Mornings at Newport Cove

On cold gray winter days, it's good to remember that ice will thaw and summer will reappear. The photo, right, was shot one morning last June from the Newport Cove marina.  Here the sun rises over Bluff Lake. 

Another snapshot, taken another morning some six months later (just a few weeks ago), shows our youngest resident, puppy in tow, sledding on the Newport Cove “bluff.” 

The Chain O' Lakes Unchained

Interesting factoid: On a per-acre basis, the Chain O'Lakes – home to our Newport Cove waterfront community – is the busiest inland recreational waterway in the entire United States. With some 7,100 acres of water, 15 lakes and 45 miles of river, this "Key West of the Midwest" accommodates activities for every water-lover: boating, swimming, tubing, waterskiing, fishing, even hunting. Chicagoland's playground for more than a century (it is about an hour's drive from the big city), the Chain boasts two State Parks as well as many great boat-in (or drive-to) restaurants and “hot spots”. Newport Cove’s marina is a stone’s “skip” from several.

Newport Cove sits on the western shore of Bluff Lake, one of the lesser-known lakes in the Chain and just south of the larger (and more familiar) Lake Marie. But, despite the Chain's lively reputation, it has its quiet times, too. In the spring and fall, or on summer weekdays, fishing boats idle near the shorelines and waterfowl serenely float on tranquil waters.

Oldport to Newport

Newport Cove may well be the best new home address on the Chain O' Lakes. This 42-acre waterfront property stretches along the bluffs overlooking aptly-named Bluff Lake, near the charming town of Antioch in Chicago's northwest suburbs.

Years ago Al Capone had his summer home on this property; legend says he ran bootlegged booze up and down the Fox River and through the lakes of the Chain. Next came a marina called Oldport, then a camper trailer park with a marina named Newport Cove. For a time there was a restaurant called Nolan's, and a bar with Paradise in its title and flamingos on its sign.

The property is still called Newport Cove, but it has been transformed into a planned community with sites for 67 upscale single-family homes. It boasts a private marina with more than 100 slips, a private eight-acre waterfront park anchored by a gazebo with cooking and restroom facilities, walking paths and wildflowers, coastal-style homes and happy fishermen, ski boats and pontoon boats, toddlers and senior citizens, Baby Boomers and Gen X-ers.

Those living at Newport Cove have chosen not just a house. They've bought a lifestyle, too, a lifestyle centered on the water.