerock Lake that goes from Missouri to Arkansas.
Lake Anna in Virginia
Lake Granbury in Hood County, Texas might fit her requirements. It is swimmable in places, one can have private docks, and it’s somewhat clear, depending on what the Brazos River had picked up from upstream. Additionally, a lot of properties are built on canals to increase the number of water front homes.
Try Grand Lake or Tenkiller Lake in Oklahoma
Of course Lake Anna was built to cool a Nuclear Reactor… And sits on a fault line… come to think of it, is this a horror story? lol
I’ve never been, but I have lots of friends and colleagues from Illinois and Michigan who talk about having summer cabins on a lake in Michigan – apparently there are a ton of lakes so its not an exclusively for-the-rich thing.
Lake Fork .. Northeast Texas.. piney woods.
Fingerlakes in upstate new York. Off topic but have been wanting to request: can you have your posts formatted for automatic wrap / size to window? It would be nice to have the text fit in my phone screen instead of having to scroll right and left for every line. Thanks.
This site has been mobile responsive for the last 7 years.
Perhaps you have your phone set to desktop mode? I have to do that occasionally (for other sites, not this one) and when I do, I have to scroll side to side. ????
What do they want to do with this lake? Are they trying to buy property, do they want to include it in a book, take pictures, what?
I have family with a great place (an old hotel) on Lake Michigan over looking the water with beach access. But they don’t want to sell it. No dock though.
“One of my friends is trying to do some writing research”- it’s going to be in a book :).
Hope this helps 🙂
Minnesota, Wisconsin, and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (the “UP”), have more than 30,000 inland lakes, not even counting the Great Lakes. You’ll find crystal clear lakes, a few called Crystal Lake, with starting prices of $150K to several million. Small lots to several acre lots, even some private lakes, these states offer beautiful, remote lakes within state and national forests, or near towns and cities. Also, lake sizes vary from really small non motor lakes to some of the largest inland lakes in this country.
Try narrowing the search to spring fed lakes. They tend to be cleanest.
Silver Lake in the June Lake/ Mammoth Lakes area in the Eastern Sierra area of California. There is a single road of lake-front properties. Small, gorgeous, warm in the summer, snowed in during winter.
Wisconsin has a huge number of amazingly beautiful, warm enough to swim in, clear lakes! Green Lake is the deepest so good for speedboats, neighboring Puckaway Lake, is more of a pontoon boat/fishing lake, Lake Elizabeth in the South-East is small and wonderful, Lake Denton, next the The Wisconsin Dells, is more touristy. I won’t even try to name all the little, wonderful, affordable lakes north of Rhinelander but any of them would be a great choice.
*Lake Delton
I grew up on the Great Lakes. No place better.
There are some really nice lakes in northern Idaho (Lake Pend Oreille, Lake Coeur d’Alene), Washington (Lake Chelan, Lake Sammamish), and Oregon (Wallowa Lake, Diamond Lake, Odell Lake). I think all of them have private cabins on certain parts that are pretty accessible to middle class families.
What about Possum Kingdom Lake, up near Dallas? It’s a nice area, despite the podunk name.
Lake George property can be expensive. A possible alternative in the Adirondacks is one of the numbered lakes. I stayed/swam/fished/boated from a property in Old Forge which had its own dock on the lake.
See Wikipedia, Fulton Chain of Lakes.
“The Fulton Chain of Lakes is a string of eight lakes located in the Adirondack Park in upstate New York, United States. The chain is the dammed-up Moose River, and the dam which creates the chain holds back nearly 6.8 billion US gallons (26,000,000 m3) of water. The lakes are located in Herkimer and Hamilton Counties. Inlet, Old Forge, and Eagle Bay are towns on them…suitable for pontoon boats (the most popular type in the area), kayaks, and motorboats.
White Bear Lake in Minnesota. Comes with great ghost stories.
My sister lived in a small condo building with 5 retired couples. Each condo had their own docking space. My sister lived in the ground floor unit and started and ended most days from April through October with a swim. It was a 30 foot walk into the lake. Crystal clear. She worked in the twin cities and lived there year round. Kept an eye on the place for the seniors who went south every winter.
I have 4 suggestions: Torch Lake and Deer Lake in Michigan. Flathead Lake in Montana and Lake Tahoe (California/Nevada). These lakes would fit the requirements for water clarity. Temperatures for the lakes in Michigan were colder but were in the 70s for July.
From the little checking I was able to do, there are rental properties in each location that may provide background for the author. I hope this is helpful.
We have a lake house on Greers Ferry Lake in Arkansas. Although it is a Corps of Engineers lake, we do have a dock. We just have to abide by the regulations of size and what we can have on the dock. Arkansas is warm and near the shore you the water can be clear if the wind isn’t kicking up the waves too bad. And you can pretty much find something in any budget here. I’m actually from Wisconsin and it has some beautiful lakes, some fairly clear that allow private docks. My family is from Shawano, Wisconsin and I spent many a summer at my Grandparents home on the lake. Water is clear near shore. But Wisconsin is definitely not considered a warm state, LOL. Although the summers are lovely.
Lake Murray, near Chapin, SC is clear and it’s beautiful!
Osoyoos Lake In Washington State is beautiful and not too expensive. It crosses the border into Canada, but it’s a semi-desert region and gets very hot in summers. Definitely lots of lake swimming! Potential downside, readers unfamiliar with the area may not believe in the weather ????
Lake Anna Virginia
https://www.docksiderentalsatlakeanna.com/vacation-rentals/waterfront-rentals/
My very middle class family used to own a lot there. It’s warmer than you’d think because it is the water source for Collingdale a nuclear power plant!????
The only clear lake I know is not warm but great for a summer home.
Torch Lake in Michigan it’s up by Traverse City.