4 Bedrooms,
3 Bathrooms,
Sleeps 15
5.8 miles from Lake Spring
Enchanting lake view greets you from almost every room of this Lily Lake home sitting on approx 5 acres. Come home, relax, or go lake side for a swim, take your boat out with our private boat ramp for boats 22 Ft and smaller, do some wake boarding or hit the slalom course. When your done kick back in your lake side cabana and watch some TV, & grill out on your green egg. If your feeling like hanging out inside, you have 3082 sqft with 4 beds, 3 baths and so much more. The gorgeous formal living room boasts with its vaulted tongue and groove pine wood ceiling, wood burning brick fireplace, and large picture windows showing off the beauty of the lake. The master suite is exactly that, measuring almost (20X20) with walk in closet, gas fireplace, master bath with his and her vanity's, jacuzzi soaker tub, & large walk in shower.
Article from Gainesville Times 2004
By BOB ARNDORFER
World Class Water Skiing
Posted Jun 10, 2004 at 12:01 AM
TUCKED IN THE SANDhills between Melrose and Keystone Heights, Lily Lake is a familiar name on the professional water-skiing circuit.
Over the years, young people who learned to ski on Lily Lake with the Gatorland Show Ski Club of North Central Florida went on to great things at Sea World, foreign competitive ski clubs and even the legendary Cypress Gardens before it closed.
“A lot of (ski) club members live on Lily,” says Lily Lake resident Nancy Rembert, who with her husband, Thomas, owns United Warehousing and Trucking in Gainesville. “But it’s not just a water-skiing lake.”
It’s a neighborhood, residents say of this 135- acre, sand-bottom lake. It’s a place where people know each other, where potluck dinners are held and where children can frolic in and out of the water without fear.
“It’s really a great lake for kids,” says Rembert, a mother of two teen daughters. “They can feel very safe here. There’s a sense of security on a small lake. You know the people around you.”
When Billie Gerard and her late husband first bought property on Lily in 1968, there were fewer neighbors to know.
“We came down on weekends from Jacksonville,” says Gerard, one of a number of retirees who live on Lily Lake. “When we bought our lot, it had a well and a little picnic house. There weren’t that many places back then that had big, nice houses.”
Gerard now lives with her grandson in a house that started out on the drawing board at 1,800 square feet and ended up at 3,500 square feet.
LILY LAKE FACTS
POPULATION: About 75 LOCATION: About 25 miles from Gainesville, northeast of Melrose.
BY THE NUMBERS: The average home size is 1,500-2,000 square feet. Price range: $200,000 to $400,000 for lot and dwelling.
(Lot only, 100 feet on water, will cost $75,000-125,000.) STYLE: All over the map. You could see a little 1950s weekend cottage to a glamorous mix of new and old.
“Next to Lake Santa Fe, Lily is one of the most sought-after lakes to live on today,” Gerard says. “All the houses that are being built here now are big, nice homes. A lot of people are moving here permanently. There are some people who work in Gainesville.”
Gerard, a former registered nurse who for years helped her late husband in his insurance agency, volunteers once a week at Shands at the University of Florida.
The diverse Lily neighborhood includes a mix of retirees and young families, of white collar and blue collar backgrounds.
Some live on the hilly side of the lake, where steep slopes lead to the water. Others live on the lower level, where it’s pretty much a straight walk to the water.
A cove on one end of the long lake remains mostly natural.
Though the water level has declined in recent years, Lily is a deep-water lake fed by at least two springs that help stabilize levels.
Still, years of drought have left some docks high and dry.
But there’s plenty of water for the ski club to continue its weekend practices.
“It’s a pleasant place,” says Sandra Banks, a retired insurance agent who had her own agency in Gainesville for several years and now is active in the ski club.
She and her husband, Bill, a semi-retired corporate pilot, discovered Lily Lake about 25 years ago, when some sources spelled the name “Lilly”.
Their daughter, JoAna Banks, learned to ski on Lily and then turned pro. She worked at Sea World and toured much of the world with professional teams, including one stint as the only American on a Canadian ski team.
“It’s built up a lot more today,” Banks says. “For a while, we didn’t have any neighbors. Now we do, and everybody knows everybody.”
Gerard says Lily is more than a lake and more than a neighborhood.
“When you come back here,” she says, “it’s like you’re in another world.”