Whiteley Creek Homestead

The morning began at a farmers' market in Grand Rapids where I paused to admire a vendor's lovely veggie scape that she had created to display her autumn garden's harvest. I purchased a locally-raised, pastured chicken to roast. Then, we packed sandwiches, purple carrots, honey crisp apples and water. And we were off…

To hike down a three mile trail through dense woods to the Joyce Estate.

David Joyce, who was an heir to his family's lumber industry fortune, built the isolated Joyce Estate or "Nopeming" (place of rest in Ojibwe) from 1917-1935 on a peninsula extending into Trout Lake north of Grand Rapids, Minnesota. The resort encompassed 4,500 acres with forty buildings including a golf course, telephone line, and airplane hangar.

(Photo source: Joyce Estate self-guided trail marker) The property was used by the Joyce Family until 1972 and a caretaker lived on site year round until 1986. The USDA Forest Service presently manages the site which is eligible to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Many buildings have deteriorated, or are nonexistent, but their locations are identified with markers. The main lodge and root cellar, pictured below, are a stoic reminder of an era that encompassed the roaring twenties, prohibition, and women's suffrage… and memories that span several generations of families.  

Pop into the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce to pick up a brochure. It'll provide directions to a parking area where you can access the hiking trail to the Joyce Estate and a map of the grounds to aid navigation and landmark identification.