When Amy McEntee moved into her charming waterfront Cape Cod on Indian Lake in 2018, it felt like a homecoming. And that's because for her, it was.
Referred to as "Pop's Place," the home on North Shore Drive – which she shares with her husband, two children and two dogs – has been in her family since the 1970s, when her father secretly purchased the house for her mother.
While the home had been expanded over the years, it features its original stone fireplace, plaster finishes, repurposed trolley tracks that support a portion of the first floor and other unique details that come with a home built in 1925.
"It's a unique experience because I live now in the house where I grew up," McEntee said. "I love the history of it. It's 100 years old and it's got some crumbling plaster. But there is a pride in knowing this is a house most people in the community recognize, and it's my home."
On Sept. 21, McEntee's home will be one of six open for visitors to explore as part of the biannual Indian Lake House Tour. The event, which runs from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., gives the public a look inside both new and old homes in the historic lake community.
Organized by the Women's Club of Indian Lake, all proceeds from the house tour will be used to maintain the community's clubhouse and fund other projects around the lake. Linda Lash, a member of the Women's Club and chairperson for the event, said 2025 marks 15 years of supporting the lake through this event.
"It's a very interesting event and it's different from anything else on the lake," Lash said. "I'm always happy with how it all turns out, and there's always so many compliments. It's a happy event and it's fun to do."
Indian Lake, an artificial lake created in the early 1920s, was named for the Leni Lenape American Indians who once inhabited the area. Originally serving as a summer community for years, families began to move in year-round during the Great Depression and a bigger influx of permanent families arrived after World War II. Today, there are about 1,200 homes with more than 600 families in the Indian Lake community.
Another house included in this year's tour is Freedom Villa and Robb Day's fully renovated home on East Shore Road. The couple, who moved from Indiana to a rental on Indian Lake in 2019, officially moved into their not-quite-finished home in 2021 and have spent the last several years fine tuning their lakefront property.
Aptly known as "Villa de Day," the home was renovated with the help of Craig Doremus, formerly of Doremus Homes and now the owner of Denville's Diamond Spring Brewing Company. With the exception of the stone fireplace from the property's original 1928 bungalow, the property is full of modern features and amenities.
"We gut renovated the entire house from top to bottom. So it's a brand new house essentially," Day said. "So I think the former owners would come back and probably not recognize a whole lot about the home."
Ahead of the tour, Villa said they've completed small projects throughout their home, like touching up paint or sprucing up their decor. But most recently, she said they added all new landscaping to the front of their home.
"Since we moved into the house, we didn't have a front walkway or anything. We just had this giant bed that existed when we bought the house, the whole length of the front yard and gravel leading to the front door," she said. "It looks amazing now. It really took our house from looking unfinished to having great curb appeal."
Tickets for the event are $20 per person. They can be purchased in advance through the tour's website, or by contacting Paula Kenah at 201-572-3697 or [email protected]. Tickets will also be available for purchase at the Indian Lake clubhouse at 91 East Shore Road on the day of the tour.
Programs with a map of the lake an details of each home, as well as shoe booties, will be handed out to visitors upon arrival. Guides will also be stationed at each home to help guide the tour.
Maddie McGay is the real estate reporter for NorthJersey.com and The Record, covering all things worth celebrating about living in North Jersey. Find her on Instagram @maddiemcgay, on X @maddiemcgayy, and sign up for her North Jersey Living newsletter. Do you have a tip, trend or terrific house she should know about? Email her at [email protected].