Lake Boon in 2026

Most of Stow tells its story through orchards and conservation land. One corner of town tells it through water.

Lake Boon sits on the southern edge of Stow, a 163-acre lake that stretches about a mile and a half across four basins before it slips over the Hudson line. The first and largest basin, the one wholly inside Stow, is where most of the neighborhood lives. If you've only known Stow for its farm stands and trail networks, this is the part that surprises people: a tight cluster of homes, many within sight of the water, on roads that curve to follow the shoreline instead of a survey grid.

A resort town that forgot it was one

The lake wasn't always this quiet. In the 1800s a dam went up to hold back water for the mills downstream in Maynard, enlarging the basin into the lake we have now. By 1900 the mills had switched to other power and the water level steadied, and almost immediately Bostonians found it. They came first in tents, then in small cottages, then in something closer to real houses. For the first half of the twentieth century Lake Boon had a hotel, clubs, churches, local stores, even two post offices. It was a genuine summer resort.

The car ended that. Once people could drive farther for a vacation, a modest lake an hour from the city lost its pull, and the cottages started emptying. What saved the neighborhood is the same thing that reshaped it: over the last few decades those summer places filled back in with people who stay all year.

What that history means if you're buying

You can still read the resort era in the housing stock, and it matters at the closing table. Many Lake Boon homes began as seasonal cottages and were expanded, winterized, or rebuilt over time. That makes the neighborhood charming and varied, and it also makes two houses on the same road wildly different underneath. I tell buyers here to pay close attention to the things you can't see from the dock: foundation and insulation on a converted cottage, the age and type of the septic system, flood and wetland setbacks, and how close the well sits to all of it. None of that is a reason to walk away. It's a reason to read the inspection carefully and price accordingly.

Waterfront is its own category. As of late June 2026, the handful of direct-waterfront listings carry a median asking price around $1.6 million, while the neighborhood's overall median sale price sits closer to $780,000, down a couple of points from a year ago. The spread between those two numbers is the whole point: on Lake Boon, you aren't just buying a house, you're buying how much water it touches.

Owning here, not just living here

Life on the lake comes with a small layer of governance most Stow homeowners never deal with. The Lake Boon Commission, in place since 1941, regulates boating and recreation, and the town beach at Pine Bluff runs on a pass system. If you own here, those rules are part of the deal, and most residents will tell you they're a fair trade for a swimmable, paddle-able backyard. Days on market run a touch longer than the national pace, but a well-priced lake house in Stow rarely sits.

---

If you've been wondering whether a lake house fits your life, or what your Lake Boon home would bring this summer, I'd be glad to walk the shoreline with you.

Market figures sourced from Homes.com and Redfin neighborhood data, June 2026. Data shifts quickly; reach out for current numbers on a specific home or neighborhood.