Book review: Going Up North

New Minnesota Byways book focuses on Minnesota’s lake cabins

Doug Ohman has made a career shooting photographs of Minnesota. His iconic images of schoolhouses, courthouses, churches, barns and now cabins are showcased in the Minnesota Historical Society Press series Minnesota Byways.

The latest in this series, “Cabins of Minnesota,” with photographs by Ohman and text by Bill Holm, was released this past May.

“Cabins of Minnesota” is a book that satisfies readers as much as those who would rather just look at the pictures.

Like people, cabins come in all shapes and sizes. One of the largest featured in the book is the historic Thompson summer cottage. Built in 1887, it is one of the last nonwinterized grand 1880s cottages built on Lake Minnetonka. The 1887 Queen Anne-style cottage is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was restored in 2005. If you’ve driven on County Road 15 from Mound to Wayzata, you’ve driven past it.

Ohman also shows us there are no rules in terms of what a cabin should or shouldn’t look like. It can be one room or many rooms. Some are as uncomplicated as parking a house trailer or travel trailer on a shoreline. Others offer all the comforts of a year-round home.

Building materials range from logs and field stone to corrugated tin. Some have indoor plumbing and some rely on an outhouse.

In addition to the Thompson cottage, Ohman included the Nellie Bly houseboat on the Mississippi River at Red Wing. The oldest cabin he photographed is on Ten Mile Lake near Hackensack.

If you can’t make it Up North, “Cabins of Minnesota” is the next best thing to being there.

Locally, the book can be purchased at the Village Shop in downtown Hutchinson or borrowed from the Hutchinson Public Library by calling (320) 587-2368.

(Kay Johnson is a staff writer for the Hutchinson Leader. She can be reached at johnson@hutchinsonleader.com)