Lakemoor

Just outside of the city limits of McHenry, IL, most of the idyllic countryside lands of Northwest Lakemoor are occupied by homes with the breathing room of large, acre-sized lots. But one of the neighborhood’s most distinctive features sits on the southwest corner, closer to town: a 1950s-style drive-in, screening new releases with an old-school atmosphere. The McHenry Outdoor Theater is one of Chicagoland’s last drive-ins still up and running, and it’s just one of the McHenry area’s unique offerings, making Northwest Lakemoor an ideal choice for those who like to pair vibrant outings beyond home with the quiet comforts of upscale rural living. Along Northwest Lakemoor's ambling, curved roads and long driveways, residents can find custom homes built on lots of an acre or larger. A few early properties date back to the late 1960s, but development in the area began in earnest in the late 1980s. Buyers can find Colonial Revival and new traditional estates built from the 1990s to the 2010s here, alongside a few ranch-style homes and split-levels. Those interested will want to commit quickly, as properties generally sell within 25 days, and seeing listings come and go within two- to seven-day stretches is common. Prices typically range from $345,000 to $750,000. Open residential lots in the area generally sell between $30,000 and $62,000. Kids start their elementary years at Hilltop Elementary School, which serves students from kindergarten through second grade. Third to fifth graders attend Chauncey H. Duker School. Both elementary-level schools hold B-minus grades on Niche. McHenry Middle School offers nine sports programs and also earns a B-minus. McHenry Community High School students start their secondary education at the Freshman Campus before moving to the Upper Campus for 10th grade and beyond. The school has more than 50 extracurricular activities for students to participate in, and both campuses hold A-minus grades on Niche. The neighborhood’s proximity to McHenry gives residents quick access to the city’s unique restaurants. Just south of the neighborhood, Riverside Chocolate Factory is a playful candy shop with assorted confections and ice cream. A daytime favorite in the area is Windhill McHenry, a cozy pancake house with seasonal decorations sprinkled in alongside railroad signs and Americana on the walls. Guests who can snag a coveted seat at the dining bar pick up their meals from a model train that runs along the counter. Epic Deli’s unique atmosphere brings arcade machines, a recreation of the alphabet wall from Stranger Things and psychedelic art of its food items under one roof. Guests can order familiar meals like cheeseburgers or BLTs, or try the shop’s original sandwich creations with pop culture-inspired names like the Walter White, the Bohemian Rhapsody or the Rick Grimes. Major retailers in McHenry are the easiest shopping options for Northwest Lakemoor residents. Mainstays for shopping include Meijer for everyday goods and Aldi for food. Big box stores line Richmond Road, with Walmart, The Home Depot, T.J. Maxx and Hobby Lobby available among others. Southeast of the neighborhood in Lakemoor, Woodman’s Food Market offers 24-hour grocery shopping. The store shares elements of warehouse club shopping, including a gas station and bulk items, but doesn’t require a membership. Northwest Lakemoor’s location between two golf courses makes it a prime choice for those who find their happy place on the green. Pistakee Golf Course has nine holes on the east side of the neighborhood, making it ideal for quicker games. Immediately west of the neighborhood on Chapel Hill Street, Chapel Hill Country Club has an 18-hole layout with a par of 70, making it the course of choice for longer games and more advanced play. Beyond the fairway, Liberty Trails Park has a playground and green space for locals to enjoy to the west. Lincoln Road and Chapel Hill Road are Northwest Lakemoor’s primary thoroughfares. Locals are about 3 miles northeast of the center of McHenry and 4 miles northwest of the center of Lakemoor. The Chicago Loop is 55 miles southeast of the neighborhood. For simple trips into the city, residents can catch the Metra train from the McHenry station, 3 miles southwest. Medical emergency services are available at Northwestern Medicine McHenry Hospital, 5 miles southwest. Chicago O’Hare International Airport is 40 miles away from Northwest Lakemoor for travels beyond the Chicago area. The McHenry Outdoor Theatre sits on the southeast corner of the neighborhood. The drive-in’s operating season runs from March to December, and updates made to the concession area in 2023 add a contemporary flair to the old-school moviegoing experience. Families can also visit for special events like Halloween trunk-or-treats and meet-and-greets with Santa Claus during the holiday season. Other regular outing options include live music nights at After the Fox, one of the bars situated along the Fox River downtown, and weekly karaoke at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4600 Banquet Hall, which is open to the public. Special occasions in town include the McHenry Fiesta Days festival, a ten-day celebration at Petersen Park in July with a carnival, a concert series and an art and street fair. The event opens with the annual Cask & Barrel Night, an evening where guests 21 and older can sample beer, bourbon and bacon from local businesses. Later in the summer in Lakemoor, the annual Lakemoor Fest is another major gathering in the area, with a fishing derby and live wrestling included among the weekend’s festivities. “Lakemoor has one of the best fireworks displays in Illinois,” says Erin Weber, a local Realtor with RE/MAX Plaza. “Each year folks come in from all across Lake and McHenry counties to Lakemoor Fest for the show.” The annual McHenry Murder Mystery event takes place in downtown McHenry each fall. Sleuths are tasked with exploring shops and restaurants, discovering video clues and gathering information from witnesses to crack the case.

Lakemoor trades the motorboats and waterfront bars of Fox Lake for a slower, more private lifestyle. The area is anchored by two shallow lakes and holds a CAP Index crime score of 2 out of 10 compared to the national average of 4. “It’s mostly residential, an old lake community kind of energy,” says Sean Ryan, broker/owner at Ryan & Co. Realtors who has helped buyers and sellers throughout Lakemoor. “Though, it's expanded in recent years with new construction and new commercial along the main roads.” Most of that new construction is concentrated on the east side of town, from 21st-century builds in neighborhoods like Savannah and Rockwell Place to a 74-acre commercial site on the corner of Illinois Routes 12 and 120. “I would say the location relative to transportation is great,” Ryan says. “There’s basically three state highways intersecting right there—60, 120 and 12.” From here, residents can traverse Lake and McHenry Counties or head to other northwest suburbs, though they should be mindful of red-light cameras at the intersections. The Union Pacific Northwest line passes through the McHenry Metra station 5 miles to the east on the way to Ogilvie Transportation Center in downtown Chicago. Commuters can also choose the Ingleside station, 6 miles away in Fox Lake, to hit the Milwaukee District North line to Union Station. Chicago O’Hare International Airport and the Rosemont corridor are about 36 miles away, and it’s 6 miles to the emergency room at Northwestern Medicine McHenry Hospital. Ducks, cranes, deer and swans make their home at Sullivan Lake and Lily Lake, while largemouth bass, bluegill, crappie, carp, and perch swim beneath the surface. Sullivan is private to the local mobile home community, while Lily offers public access on Lake Shore Drive at a park with a table-laden pavilion, playground, basketball courts and a small beachfront. “Neither one are for motorized boats, they’re more for your fishing and kayaking,” Ryan says. Owners of larger craft head north to Fox Lake marinas and travel down the Chain O’Lakes. Parking lot fills quickly on game day at Heritage Community Park, a central hub for sports with a baseball diamond, soccer field, basketball court and playground. “There are lots of forest preserves nearby, too, a lot of wide-open space around with trails and wildlife,” Ryan says. “Moraine Hills State Park is right here, and McHenry State Park is within a five minutes' drive.” Street names like Oyster Bay, Fishhook Bay and Drydock set the scene at Ports of Sullivan, a private entry mobile home community with a pool, clubhouse, and playground. Homeowners association fees include trash disposal, water, and snow removal, and residents have access to Sullivan Lake fishing and boating. Vacant plots here range from about $9,500 to $40,000. The rest of East Lakemoor was built up within the past several decades. Lakemoor Farms is a centrally-located subdivsion of New Traditional townhouses and single-family homes, all with two-car garages. Pines of Lakemoor Rockwell Place, two other townhouse communities, followed suit, and Savannah—the newest edition to the area—offers both New Traditional and ranch-style homes. These communities are inland from the lakes, but broken up by ponds and the occasional pocket part. Townhouses range from $220,000 to $300,000, while detached properties range from $300,000 to $600,000. 31% of residents rent their properties, and one- and two-bedroom options are available at The Meadows Apartments off Route 12. “Half the town is in Lake County and half is in McHenry County,” Ryan says. “You’ve got the farthest west part of Lake and the far east side of McHenry.” Several school districts serve East Lakemoor because of this split. Kids living in Ports of Sullivan or the north portion of Lakemoor Farms are zoned for McHenry School District 15. Hilltop Elementary School serves kindergarten through third grade and scores a B from Niche, while Duker Elementary School covers fourth and fifth grade and scores a C-plus. McHenry Middle School gets a B-minus. Several areas are zoned for Big Hollow Elementary School District 38. Kids start at Big Hollow Primary School for kindergarten through first grade before heading down the hall to Big Hollow Elementary School, two halves that score a B-minus and a B, respectively. Grades 5 through 8 attend Big Hollow Middle School, which gets a C-plus. From there, both McHenry and Big Hollow students filter into Grant Community High School in Fox Lake. The Home of the Bulldogs scores a B-plus from Niche, offers Advanced Placement courses and plans e-learning days in the event of heavy snowfall or other weather problems. The remaining subdivisions are zoned for Wauconda Community School District 118. Robert Crown Elementary School scores a B-plus, while Matthews Middle School scores a B. Wauconda High School also gets a B-plus and offers Advanced Placement courses as well. Regardless of which schools students in the village attend, those pursuing college or trade school can apply for one of five grants from the Lakemoor Scholarship Fund each year. A colorful chalkboard of drink and food specials greets customers at At Sweet Melissa’s Pizza and Pub, amid the glow of slot machines and the game on flat screen TVs. The local haunt sits off Route 120 alongside a Walgreens pharmacy and chains like Dunkin. Construction on the nearby Woodman’s Market and surrounding shopping center wrapped up in 2019, marking the largest economic addition to Lakemoor in decades. The supercenter is open 24 hours a day. "Route 12 is also a pretty big shopping corridor with every grocery store known to man,” Ryan says. Those hitting this north-south thoroughfare for its Aldi, Jewel-Osco or Menard’s will pass the Volo Antiques Mall, a family-owned, vendor-fueled antique shopping center. The space covers about seven miles of shopping aisles alongside the Volo Auto Museum, which displays over 400 classic and vintage cars—including the original Scooby Doo Mystery Machine and the Batmobile driven by Adam West on the 1960s television series. Billed jointly with the mall as an antique theme park, the museum has been open since 1960 and has been featured on The Discovery Channel and a History Channel realty TV slot titled Volo: House of Cars. Lakemoor partners with local sports clubs to offer youth soccer, baseball and softball, and hosts annual events like Santa meet-and-greets. “They have a tremendous fireworks display every year,” Ryan adds. “It’s one of the best in the area. People come from all over.”