Best-Value Neighborhoods in Carnelian Bay, CA

Carnelian Bay is the north shore's wooden-boat town, and its history is delightfully odd. It was originally spelled Cornelian, for the translucent red and yellow stones that littered the beach, until the 1880s. Before that, in 1871, Dr. George Bourne opened a health spa here and got so carried away he petitioned to rename the whole lake Sanatoria. The Flick brothers, three Illinois men all born on Christmas Day, bought his holdings in the 1890s and left their name on Flick Point. ... See Full Page

Agate Bay is the quiet residential bay wedged between busier neighbors, and it shares its name with the beach pebbles, agate being the sister stone to the carnelian that named Carnelian Bay next door. Most of the commercial life, the restaurants and the boat company, clusters just west at the Carnelian line, which leaves Agate Bay itself as mostly homes, small-to-mid lots and cabin and mid-century stock climbing the slope from the water. ... See Full Page