PENNINGTON — On the banks of Kitchi Lake, the Engelmans have been hard at work restoring a family legacy.
Val Engelman’s great-grandfather operated Hagen’s Resort in the 1940s, but over the generations, the resort changed ownership and names.
That is until eight years ago, when the Engelmans stopped at the Kitchi Landing Resort, about 15 miles south of Blackduck, on a rainy day and found the former owners were looking to put it on the market. There was a picture of Val's great-grandpa on the wall.
She described the moment as “kismet.”
“The universe kind of brings people together, brings some situations together and it just all works out the way it's supposed to,” Engelman said. “If it would have been a different year, if it would have been a different day or if that if we wouldn't have had that rain day ... it all could have been very different.”
The Engelmans are used to adventure. Val and her husband Steve used to frequently camp in a Volkswagen van named “Gertie” all over Minnesota and Wisconsin. They found themselves embarking on two adventures at once, though, while getting ready to buy the resort.
“We are family by way of adoption, so we didn't know when we would expect him,” Val said.
The Engelmans were right in the middle of closing on the resort when they got the call from the adoption agency.
“We got a call, it's like, ‘Hey, you've been matched, and your son is going to be here next week,’” she said.
With 2-month-old Brohde, they began the arduous ordeal of making some major renovations to the resort, moving to the area from the metro.
“It was a very big, big life change for us,” Engelman said. “It feels like home now, but let me tell you, in the beginning, being a new mom, a new business owner, in a completely different line of business, I mean, I was in insurance sales.”
From remodeling cabins to upgrading septic systems, the projects ranged from large to small.
The Engelmans said that with the help of some hired tradespeople and the willingness of family and friends, they have completely transformed the resort in the eight years since their purchase.
“We've remodeled two cabins; we've built two from scratch,” Steve Engelman said. “We did an entire shoreline restoration with the beach down there with beach volleyball.”
Fishing and family are big at Kitchi Landing Resort. Each cabin contains a tribute to the Hagens’ history and combines modern amenities with vintage Northwoods kitsch. Some cabins feature Val’s cross-stitch pieces like loons, and others boast vintage walleye and bass mounts.
Val’s grandfather was a fishing guide at this resort in the 1940s before he enlisted in the Army.
“My grandfather Harold's time here, he fell in love with fishing, and so when he came back from the service, he went to manufacturing die-and-cut school.”
Val shared that he worked for a manufacturer of fishing components before the company closed, but he bought their machinery and started Mitchell Manufacturing in Mitchell, South Dakota, where he made Hagen’s fishing rods.
The Engelmans reflected on the experience of community and connection to this place in the heart of the Chippewa National Forest.
“The seasonal kids that we see year after year, or our cabin guest kids that come year after year. It's like crazy to see them change,” Val shared.
“It's really fun to kind of really feel more like a steward of this property versus like an owner ... to really share and watch people have these fun memories, whether it's catching fish or going out to Star Island or just hanging out by the beach.”
