For the Marsh family, the lakes of Wisconsin hold special meaning.
It was on a Madison dock that Megan and Gabe first met, on a fateful Memorial Day weekend in 2009, and they had their second date in Minocqua over Fourth of July weekend that same summer.
At that point, Megan had just graduated from chiropractic school, and Gabe was doing his residency in emergency medicine in Madison. But as they fell in love, they also developed a strong connection to northern Wisconsin.
Gabe had grown up in Park Falls and spent a lot of time in the Minocqua area. While Megan hails from southeastern Minnesota, the northwoods spoke to her, too. So as they established their careers in La Crosse and welcomed kids Liliana and Becket, now five and three and a half, into their family, they kept dreaming of a life up north.
The pair figured that meant someday, hopefully in retirement. But in the summer of 2015, Gabe found an opportunity in an online property listing.
The cabin, built in 1929, was nestled among more than an acre filled with red and white pines on the shore of Lake Katherine. But it was in rough shape, to put it mildly.
When the couple got their first chance to see the property in person that winter, the floors were crooked, the foundation was crumbling, the windows were boarded up and the electricity was turned off for the season. Their real estate agent tried to talk them out of purchasing it.
“We were wandering through with flashlights,” Gabe says.
“We made an offer on it the next week,” Megan says.
Revamping the cabin was an extensive process, but the Marshes found a general contractor and friend in the property’s seller. Together, they lifted up the entire cabin to make way for a new foundation and basement, then installed a new well, septic system and electric system. They also added a bathroom, revamped the kitchen and painted the exterior.
But they kept as many elements — the floors, ceilings, windows and sinks are ninety years old, Megan says — and maintained as much of the cabin’s charm as possible, bringing in wool blankets, leather couches and natural materials.
“It’s really that classic Americana, up north feel,” she says. “It’s cozy and warm — like it was for people who went up north fifty years ago.”
Since the cabin was zoned recreationally, the Marshes were able to rent out the property on AirBNB and VRBO from the get-go. But they relish their own time up north. As Gabe’s schedule as an emergency room physician varies, the family can often head to their Pine Cove Cabin on a whim.
Their favorite space is the sunroom, where they’ve set up a dining area overlooking the lake. Views of the sunset, as well as the pines that gave the cabin its name ninety years ago, are spectacular here. Another top spot is the living room, with a stone-front fireplace that crackles and casts a warm glow all day long in the fall and winter.
Summertime is spent near — or on — the lake, throwing rocks, catching fish, swinging in a hammock or surfing behind the family’s boat.
“The kids love to swim,” Gabe says. “They’re in the water as soon as the ice goes out.”
In the winter, the family likes to ski, ice skate, ice fish, snowshoe across lake and rent snowmobiles. Or simply stay in and “be cozy together,” as Megan describes it.
From their lakeside perch, they hang out, listen to music and cook together, like when the kids pull up stools to help Dad make pancakes. It’s the things they love, just slowed down and savored more than in the more hectic pace of daily life at home.
“There’s been work involved with the cabin, for sure,” Gabe says, “but now we can go up and enjoy it.”
Photos by Vail.