Lake Sara, Illinois

Where it sits

Lake Sara lies four miles west of Effingham in Effingham County, off Route 32/33, a few minutes from the interchange where I-57 and I-70 cross. That geography is the lake's whole pitch: a lake house with a city's worth of services — the hospital, the shopping, the restaurants, the interstate — closer than most lake communities can put a grocery store.

The lake was dedicated on November 10, 1957, as a reservoir for the City of Effingham. It was built and is still run by the Effingham Water Authority, a public body with a three-member board and a small full-time staff, which patrols the water, maintains the facilities and writes the rules.

On the water

Every craft on Lake Sara — a kayak, a paddleboard, a bass boat — needs an EWA sticker, sold as an annual license or a three-day pass at the marinas, at Anthony Acres and at the Mach 1 station on the highway. The Authority's boating page has the current prices and the rules, and the state's boating regulations apply on top of them.

The public beach is open from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Larson's Landing rents boats, canoes and kayaks and sells bait, fuel, food and drink, with Pinky's restaurant on the water beside it; the Rusty Reel is the bar and boatyard on East Marine Drive. The Authority also rents two buildings and two pavilions for events — the air-conditioned Community Building near the dam, and the Pearson Building and the pavilions by the beach.

Fishing

Bass, channel catfish, bluegill, and white and black crappie. The Authority and its fisheries committee manage the lake actively: largemouth bass have a protected slot — fish between fifteen and eighteen inches go straight back — and crappie have a daily limit with no size rule. Public shore fishing is at the Community Building, the Post Oak Flatwoods and the accessible fishing area by the dam. The state's I Fish Illinois profile carries the biologist's outlook and the stocking record.

Staying

Lake Sara Campground on North Wildwood Drive has pull-through RV sites, a tent area and a shower house, and opens in April. Beyond that, the lake's lodging is the houses themselves, which rent by the week on the vacation platforms, and Effingham's hotels four miles east. The "Where to stay" page has the links.

Buying on the lake

Understand the tenure first, because it is unlike anywhere else in the area. The Effingham Water Authority owns the land around the lake and leases the lots on long-term leases; what you buy is the house and the improvements, as private property, together with the lease on the ground beneath them. It works in practice much like owning — homes here trade, finance and pass down through families — but the lease, its term and its transfer are part of every deal, and a good local agent walks a buyer through them before the offer, not after.

The second thing to understand is that the Authority writes the building rules. Docks, seawalls, additions and anything built at the shore are subject to its building restrictions and permits, so the questions to ask about a lakefront house are what the current permits cover and what the Authority will let a new owner change. Its permits and ordinances are published; read them before you write an offer. In return you get the thing Lake Shelbyville cannot sell: frontage, a dock of your own, and a boat you step onto from the back yard.

The market runs from modest lake cottages that have been in one family since the lake filled to substantial year-round homes, and the two are farther apart in price than the mileage between them suggests. Off-water lots in the lake subdivisions, with access and a view but no frontage, are the middle path, and for a buyer who mostly wants to be near the water rather than on it they are usually the better value.