Cozy private island getaway just minutes from Ely

I'm a Minnesotan, born and raised. My spouse is French and I've been living in France for the past 20 years. This little island is my piece of home in the United States, and renting it out makes it possible to keep it for the long-term and for us to use if for our own vacations. I have always had a passion for nature.

Loon Island is the largest of the three sisters, as locals call the group of three islands in the middle of Shagawa lake in Ely, Minnesota. Shagawa Lake is beautiful, and although it's in town, a significant portion of the shoreline is state and federal property, so it's not that developed. It's a lake that is considered by fishing guides to be one of the best fishing lakes around. I like that it's a relatively big lake, but not too big. You can boat around in a couple of hours, and there are restaurants we can go to by boat and also a public beach, Semer's beach, we go to a lot. I love the sunsets. Last year we built a nice sunset spot to be able to better enjoy the sunsets. I like sitting on the dock and doing late-night fishing, looking at the stars and listening to the loons. I also love Ely, Minnesota. When I was younger I would go camping up north with my friends, and I got to know this wonderful community nestled on the edge of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA). I love discovering new places and trails, and learning more about nature, as well as picking blueberries, chokecherries, pin cherries, cooking on the fire pit, and just getting away from it all.

The property is a private island in the middle of the lake. It is not at all the typical experience people normally have when they rent a property. In 2016, I was looking to build the cabin. I knew exactly what I wanted and I had an architect I know from the Czech Republic, Petr Čermák, come up with the plans based on a sketch I did. I was looking for someone to build the cabin, and it was tough, as no big company would do it, and it was complicated by being on an island. My cousin, who is a master carpenter, introduced me to his former boss, Mike Olson, who had sold his company and was in between gigs. He was really interested in the opportunity to learn how to do a flat log cabin and dovetail joinery, so he took on the project. He lived on the island building the cabin for the entire summer, sleeping in a hammock, cooking on the fire pit (which oddly was the very first thing I put in on the island). So many people from the community ended up getting involved in the building of the cabin in one way or another. It was an enormous project. The result is a very beautiful cabin that was built with love and care by a master craftsman. I am proud that we have an off-grid solar system. We don't have enough electricity for people to behave as if they were at home with unlimited resources, but there's enough for lights, charging devices, and eventually making toast and using the coffee maker. As we have no running water, things take a bit more time. You have to heat up water on the stove to do dishes and to take a shower, but we have found innovative means to make things comfortable, like a shower head with a built in pump (I was initially surprised. it existed!). We have added things to make the cabin more enjoyable over the years, like a good aluminum canoe, an inflatable kayak, a quiet generator as a backup, and more. This is a really special place for my family and for our guests.