Dorothy Molter Museum

Northern Minnesota


Badass Dorothy Molter lived for 56 years in a cabin in the Boundary Waters' midst, 18 miles from the nearest road. Dorothy paddled, hiked, fished, skied and snowshoed around the area – and served her homemade root beer to anyone who happened to drop by – cementing her reputation as a colorful North Woods character. She died at age 79, and her friends hauled her homestead by dogsled to Ely. It's now a root-beer-selling museum that lets you look around her cluttered abode.


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