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Image courtesy Lutsen Resort on Lake Superior
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This fascinating early shot of the resort, showing the ice buildup, is taken from out on the lake looking toward the lodge and other buildings.
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Image courtesy Lutsen Resort on Lake Superior
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Lutsen Resort became a popular spot for family outings especially after the highway was built on Minnesota’s North Shore, and travelers could get there by car in the mid-1920s.
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Image courtesy Lutsen Resort on Lake Superior
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George Nelson Jr. and his father, George Sr., created Lutsen Ski Area, which opened in 1948 as part of Lutsen Resort. In the early years, it featured a rope tow powered by a Ford V-8 engine. The ski area is now Lutsen Mountains and is under separate ownership from the resort.
This year marked Lutsen Resort on Lake Superior’s 125th year of continuous operation as a resort. And George Nelson Jr. was there to help with the celebration and to share some of his memories with owners Nancy Burns and Scott Harrison, as well as guests, staff and former employees.
George is the grandson of C.A.A Nelson, the homesteader who in the mid-1880s turned his home into an inn and then a resort on Minnesota’s North Shore of Lake Superior.
“For more than 20 years, about the only way to get to the resort was on the lake,” says George, who was born in 1925 and whose family owned the resort until 1988.
In the early days, vessels including the America would bring visitors to the lodge on the scenic spot at the Poplar River. Eventually automobiles would make their way to Lutsen Resort when the road was built that became Highway 61. “My dad worked on one of the road crews,” George recalls.
George, who today lives not far from the resort, recalls mowing the lawn as a boy. There wasn’t a lot of grass to mow, but there was some other trimming to do, too. “I got a dime or a quarter handed to me by my grandfather.”
Later, he worked as a bellhop in the mid-1930s. “There were two or three of us waiting there to take the luggage when people drove up. ... In the summer, it was a busy place,” he says.
After serving with the ski troops of the 10th Mountain Division during World War II, George returned home, attended school and, with his father, went on to develop the ski area that would enable Lutsen Resort to flourish in the winter months. (Today, the resort and the ski area are owned separately.)
“I have a lot of pride in being a part of the Nelson family that started it,” George says, looking back on Lutsen Resort and its history.