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Remote Northern Minnesota Retreat
Property/Home
Creative, efficient, imaginative, and practical Retreat Property, high
above Minnesota’s remote North Shore of Lake Superior. 50 acres of semiwooded, tillable land, with flowing trout stream and beaver ponds; connected
to state and federal wilderness land. Eighteen hundred square foot home
designed specifically for quality, secure, off-the-grid living.
Location: 2 miles inland from the spectacular North Shore of Lake Superior, and
approximately 800 vertical feet above some of the most beautiful scenery in the
Mid-west. Good year-round highways make this location a reasonable 5 ½ hour
drive from Minneapolis/St Paul, and 10 hour drive from the Chicago area. Just 5 ½
miles from a quaint North Shore community with many choices for stores, schools,
churches, and all necessary services. One and a half miles from the 200 mile
renowned Superior Hiking Trail and multiple options for accessing the Boundary
Waters Canoe Area Wilderness for either summer or winter recreational travel.
Neighborhood Features: Located on a quiet, gravel road in sparsely populated
neighborhood. Extensive forest, secluded river with spectacular swimming holes,
functioning organic farm, active maple sugar operation, and hay fields all within a
mile of this retreat property. To the north this property borders state and federal
land, and is a virtually uninhabited, nearly roadless 20 miles as the crow flies, to
the wilderness along the U.S./ Canadian border.
The Property/Land: Approximately 50 acres of rolling, wooded land with some
open areas which could be developed into hay fields or gardens. Fifty to seventy
years ago about 10 acres of this land was an active farm. Today that land has
partially returned to the forest, but raised garden beds and open spaces remain for
that potential to flourish. With very little management this property would also
function as a sustainable wood lot. The area enjoys an average growing season of
about 100 days. Hunting options abound for both large and small game.
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Buildings and Main House: We began developing this special place just over
thirty five years ago; raised our children here, and enjoyed countless times with
grandchildren. The dominant construction feature is the main house, which is
earth-shelter. Throughout the structure there is beautifully hand-crafted wood,
brick, stone and tile.
No doubt you are curious regarding the roof structure where there is soil and
vegetation overhead, so here it is – from bottom to top: 8”x12” open-beamed
ceiling with 4”x 6” T&G decking, 30# felt paper, 4” of concrete reinforced with a
grid of rebar (both ways) every 12”, 60 mil EPDM rubber underground roofing
sheet glued to the concrete, 4” of sand, 4” – 18” dirt, topped with grass. Sorry, but
you’ll have to provide the goat  (we’ve always used a power mower). Answering
the question, is it strong? A fully loaded dump truck drove on the roof during the
final landscaping process.
We dug into the side of the hill so the north, east, and west sides are all buried in
the earth. Then we brought the hill over the top of much of the structure, giving it
tremendous heating and cooling advantages. Over the years we made several
additions so now there is a wonderful mix of grass, roof, stone, and wood exterior.
What was once a large dormer extending up from the back bedrooms, is now a
beautiful stone/wood structure with its own separate entry, which goes as a master
bedroom with a raised queen bed, open-beamed ceiling, fully tiled bath, “old
world” plaster walls, counter height fireplace, and walk-out patio doors.
The entire main-level front room is an open 50’x16’ combination kitchen, dining
area and living room which features tile and hardwood floors, expansive brick and
stone fireplace wall, wood-fired brick bake oven, open-beamed roof structure, and
considerable window exposure facing toward the south. The house encloses
approximately 1800 square feet, four bedrooms, and three baths. Oh yes, there’s a
large utility room for food, equipment, and firewood storage, which, if used totally
as wood storage will shelter eight to ten cords.
I almost forgot, because it’s totally out of site – entry disguised behind a small
closet area – but, off the laundry hallway is a massive 12’x20’ concrete/stone
natural arched root cellar. Considerable shelving will conveniently store hundreds
of canned goods and a year’s supply of home-grown fresh food items. A full-sized
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hand pump offers the option of getting water from an 84’ well in the event the
power goes out. And it’s some of the finest water one can imagine.
In addition to the house, there is a well-constructed 12x16 storage building, a wellused combination garage, storage room, shop, and bunkhouse that could still have
a few years of use squeezed from it. A 6’x6’ cement block smoke house has the
option of either cold or hot smoking. We’ve done hams, birds, and fish, but I’m
sure one could smoke two or three good-sized hogs, or even a full-sized moose at
one time in this space. And, finally, there’s a 6’x8’ cement block boiler house
where a wood-fired boiler produces hot-water heat that is piped through a sixty
foot, 36” diameter culvert tunnel, into the house and through the entire floor
heating coils. Grandkids absolutely love the tunnel, root cellar, and a host of other
features that can only be understood on site.
Mechanical/technical Summary: Up-to-date electrical entry, in-floor hot water
heating from wood-fired separate building boiler, electric boiler back-up, optional
wood stove in house that will heat the entire building, 84’ well, two-chamber septic
tank w/leaching field, and back-up 2kw Honda gas generator. 20 full cords of
seasoned firewood on site. Solar heat (south-facing windows) is so efficient that on
sunny winter days one has to be careful about building too hot a fire in the wood
stove (without the outside wood boiler fired). This is the definition of efficient
living.
Off-the-grid option: The addition of active solar panels, or wind generation,
would allow you to go completely off the grid. One could live very comfortably,
even as is, in the event of a temporary, or permanent power outage.
Other facility/land use options: You may have already gathered that this has
multi-family living options, or could be easily developed into a beautiful two-unit
Bed and Breakfast in addition to a family of four living comfortably here.
Price: $339,000
Contact Us:
- Phone: 907-646-9051
- Email: MinnesotaRockz2@gmail.com