Looking for the ultimate pandemic-era getaway home — safe and secluded, with no need for masks or social distancing? There's a private island with a rustic log cabin in northern Minnesota that's now on the market for $399,000.
The 2.5-acre island on Farm Lake is on the edge of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Accessible only by boat, the island comes with a small parcel of land on the mainland, with a boat lift and dock, where you can park your vehicle, then boat to the island.
"You can be from the car to the island in less than five minutes," said co-owner Marcus Andrusko.
The island, with 2,320 feet of shoreline and covered with towering pines, birches, maples and evergreens, is a natural playground for kids, said Andrusko, who, with his wife, Abby, has four.
"The good thing about an island is you can release the kids and it's safe — they're not going far," Marcus said. There's also a second, smaller "play island" a wade away through a shallow channel.
Marcus has deep roots in Minnesota's northern wilderness. "My family used to own a resort in that area," he said. "I was taken to the BWCA as a 9-month-old baby, and I haven't missed a summer yet."
After the resort was taken by the government under eminent domain and made part of the BWCA, the family learned to camp, Marcus said. He eventually started a camp for at-risk youth, taking them into the Boundary Waters, which he ran for 15 years.
"We still wanted a place to go — our own cabin," he said. He discovered the private island while snowshoeing, looked up the owner and asked if he was interested in selling. He was.
