The second home I ever bought was a small cottage on Kinzie, just up that Fontana road from the lake. I spent many hours there, indiscriminately sawing and chopping, hammering and sweating. I stood on the roof one day, with a shovel in my hand, scraping at the layers of shingles that had some of asphalt and others of cedar, and for a time I felt like the whole house was swaying. I though I had done too much, I had gone too far. I had stripped this old cottage of its prior shell, and in so much stripping I feared I may have caused it to fall in on itself. The swaying continued for some time, and I had the disoriented feeling that I was aboard a ship on the high seas, except this ship was my home, my second home. On Kinzie.
The swaying was imagined, a rather uncomfortable condition caused by the intense swaying of a tree that grew tall and bold right next to the house. As the great tree trunk moved ever so in that wind, it performed the illusion that the tree was the stable bit and that I, aboard this house/ship was the one on the move. Later that day, I’d fall off the roof. When I landed, my palm was pierced by an old nail that had previously been holding a cedar shingle on. A few days later, I drove around Siesta Key looking for a clinic because my jaw was feeling tight. I was certain I had Tetanus and that my jaw was beginning its death clamp. The nurses laughed at me, stuck a needle in my arm, and I went back to the beach. This is my Kinzie story.
The reason I was on Kinzie in the first place was because I really liked Kinzie. It’s a nice little street, connecting through from the lake to Highway 67. It’s sad that Highway 67 is labeled Highway 67 for its time when it courses through Fontana’s downtown. Williams Bay calls Highway 67 Geneva Street, and Lake Geneva calls Highway 50 Main Street. It would be good if Fontana did something similar, because to tell you that the street connects the lake to the Highway paints a picture that isn’t all that clear. The street is small, slow, and humble. On the South, it borders homes that lack lake access, but those homes still fall into the hands of vacation home seekers because those seekers wish to be in the heart of all things Fontana. As one cheesy real estate description proclaimed, “Fontana is ground zero for summertime fun”. Cringe inducing, yes, but accurate? Of course.
On the North side of Kinzie, once you get close enough to the lake, the road hosts Buena Vista, that most exclusive association where homes sell quickly to people who specifically want to reside within that association. Why do throngs of people wish for a Buena Vista address? Because Buena Vista is old school, like the Harvard Club but without all the rules. Their lakefront is perhaps the nicest on all of the lake, with ample grass and tennis courts and a playground. At the lake, they have an old timey high-dive, and if I were a buyer of a lake access home I’d have “high-dive” immediately under “roof” on my list of vacation home must-haves. Thankfully, as is my way, I have not teased you without offering you a solution to your Buena Vista desires. Enter 316 Kinzie. It’s on the street that I love because it didn’t give me Tetanus, and it’s in Buena Vista, the association that I love for its exclusivity and high-diving capabilities.
$549k buys this pretty little cottage. Here you’ll find a transferable buoy, which is really nice for sailors especially, but also for boaters. The house is three bedrooms, two baths, and all sorts of cute. There’s an ample screened porch, positioned smartly to capture the bit of lake-view this home affords. The kitchen is nice, modern, and a recent renovation finds a wonderful laundry closet adjacent the tiled foyer. If you’re looking for a seven bedroom house with a swimming pool, we should talk about that, but this is not that conversation. If you’re looking for a vintage cottage that’s been updated for comfortable, all season vacationing, this is your chance. Buena Vista waits on very few, so if this is of interest, let’s chat. I promise not to talk about Tetanus anymore.