We wanted a lake we could reach after work on a Friday.

That rules out far more places than you would think. Go far enough for real quiet and you have lost the evening to the drive. Stay close enough to keep the evening and you are usually within earshot of a highway. Almost everywhere fails one of those two tests.

Greenwood Lake is the rare thing that is both. Seven miles of open water in the New Jersey Highlands, wild country at the end of the road, and about an hour from the George Washington Bridge.

The second condition was harder. We wanted a lake, not a view of one: somewhere the family could actually be in the water, with a dock to swim from, and enough around it — trails, orchards, a ski hill, a village worth an evening — that nobody runs out of things to do on the third day.

Bird’s-eye watercolor illustration of the house, garage, drive and dock
Plate IThe whole site, from the wooded road edge down to Greenwood Lake.

One family had it since the 1930s

Handed down through generations of them. That is a rare thing on any lake, and it shows. The bones are good, the position is the best on this stretch of shore, and there was a great deal worth keeping.

So we are rebuilding rather than replacing — keeping the bones and the position, and doing the rest properly. The work has been careful and it has taken a while, which is why the house is closed to bookings while we finish it. It opens in 2027, and we would rather open late than open half-done, and rather say that on the front page than have you find it in a review.

Watercolor illustration of the great room and stone fireplace
Plate IVThe great room, with the lake beyond the tall glazing.

Kaia is a cockapoo, and she is why dogs stay free

She swims. Not politely and not briefly — she will swim until somebody makes her stop, and the first thing she does on arriving is go straight down the lawn and into the lake.

Watching a dog be that uncomplicatedly happy is a decent summary of why we wanted the place at all. It is also why dogs stay here free. Charging a pet fee at a house named after a dog would be an odd position to hold.

A house like this should not sit empty five days a week

We had the weekends we wanted here, and it seemed a waste not to let other families have them too. That is the whole idea behind opening it up rather than keeping it to ourselves.

So this is a family house that other families use, not a rental property with a family story attached to it. We hope the difference shows, because it is the only thing here we cannot put on a list of amenities.