Monson's Hoist Bay Resort: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Voyageurs National Park
Regions 3, 4, & 5 Park Cultural Landscapes Program. 2010. Monson's Hoist Bay Resort: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Voyageurs National Park. Cultural Landscapes Inventory Report. 975365. U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service. NPS Midwest Regional Office, Omaha, Nebraska / CRIS-CL Database
Inventory Unit Description: Monson’s Hoist Bay Resort is located on Hoist Bay on the southwest shore of Namakan Lake within Voyageurs National Park in St. Louis County Minnesota. The property includes approximately forty-seven acres upon which are situated a number of buildings and landscape features that were constructed by the Monsons for the seasonal resort operated there from the 1940s to the 1970s. Older landscape resources also exist from an earlier period when the bay hosted Camp 75 of the Virginia and Rainy Lake Logging Company. The site is located at the base of the slope between two higher points to the south and the east. The area is surrounded by vegetation including trees dating to the logging era, introduced plant species, and successional edge species. The contributing buildings, structures and landscape features at Hoist Bay are located along the lakefront to either side of the former railroad bed, which bisects the site roughly from the northwest to the south east. The site includes character defining features that help to convey the historic atmosphere of the site. The cabins, boathouse, kitchen and other landscape features were oriented to emphasize views of the lake. This combines with the privacy afforded by the remote location to contribute to the historic character of the property. Landscape character defining features include the historic railroad grade, remnants of railroad trestles in the bay, remnants of shoreline features, a water pump, a swing, foundations of seven buildings, views, topography, and a refuge dump.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Regions 3, 4, & 5 Park Cultural Landscapes Program
- Date of Issue
- 2010-08-11
- Publisher
- U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service
- Units
- MWR , VOYA
- Keywords
- building foundations, dining hall, dump, family-owned resort, historic vernacular landscape, Hoist Bay, ice house, lodge, logging, logging camp, Minnesota, Namakan Lake, railroad trestle, recreation-entertainment, resort complex, root cellar, seasonal resort, Tourism and Recreational Properties in Voyageurs National Park 1880-1950, Virginia and Rainy Lake Logging Company