Peaceful chalet-like setting inside New Circle Road offers spiritual renewal

This lakeside home constructed of rustic, natural materials, was built to blend into the environment allowing the stellar waterfront views to be the focal point.

“It’s like you’re floating on top of the water on your own island,” said homeowner Mike McBeath of the shimmering horizon from the living room. “With the house built out on a point, you don’t see anything but the water.”

The mesmerizing illusion of floating helped draw McBeath (pronounced like Shakespeare’s tragedy) to the home as a buyer.

“I was stunned when I first saw it. I love the water, the pool and the lake,” he said. “This is the house I got sober in, and you can print that if you want. It’s good for people to know that life can be fun without alcohol.”

“Most of my guests take in the view and say, ‘Are we still in Lexington?” said McBeath, now into his third year of recovery.

The reality is that the five bedroom, seven bath, 7,640-square-foot home at 2089 Lakeside Place is within the confines of New Circle Road, 10 minutes or less from restaurants, shopping and all of downtown Lexington. Need to run out for a gallon of milk? Chinoe Kroger is less than a mile away.

The home has a rustic appeal with plenty of exposed beams, natural wood trim, wide plank flooring, stone archways and stone fireplaces.

“People say it’s like a chalet in Aspen,” McBeath said. “The house doesn’t look nearly as big from the street and that’s the part I really like about it,” he said. “It’s a whole lot more house when you get in here, but it’s just so homey and comfortable.”

You’re likely to find McBeath and Jack, his English Cream Golden Retriever, on the back porch basking in the soothing lake environs and taking in some sports television.

“I’m more of a hang at the pool guy than a lake guy,” McBeath said. “But they catch six and seven pound bass in there all day long. My buddy calls it his honey hole.”

The 85-acre lake was constructed as Reservoir 3 for the Lexington Water Works and completed in 1903. Today the lake is known as Lake Hickman and is owned by the homeowner’s association of property owners that surround the lake. Lexington’s primary source for drinking water is now the Kentucky River.

The homeowner’s association protects the serenity and cleanliness of the lake with a ban on watercraft powered by fossil fuels.

The home was built in 2011 by a husband and wife who were both doctors. “That’s who I bought it from,” McBeath said. “They kind of created the house around their three kids.”

Kid friendly features of the house include a child-sized tunnel leading from a closet to a bedroom, whimsical wall cutouts, a pool slide and a play structure on the lake shore.

Other notable features in the home are a large office with a library loft, chef’s kitchen, workout room, home theater, wet bar, three car garage and a geothermal heat and air system.

Although it will be hard to leave the lake, McBeath is looking forward to golf course living. “My son and I play golf almost every day,” he said. “I want to get in my cart in the garage and drive right onto the golf course.”

“I’ve been blessed by the Lord to get to live here for a few years,” McBeath said. “And now we’re going to bless someone else with getting to live here.”

This story was originally published August 7, 2020 at 2:09 PM with the headline "Peaceful chalet-like setting inside New Circle Road offers spiritual renewal."