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| Ellsworth Rock Gardens at Voyageurs National Park |
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| Ellsworth Rock Garden map |
The Ellsworth Rock Garden Tour is short but includes the bonus of a boat ride across beautiful Kabetogama Lake. To reach the rock garden, from U.S. Hwy 53 turn north onto County Road 122/Salmi/Gamma Road. When Hwy. 122 turns left/west, continue straight/north to the Kabetogama Lake Visitor Center. Once there, you can purchase tickets for the boat ride to the historic site. The boat leaves from a visitor center dock.
During the lake crossing, be sure to cast an eye to the shoreline and sky. Active bald eagle nests can be spotted in the tree canopies, and the majestic raptors often circle and dive at the water to catch fish.
The boat arrives on Kabetogama Peninsula at a dock near the rock garden. From there, a park ranger leads visitors through the historic sight.
During the 1940s, Chicago carpenter and artist Jack Ellsworth landscaped 62 terraced flowerbeds on rock outcroppings at the sight. He planted more than 13,000 lilies as well as a variety of other flowers. Each dry-stacked wall encircling a flowerbed was layered with crushed white quartz, so that it appears like frosting. Pathways, stepping stones and bridges connected the terraced layers. Then he added 204 abstract rock sculptures, made from native stone. In all, this took more than two decades to complete.
The sculptures range widely in their complexity. Some simply are a single rock of an odd shape or color. Others consist of larger rocks and boulders mortared together to form tables, gateways, monoliths, spires and figures.
Ellsworth never returned to the peninsula after 1965. He died nine years later.
A Minnesota Historical Society survey conducted in 1976 found that some rock garden items missing and a few sculptures tipped. By the end of the decade, the forest had reclaimed the flowerbeds.
Though the National Park Service purchased the property in 1978, the sight largely remained in a growing state of disrepair for the next 18 years. Then the park service, under pressure from the local Kabetogama Lake community, restored the flowerbeds and began repairing sculptures and nearby buildings. The effort is ongoing.
Learn more about the park’s day hiking trails in my Best Sights to See at Voyageurs National Park guidebook.
