According to local lore, Enchanted Island in Lake Minnetonka was sacred ground to Native people who practiced healing ceremonies there before white settlers arrived.
The island today feels "spiritual and magical," said Cynthia Winrich-Poupard, who owns a home on its secluded tip. "It exudes that sense of peace and healing."
Her Cape Cod-inspired home, designed by the late Keith Waters, was built in 2000 shortly before setback requirements on Lake Minnetonka were increased, said Paul Johnson, agent with Lakes Sotheby's Realty. The house sits just 41 feet from the water, creating a "unique interaction with the lake." With large windows, including a curved wall of windows that echo the curve of the shoreline just beyond, the house "brings the lake in."
"We have essentially 180-degree views of the lake from every room in the house," said Winrich-Poupard, who grew up on Lake Minnetonka. "We get the most incredibly beautiful sunsets in every room."
The views are what sold her when she bought the Shorewood house about 10 years ago from the people who had built it.
"I walked in and could see straight through the space to the lake," she said. "I knew within five minutes" that she wanted the house.
The point on which the house sits is wrapped by a sandbar, which creates 238 feet of prime sandy shoreline on Phelps Bay. With .33 acres of land, the site is home to wildlife, including deer, geese, ducks, eagles and a snapping turtle that lays her eggs there every year, Winrich-Poupard said.
To support even more wildlife, she designed a natural landscape using plants that provide habitat for bees and Monarch butterflies.
The house itself — 2,921 square feet — has a great layout with multiple spaces for entertaining, she said. "There's a lot of natural flow."
Those spaces include a two-story great room, an informal dining room, a large kitchen with center island, a porch and a stone patio. There are also three bedrooms, three bathrooms, a mezzanine overlooking the great room and a study with plenty of built-in cabinetry for storing computer, printer and files. There's no basement because the home is set so close to the water; the utility room and storage are on the second floor.
Winrich-Poupard and her husband recently put the house on the market because they want to downsize and plan to spend more time traveling. It's listed at $1.985 million.
She'll miss the "magic and spiritual peacefulness" of her home and its surroundings, she said. "It's kind of like transitioning into the peace of another world. One can find giant houses on the lake that don't have the character and qualities of this home" and its setting. "It's a unique fusion of architecture, the outdoors and the lake. It all works in harmony together."
Paul Johnson, 952-212-7103, Lakes Sotheby's Realty, has the listing.
