Ely 2016!

I'm so sad that I just found out about the remarkable efforts made by the town of Ely to bring the 2016 Summer Olympics to the gateway of the Boundary Waters.

 

Oh, stop snortling. These guys have put a huge effort into this. You know what? I wish I lived in Ely, so I could join in their efforts. They have a website, a blog, a Facebook group, they're on Twitter--and for goodness sake, please take a moment to watch the press conference on YouTube.

Go Ely!

As they mention in the press conference, there are so many things to do in that community. Obviously proximity to the Boundary Waters is a plus. But there are other sites and venues for entertainment and historical enlightenment as well, including one of my favorites.

 

The Dorothy Molter Museum. Molter was known as the "Root Beer Lady." The cabin pictured was her decades-long home on the Isle of Pines in the Boundary Waters. She was the last living resident of the BWCA, allowed to remain even after the area became a protected wilderness by the efforts of friends, who gathered petition signatures and lobbied for her to be "grandfathered" in. A wise move--in her own way, Molter was a most singular diplomat for the area, receiving thousands of visitors each year, who had the good fortune to purchase her homemade root beer (hence the nickname).

After her death in 1986, some wise Ely folks (presumably of the same ilk that are running the Ely 2016 campaign) arranged to have her cabin and its contents carefully dismantled and catalogued, then resurrected just outside Ely as a memorial. It's a wonderful glimpse into a lifestyle long gone.

 

The kitchen, with all its tools and implements.

 

The cozy bedroom.

 

And a display of Christmas decorations, of which Molter was very fond (and many of which were made by her).

If you're in the Ely area, the Molter Museum is well worth a stop, although its proximity to major roads , while convenient, makes it hard to imagine what life in the cabin was like in the wilderness.

Oh, and don't forget to buy some of the Root Beer Lady root beer. Probably not quite the same as it was in Dorothy's day, when she didn't have any pesky food regulations to adhere to, but still, darn good root beer. (Also available at some Byerly's and Lunds stores.)

Comments

[debra]

I am NOT snorting! Ad I would go to Ely with or without the Olympics. Kudos to them for their efforts.

[Carrie K]

That sounds like a fun destination. They moved her home and all her belongings? No secrets revealed?

Root beer, yum.

[Dominique]

I'd heard about this effort by Ely!

We visited Dorothy's museum and had some of the root beer when we were last in Ely. I'm hoping we can get back up there soon (original plan called for that to happen this summer...but looks like it will be a couple of years now)

[Eileen]

I once slept in Dorothy's house. After breaking into it.

Well, my parents broke into it, actually.

Which sounds really bad until you find out that they were stuck in the BWCA in the middle of an unseasonably raging blizzard with two girls under 10yo. I remember sitting in a tent outside the cabin for several hours, but eventually pitiful shivering children prevailed and my folks broke one of the panes of glass in the door and we spent the night out of the wind and the snow.

It was heaven. The feast of noodles with butter and Kraft parmesan we ate that night was probably one of my top 10 most memorable (and appreciated) meals.

Hmmm. I wonder what it is with me and blizzards?

(my folks left money with the Rangers to pay for replacement glass, and they did cover up that hole right away - we really were grateful to our involuntary hostess!)