Minnesota beach makes Travel and Leisure’s top beaches in the country list

DULUTH — Kathy Cargill might soon have some real estate competition on Park Point.

Travel and Leisure magazine put the point’s seven miles of beach, the longest freshwater sandbar in the world, on a list of the 25 best beaches in the country.

Citing its “ocean locale” feel and views of the hillside city and Lake Superior, the magazine also praised the area’s spectacular sunrises.

The popular neighborhood has been a major topic of conversation in Duluth and beyond in recent months, with Cargill’s string of property acquisitions along the point.

For more than a year, a limited liability company run by Cargill has purchased property after property on the sandbar that separates Lake Superior and the mouth of the St. Louis River. The home purchases number more than a dozen and parcels nearly two dozen.

Cargill is the wife of an heir to the global Cargill company’s fortune. Her purchases led to a public squabble with Mayor Roger Reinert, as he attempted to learn of her plans for those properties.

Several of the homes have been torn down, many bought well over market price. Duluthians and residents of the point worry about losing access to the public beach, increases to property values and further erosion and damage to the delicate sandbar.

It’s not the first time the magazine has given the city love. Park Point was on a 2022 list of best beaches, and the city was ranked as having one of the best adventure experiences nationwide last year.