About Us

The Lodge was designed based on historic Adirondack and Western ‘Parkitecture’ models.  Room sizes, scale, etc are direct reflections of historical references and the materials were chosen to be as local as possible; Wisconsin quarried granite, local cedar exterior, birch and basswood (we chose local basswood from the UP as a substitute for white pine or eastern hemlock) interior paneling, reclaimed floors from the tri-state area, Wisconsin-made brass light fixtures, etc.  The result is a lodge as likely to be from the 1930s as possible with modern conveniences and performance.  It was positioned on a natural sloped clearing in the hemlock forest at near to the highest elevation above the point and lake.  In the early 2000s, the point was more substantially birch-covered giving the lodge its name and is continually transitioning to pine and hemlock.

The Dining Hall:  the table is Chinese elm.  The sideboard and matching dessert are Austrian 1880’s - combination of woods and of hand and machine carvings.  The painting over the mantle is ‘Sunrise at Birch Point’ by Brent Cotton 2010 (Brent’s a Montana tonalist painter collected in many western museums and homes including Brokaw, Winfrey, and others).  Brent painted the the scene over several October mornings from a vantage point on the Little Island looking southeast.  The chandelier is by Dan Nauman, inspired by the Milwaukee-style from the early 1900’s and specifically taking cues from the Pabst Mansion hall chandelier.  Unique is the inclusion of birch leaves along with the typical acanthus, a nod to the Lodge’s namesake.  The antlers are elk sheds and the collars connecting them are the only non-forged iron (they are blackened copper because hot iron would have scorched the antler).  The whimsical balcony is birch balusters from the property and was designed to hold musicians during dinner (yes we once stuffed a 3 piece polka ensemble in there).  Two antique musician’s chairs sit there.  The flush-hearth fireplace is adorned with vintage andirons and a screen, log holders, and tools crafted by a local Irish immigrant (he came to compete in the lumberjack world competition and never left).  The wall paneling is birch in a pickwick profile and the flooring is reclaimed wood.

The Kitchen: reclaimed heart pine flooring, birch u-groove wall paneling, pine rafters, marble counters, island is end-cut walnut butcherblock.  The pantry half-doors were designed for our dogs to have a contained area still connected.  A moment on the lights found throughout the lodge.  Brass Light Gallery in Milwaukee crafted the vast majority of the lights specifically for the home.  Each room is unique by choice and individual details both connect and differentiate rooms.  Steve would be upset if I didn’t mention that the natural maple bark, cherry bark, and hide shades will dry out over time with high wattage incandescents so warm leds are preferable (replacement shades and bulbs are in mechanical room)

The Great Hall: Lodge pole pine throughout - not local (imported from the Eastern Rockies) was chosen for its strength and long, straight, consistent growth.  All of the logs were hand-peeled and fitted on-site.  The rafters and balcony elements are structural.  The floor is reclaimed wide board (mostly pines).  The antler chandelier was crafted by Ken Wilson, a local craftsman, of shed elk, mule deer, and white tail deer antlers.  We have lots of stories about bears visiting the Lodge but Lou the taxidermied bear is not one of them, he is Canadian.  The piano is a Danish Hornung Moeller from around 1920 with a unique inverted soundboard.  The birch bark canoe is from Quebec 1940s, was made from a single piece of bark and fully restored a decade ago.  You’ll find a small book about its provenance in the bookcase and it’s been narrowed down to one of four likely craftsmen.  The elk mount adjacent to the fireplace is a trophy taken by my grandfather, Don Moore, in 1957 in the Rockies (the moose antlers in the primary bedroom came from the same trip). The cuckoo clock has always been a key element at the Lodge, running anytime we were in residence.  The wall between the windows was specifically designed to hang the Black Forest clock there in the middle of the view.  The balcony library cabinets are crafted from an oak that stood where the kitchen now sits (this was the only significant tree removed for construction and was nicknamed the angry oak). Also in the library is a picture of one of the bear visitors looking at two people enjoying their campfire in the distance - my dad and me after a day’s work siding the garage.  Interior windows in the Great Hall connect it to the primary bedroom and stair hall alluding to a history of building additions and a TigerCat (bobcat) draped in a 48 star flag hints at the property’s significant history for the area - the lake was one of 5 impounds for the Chippewa River to raise water levels for log runs and it’s current elevation was set in the 1940s creating Birch Point and the Islands as the dominant physical features of the lake.

The Lounge: reclaimed floors, wall paneling, ceiling paneling and hand hewn pine rafters.  The recessed fireplace with its pine lintel and inglenook stone seating is the dominant feature - creating a room designed for recreation and togetherness.  The Old Town Canoe was restored by Bill Doering, a neighbor of the Lodge, and includes its bill of sale.  This canoe was paddled across the lake at the Lodge’s grand opening - she tracks great.  Four campaign chairs in elephant hide came from the Blatz Mansion in Milwaukee WI.  The bar back is a 1920s repurposed fireplace over mantle.  The wine cellar holds a vintage alpine table and chairs and a German wood carving of the 7 Swabians.  The large mirror in the Lake Changing Room is framed in wood taken from the floor boards of Old Faithful Lodge in Yellowstone Nat. Park and as a nod the smaller mirror is framed in flooring from Birch Point Lodge.

Bedrooms: basswood u-groove paneling and reclaimed flooring.  Decorated armoires, and most beds and nightstands are crafted by local artisan Ken Wilson.  Rugs in Torridon and North Camp are Nepalese (acquired in Kathmandu on a trip to Everest base camp).

Other:  the totem pole was carved by the builder's grandfather, Reinie, and brought here from southern Wisconsin. The cedar structured screen house beside it is another log structure built by the Dums family.  It was hand-peeled and fitted off-site then reconstructed here in the tight space among the pines.  In 2015 the point was hit by a storm with extreme straight-line winds (the leaning pine by the canoe rack is a remnant of those winds).  Over 60 trees larger than 12” diameter were felled and the newly completed screen house was beheaded with its lookout roof coming off in one complete piece and set upside down beside the lake! - it had to be deconstructed completely and rebuilt.

The floor above the garage is reclaimed from former Timbers of the Spooner WI rail road roundhouse.

The long woodshed between the Lodge and garage was the first structure built on the property.  The sign above its covered path to the neighbor is a fun play on words, Factor’s Way - the neighbor is Dave Factor, and ‘factor’ is a Scottish term for a property manager - and we’ve often needed to turn to Dave to handle something in our absence.  He’s a good friend and neighbor.