Neighborhoods in the Chelan Area
Chelan Town
An area of about 12 square blocks with most homes located within walking distance of the central business district, the schools and medical facilities. The city’s baseball fields and the school’s tennis facilities are available for public use and Don Morse Park on the lakefront offers beach access as well as boat launching, moorage, tennis and a number of other recreation oriented ventures.
South Chelan
The Chelan River, only about a 1⁄4 mile long-no doubt the state’s shortest river-separates the central part of the city from the 7 square block neighborhood. With the advent of the new Chelan High School complex, public boat launch and the Riverwalk Park, South Chelan has seen much renewal of the area’s older homes as well as an increase in new home building. It is just a short walk across the bridge to the central part of Chelan.
Lakeside
Once a separate incorporated town, Chelan’s city limits now include Lakeside and it acts as the gateway to Chelan and all of the North shore extending to Manson. The residential neighborhood consists of about 5 square blocks. Most of the homes have a nice lakefront view and all are an easy walk to Chelan’s Lakeside Park, probably the best swimming beach on the lower part of the lake. Lakeside has a colorful early history stretching back before the lake was raised in 1926. Visit the Chelan museum for full details.
The Golf Course and Golf Course Terrace
On a bench overlooking the lake, this neighborhood grew up around Chelan’s championship 18-hole golf course that opened in the early 1970’s. All the homes have either a spectacular lake view or front right on the fairways of the course. This is Chelan’s most contemporary community.
Lake Chelan Hills
Known as the “Hills”, this community is within the city limits of Chelan on the Manson highway, SR 150, about 1.5 miles from the center of town and consists of 3 subdivisions that share 2 lakefront community parks with tennis, a swimming pool, docks, moorage, and a wonderful low bank swimming beach called the “willows”. The Hills is a mix of year around and second homes and is Lake Chelan’s most popular neighborhood for lake access living.
Crystal View Estates
Located at the West end of Chelan’s city limits on the North shore-Manson Highway, Crystal View is in the first phase of a larger development of Lakeview home sites. A number of striking homes already dot the hillside and all the sites share a community pool and marina.
Cabana Row
Just beyond Chelan’s city limits consists of a number of waterfront properties that are divided by the Manson Highway. Many of the properties built docks and small dock cabanas on the waterfront portion of their lots while building their homes on the upper side of the highway. This type of dock cabana is no longer permitted on the lake and this neighborhood is an unusual sight as one drives along the lakeshore.
Summerset
A small community located a few blocks off the Manson Highway situated in an area of orchards and rural residential development. There are nice lake views from all the home sites and it is just a few blocks from the Mill Bay 9 hole golf course.
Mill Bay Beach
Located between the Manson Highway and the lakefront, Mill Bay Beach is Lake Chelan’s newest waterfront community consisting of 6 waterfront lots and 13 off water home sites. All share a new marina with designated boat slips and the off water lots share a community waterfront beach access. This classy development really has the small neighborhood feel.
Manson
Manson is an unincorporated town with a population of about 1500 year around residents located at the West end of the Manson Highway. Its population, like the rest of Lake Chelan, swells in the summer months as second home residents move in to take advantage of the idyllic small town living atmosphere. There is a small but active downtown district which is bordered by an extensive waterfront park on one side and, on the other side by its big neighbor, Wapato Point Resort, Chelan’s largest, and one of the state’s most popular resort.
Manson is the hub of some of the finest apple orchards in the world and is seeing the very beginning of a developing grape vineyard and winery industry. Small neighborhoods of residential development share some breathtaking views of the Lake with those working on the farms and this rural partnership between working farm and those that live “next door” has been the mainstay of this community at the end of the road.
Hawk’s Meadow
This new community on the South shore of the lake is located off Highway 97A just before it intersects the South Shore road that leads to the Lake Chelan State Park. These ready to build home sites are 20 acres in size and have some unbelievable panoramic views of the lake and mountains. Privacy and seclusion are their forte and they all have access to a no-bank beachfront swimming area as a private Beach Club.
With 5 homes built or under construction, Hawk’s Meadow will be one of Chelan’s premier neighborhoods.
Sunny bank
About 7 miles from Chelan along the South Shore of the lake and just a few miles from the Chelan State Park. This waterfront access community is a hillside development with some classic view homes that all share a new marina and beach right at their doorstep.
Chelan Ridge
This wooded community is located on the ridge overlooking the Chelan State park. This is a small neighborhood of mostly year around homes that all share a private beachfront park as well as the use of the facilities of the State Park.
Yacht Club
This name describes both the private “yacht club” with its moorage and recreation facilities as well as a stretch of wonderful waterfront properties that reach up lake along the South Shore as far as Kelly’s Resort-long a landmark on the upper South Shore. These are highly desirable low bank waterfront home sites that seldom see the open real estate market, often passing down in the family or to friends by word of mouth. This is a beachfront community where everyone really does know their neighbor.
Morning Sun Estates
Just up lake from Kelly’s Resort, Morning Sun consists of about 30 home sites overlooking the lake with a bright Eastern morning exposure. A nicely developed community park on the adjacent waterfront, offers beach access as well as a marina.
Field’s Point
Field’s Point, which is now the terminus for commercial boat that service the upper portion of the lake, also describes a number of small waterfront neighborhoods developed in the mid 1900’s. Many new homes are replacing the original cabins and there is a growing community of year round residents. This is the area on the lake where the scenery and geography of the lake begins to change and takes on a more undeveloped feel giving a hint of the rugged splendor that is to be seen just around the next bend of the lake.
25 Mile Creek
The West end of the South Shore road, about 23 miles from the city of Chelan, but really just the beginning of the access to the US Forest Service land that blankets the upper reaches of the lake. There are a few small enclaves of private property, mostly waterfront home sites, that dot the shoreline and some home sites that border the USFS road that leads away from the lake up toward Stormy Mountain and Junior point, popular with hikers, hunters and snowmobilers.
