# Is this the northernmost house in the lower 48 US states? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 29, 2015, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-northernmost-house-in-the-lower-48-us-states/741649 "2015-12-29T17:10:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2015, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-northernmost-house-in-the-lower-48-us-states/741649/21 "2015-12-29T19:58:28Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Northernmost building on Penasse island is only at 49.368044. That’s further south than the building I ID’ed in the OP at 49.368271. Yeah, but it doesn’t matter, because you can’t get there from here anyway. > [@Google Maps](#): > > Sorry, we could not calculate directions from “Sacramento, CA” to “Unnamed Rd, Angle Inlet, MN 56711” On the other hand, I could be at the Penasse Island houses in time for New Year’s Eve celebrations if I left now… > [@](#): > > from Sacramento, CA > to Young’s Bay Dr NW, Angle Inlet, MN 56711 > > 30 h (1,943 miles) > > via I-94 E > 28 h without traffic > This route crosses through Canada. > > Sacramento, CA > > Get on I-80 E > 3 min (1.5 mi) > > Follow I-80 E to US-93 N in Wells. Take exit 352 from I-80 E > 6 h 41 min (470 mi) > > Get on I-84 E in Jerome County > 2 h (124 mi) > > Follow I-84 E, I-86 E and I-15 N to US-20 E in Idaho Falls. Take exit 119 from I-15 N > 1 h 58 min (149 mi) > > Get on I-90 E in Gallatin County from US-287 N and MT-84 E > 3 h 17 min (204 mi) > > Follow I-90 E, I-94 E and I-29 N to ND-66 E/80th St NE in Drayton. Take exit 187 from I-29 N > 12 h 4 min (859 mi) > > Take MN-11 E and MB-308 N to your destination in Angle Township > 3 h 6 min (136 mi) > > Young’s Bay Dr NW > Angle Inlet, MN 56711 Although, upon further investigation these directions seem to leave me off at the Young’s Bay Resort, a couple miles south of my destination. I guess Google just knows that the kind and friendly folk of Northern Minnesota will get me the last stretch of the way… ---
**Author:** ![USCDiver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uscdiver/32/354_2.png) [@USCDiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/USCDiver)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2015, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-northernmost-house-in-the-lower-48-us-states/741649/22 "2015-12-29T20:27:52Z")
> [@Trom](#): > > But do they have a Canadian or Minnesotan accent? Is there a difference? ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2015, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-northernmost-house-in-the-lower-48-us-states/741649/23 "2015-12-29T20:37:57Z")
> [@Suburban\_Plankton](#): > > Although, upon further investigation these directions seem to leave me off at the Young’s Bay Resort, a couple miles south of my destination. I guess Google just knows that the kind and friendly folk of Northern Minnesota will get me the last stretch of the way… Once, on a whim, I Mapquested directions from my house to Juneau, AK. It turns out you can drive there. You just have to drive all the way up into the Yukon Territory, and take a couple of ferries down an inlet to get there. Easy-peasy. Remember to fill the tank before you leave. And maybe bring an audio book. To complete the geographic hit list, the northernmost structure in the US would be the road leading to the end of the breakwater in [Barrow, AK](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Point+Barrow/@71.3875,-156.4811111,10z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x50c2d0e2afafcf31:0xe965411219924bc3). but that’s a tropical paradise compaired to the farthest-north structures in Canada, which would appear to be [Alert, Nunavut](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alert,_Nunavut), on the northern coast of Ellesmere Island. No permanent inhabitants, but there are government stations there. (I wonder how badly you need to fuck up to find yourself listening for Russian radio signals at 82 degrees north latitude, at a place whose motto is “Beyond the Inuit Land”?) ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2015, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-northernmost-house-in-the-lower-48-us-states/741649/24 "2015-12-29T21:38:35Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > but that’s a tropical paradise compaired to the farthest-north structures in Canada, which would appear to be [Alert, Nunavut](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alert,_Nunavut), on the northern coast of Ellesmere Island. No permanent inhabitants, but there are government stations there. (I wonder how badly you need to fuck up to find yourself listening for Russian radio signals at 82 degrees north latitude, at a place whose motto is “Beyond the Inuit Land”?) That would be [Uncle Geordie](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=18936520&postcount=22)’s son-in-law, albeit usually at Eureka ([here’s a front door pic](http://imagizer.imageshack.us/a/img163/1095/goawaythisspotistaken.jpg)) rather than Alert – same island, but a little to the south-west. He and my cousin thought it would be a nice change to get closer to civilization after raising their children on Sables Island, which is a dust spot in the Atlantic that was inhabited only by them and their kids most of the year – and yes, they loved it!. The sweet part of the high arctic deal was four months of vacation each year. (Four months vacation, four months in the high arctic, four months in Winnipeg.) Now my cousin, having being raised in the arctic and having lived in various places in the wilds of Canada, figured that moving to a city might be a bit much, so when they bought their house in Winnipeg (sight unseen), she chose a street name of an animal that they liked. When she moved in, she cried because there were no animals at all. Just mile after mile of houses, and for four months a year, her husband near her homeland of Baffin Island, but away from her. ---
**Author:** ![GreasyJack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@GreasyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreasyJack)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2015, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-northernmost-house-in-the-lower-48-us-states/741649/25 "2015-12-29T22:08:55Z")
> [@USCDiver](#): > > Using GIS/tax information, it is trivial to find out the name and address of the person who owns that particular house and the surrounding land. I looked it up, and it’s just owned by some guy, but interestingly the map on the Minnesota parcel lookup site shows the trimmed-back border swath as being a road. I thought it seemed really weird that there’s such a big and well-landscaped cabin right on the border in the middle of nowhere, but I guess it makes sense if they can use the border as a road. A really strange situation-- I know some places where there’s roads directly paralleling the border on one side or another, but I can’t think of any other where the trimmed back border swath itself is used as a road! ---
**Author:** ![Richox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@Richox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richox)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2015, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-northernmost-house-in-the-lower-48-us-states/741649/26 "2015-12-29T22:42:11Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > Quote: > Northwest Angle Inlet in Lake of the Woods, Minnesota 49°23′04.1″N 95°9′12.2″W – northernmost point in the 48 contiguous states (because of incomplete information at the time of the Treaty of Paris (1783) settling the American Revolutionary War) > I’d say you’re right (I would have guessed NW Washington State) Whilst that property is in a contiguous _state_, with respect to common landmass it isn’t contiguous as there is no direct land connecting US mainland and that piece of land without crossing canada. Does that still make it contiguous ? Or is it defined as an island ? or some other definition? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2015, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-northernmost-house-in-the-lower-48-us-states/741649/27 "2015-12-29T22:51:42Z")
> [@GreasyJack](#): > > I looked it up, and it’s just owned by some guy, but interestingly the map on the Minnesota parcel lookup site shows the trimmed-back border swath as being a road. I thought it seemed really weird that there’s such a big and well-landscaped cabin right on the border in the middle of nowhere, but I guess it makes sense if they can use the border as a road. A really strange situation-- I know some places where there’s roads directly paralleling the border on one side or another, but I can’t think of any other where the trimmed back border swath itself is used as a road! My brother’s old house was on the Canadian border. It was even referred to in his deed. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2015, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-northernmost-house-in-the-lower-48-us-states/741649/28 "2015-12-29T23:57:10Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Very true. South America could well be called Southeast America. > > And the US state closest to Africa is Maine. Canada’s southernmost point is also farther south than all or parts of 27 states including California, Nevada, Utah, Nebraska and Ohio. Here is a map in case anyone doesn’t believe it. [http://barelybad.com/north\_of\_canada\_map.htm](http://barelybad.com/north_of_canada_map.htm) Part of Virginia is farther north than some of New Jersey as well. Then there is the real headscratcher. Atlanta is closer to Chicago than Miami. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2015, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-northernmost-house-in-the-lower-48-us-states/741649/29 "2015-12-30T13:06:49Z")
> [@Richox](#): > > Whilst that property is in a contiguous _state_, with respect to common landmass it isn’t contiguous as there is no direct land connecting US mainland and that piece of land without crossing canada. Does that still make it contiguous ? Or is it defined as an island ? or some other definition? Its a pene-exclave. Accessable by water, but not by land. See the Wiki page on [Enclaves & exclaves](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enclave_and_exclave). ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2015, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-northernmost-house-in-the-lower-48-us-states/741649/30 "2015-12-30T13:38:19Z")
Downtown Seattle is further north than any point in Maine. ---
**Author:** ![Richox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@Richox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richox)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2015, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-northernmost-house-in-the-lower-48-us-states/741649/31 "2015-12-30T15:27:17Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > Its a pene-exclave. Accessable by water, but not by land. See the Wiki page on [Enclaves & exclaves](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enclave_and_exclave). brilliant, thanks! couldn’t find that definition! ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2015, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-northernmost-house-in-the-lower-48-us-states/741649/32 "2015-12-30T15:33:22Z")
Ok, we know its the most northern structure, but is it a house ? Its definitely Red Lake Indian. Reservation The second-largest section (49°16′N 95°03′W) is much farther north, in the Northwest Angle of Lake of the Woods County near the Canadian border. It has no permanent residents. Its a camp shed, like for hunting, or something ? ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2015, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-northernmost-house-in-the-lower-48-us-states/741649/33 "2015-12-30T15:45:23Z")
No, sorry, I was mislead. Here’s a detailed map. > **[CT27077\_001.pdf](https://www2.census.gov/plmap/pl_trt/st27_Minnesota/c27077_LakeOfTheWoods/CT27077_001.pdf)** I was mislead by the maps saying the area from Poplar Creek and west was reserve… it isn’t, they were just lazy to draw a precise map ---
**Author:** ![GreasyJack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@GreasyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreasyJack)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2015, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-northernmost-house-in-the-lower-48-us-states/741649/34 "2015-12-30T17:15:18Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > Its a pene-exclave. Accessable by water, but not by land. See the Wiki page on [Enclaves & exclaves](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enclave_and_exclave). Although with the caveat that for a pretty good part of the year, you can get there over ice with a snowmobile or snow coaches without going through Canada. If the evil Canadians decided to try to starve out the Angle, it also wouldn’t be too difficult to plow a road that could handle car and truck traffic. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2015, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-northernmost-house-in-the-lower-48-us-states/741649/35 "2015-12-30T17:15:28Z")
> [@Isilder](#): > > Ok, we know its the most northern structure, > but is it a house ? > > Its definitely Red Lake Indian. Reservation > The second-largest section (49°16′N 95°03′W) is much farther north, in the Northwest Angle of Lake of the Woods County near the Canadian border. It has no permanent residents. > > Its a camp shed, like for hunting, or something ? Well if it looks like a house . . . it probably is a house, despite it not being a permanent residence. Once you are outside of the City of Kenora and a handful of small communities, most residences on Lake of the Woods are only water accessible and the homes there are not primary residences. Lake of the Woods is very popular for camps/cottages/seasonal homes/second homes/whatever you want to call them. Many are used in the summer (fishing and boating), fall (hunting) and winter (snowmobiling), with the down time being early winter ice-in and spring ice-out when neither boat and float plane access, nor winter road access, are possible. Most are modest sized, but many are full size homes with all the off-grid amenities. It’s really quite lovely – I’m lucky in that I occasionally get to work up that way, which gives me a great tax deductible excuse to see some rock, trees and water, as opposed to the rocks, trees and water where I live. If you’re into this sort of stuff, keep Lake of the Woods in mind when it comes to renting a cottage for a summer vacation, or if you are looking for side-country excursions from a wee and very laid back city that is very tourist friendly, spend some time in Kenora. ---
**Author:** ![GreasyJack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@GreasyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreasyJack)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2015, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-northernmost-house-in-the-lower-48-us-states/741649/36 "2015-12-30T17:21:54Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > Well if it looks like a house . . . it probably is a house, despite it not being a permanent residence. The thing that confused me is that it looks like a really nice house with extensive landscaping, not someone’s off-the-grid cabin accessible only by snowmobile or boat. But like I mentioned above, it looks like maybe they’ve got some road access by driving up the “border vista” corridor. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2015, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-northernmost-house-in-the-lower-48-us-states/741649/37 "2015-12-30T17:25:57Z")
When there is open water, building supplies can be boated or barged in. There is access in the winter over the ice (depending on the snowpack). That being said, I’ll never understand ice fishing, which is a big thing on Lake of the Woods. [Here the ice fishermen are trying to land a Silverado.](https://youtu.be/-f-ucZvW5-g) ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2015, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-northernmost-house-in-the-lower-48-us-states/741649/38 "2015-12-30T17:30:59Z")
I love your pic from Eureka, **Muffin**. And is there a place I can find out more about growing up on Sable Island? And why is there no cruise line with its home port in Kenora that sails to such locations as Sioux Narrows, Penasse, Warroad, and Nestor Falls? I’d sign up! ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2015, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-northernmost-house-in-the-lower-48-us-states/741649/39 "2015-12-30T17:52:52Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > [Here the ice fishermen are trying to land a Silverado.](https://youtu.be/-f-ucZvW5-g) Wow, that was the one that got away. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2015, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-northernmost-house-in-the-lower-48-us-states/741649/40 "2015-12-30T21:24:56Z")
> [@GreasyJack](#): > > The thing that confused me is that it looks like a really nice house with extensive landscaping, not someone’s off-the-grid cabin accessible only by snowmobile or boat. But like I mentioned above, it looks like maybe they’ve got some road access by driving up the “border vista” corridor. There’s no need for road access when building homes – heavy equipment and supplies are barged. [http://www.kenoraonline.com/component/mtree/automotive/barge/397-lake-of-the-woods-freight-service-inc](http://www.kenoraonline.com/component/mtree/automotive/barge/397-lake-of-the-woods-freight-service-inc) > [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > I love your pic from Eureka, **Muffin**. And is there a place I can find out more about growing up on Sable Island? > > And why is there no cruise line with its home port in Kenora that sails to such locations as Sioux Narrows, Penasse, Warroad, and Nestor Falls? I’d sign up! For growing up on Sables Island, get you hands on “Return to Sable”, which was published earlier this year and is available through Kobo. It’s historical fiction written by an ancestor of a girl who was raised on Sable Island. It’s not great literature, or even good yeoman writing, but it tries to see life through the eyes of a child growing into young adulthood in an isolated place, and it has a fair bit of historical accuracy from about a hundred and twenty years or so ago. [http://southshorebreaker.ca/2015/04/28/return-to-sable-jill-martin-releases-book-on-fabled-island/](http://southshorebreaker.ca/2015/04/28/return-to-sable-jill-martin-releases-book-on-fabled-island/) For my cousin’s family, it was very nice. Her hubby ran the main station (their home, bunkhouse, met and communications station, machine shop, supplies store, equipment sheds, fuel depot, dock and helicopter landing pad) where there would often be a handful of other people working there, as well as visiting science crews, and occasional stranded mariners. Their kids were very young, so it made for an idyllic life – wandering about in the dunes watching horses and birds, playing on the beach, and meeting and hanging out with interesting people. When the kids got a bit older they moved to a booming metropolis of what then was several hundred people (Norman Wells) in the Northwest Territories where there were other kids and a school. There are a couple of cruise lines on the Lake of the Woods out of Kenora. The Grace Anne II (a 1931 85’ mahogany motor yacht) offers private charters. Watch the video. Sell the farm. Book a cruise for as long as you like (10k a day). [https://youtu.be/cUkN7fQ0n1E](https://youtu.be/cUkN7fQ0n1E) The M.S. Kenora (a 1969 converted northern Lake Winnipeg freighter) makes occasional Kenora – Sioux Narrows return trips (a couple of hundred bucks a head), and has regular dinner cruises and day cruises out of Kenora. [http://www.mskenora.com/](http://www.mskenora.com/) > [@CookingWithGas](#): > > Wow, that was the one that got away. Yeh, I was watching the vid thinking it might not be too bright an idea to try to pull it out of the ice with another vehicle that could be pulled in itself by the Silverado when it went to the bottom. What can I say – we have bubbas here too (which, having paid a $900 towing bill to get out of a stuck a few weeks ago, I fear I might be infected with bubba too). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-northernmost-house-in-the-lower-48-us-states/741649.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-northernmost-house-in-the-lower-48-us-states/741649.md?page=3)