Welcome to Shady Crest! Enjoy gorgeous lake views at this spacious home located on peaceful, private Grave Lake. Conveniently located between Brainerd and Garrison, this home is perfect for a getaway with friends or your extended family get-together. Enjoy kayaking and swimming, the Lego Room, relax and watch your favorite sports, play board games, yard games or a game of pool, roast s'mores by the bonfire, or just curl up with a book by the gas fireplace. Maximum of 16 guests.
The space
This lakefront home boasts many family-friendly spaces complete with a pool table and bunk room with a Lego table! Shady Crest is a two level home that sleeps 16 people. There are 5 bedrooms plus the bunk/Lego room and 3.5 baths. Everyone has a bed - 5 king beds and 10 twins. Enjoy the open floor plan, gas fireplace, a wall of windows, and deck looking over the lake. It is a quiet, peaceful property at the end of the road, next to the woods, and on the lake. The yard contains a small apple orchard—late summer and early fall guests are welcome to pick and enjoy the apples!
Fully stocked kitchen. A double oven and a second full-size fridge make cooking for a large group a breeze. A large island is perfect for cooking and gathering. There are plenty of place settings include drinking glasses, wine glasses, coffee mugs, kid-friendly dinnerware, pots and pans, cooking utensils, mixing bowls, baking dishes, pizza pan, cookie sheet, toaster, crockpots, Instapot, can opener, wine opener, measuring cups/spoons, and coffee maker.
Indoor entertainment includes 5 Smart TVs (family room, living room, both of the king bed-only bedrooms, and new basement king/ twin room). These TVs are equipped with Rokus, DirecTV, Amazon Prime, and Disney Plus. Feel free to bring passwords to other accounts such as Hulu or Netflix. Just be sure to log out when you leave! The high-speed internet access is perfect for streaming as well as that work meeting you just can’t miss. The basement family room features a pool table. The bunk room includes a well stocked Lego table for the kids and the kids at heart. We also have a large assortment of board games located in the master closet.
To make traveling a bit easier with young children, we have two pack-and-plays, a highchair, 3 booster chairs, stools in the bathrooms, a baby gate, and many toys (including Duplos, Little People and Magformers). Guests have access to a full sized washer and dryer.
Outdoors, you will have a taste of MN wilderness. Fox, turkeys, cats, racoons, deer, skunks, and the occasional bear will visit the backyard. The lake is great for swimming, kayaking, canoeing, and fishing. Our kids enjoy catching sunny and crappies right from the dock. Kayaks and a canoe are stored near the lake, while paddles and an assortment of life jackets are stored in the garage (May - Sep). Many outdoor games are available, including ladder ball, beanbags (cornhole), giant Jenga, giant Yahtzee, and more. The bonfire pit with wood is available year round to enjoy some s’mores overlooking the lake! The deck features a 6-person table and a gas grill. We have a spare propane tank onsite. If you run out, please let me know so I can give you access to the spare tank.
Home is located one mile from the "18 Run Trail," which allows easy access to many county trails on snowmobiles. There is plenty of room in the driveway and garage to store snowmobiles and trailers when not in use.
Guests with electric vehicles can request access to the detached garage, which houses a 40A Clipper Creek Level 2 EV charger.
Guest access
Guests have access to the entire house, yard, and attached garage with the exception of the locked owner’s closets (2) & utility room. The three car attached garage has many yard toys and is available for parking.
The detached garage is not typically available for guests. It will be made available upon request to use the EV charger or in the case of inclement weather.
Other things to note
Kayaks, canoe, and dock will be available May - September.
Please note that this house is in a quiet neighborhood. It is a private dirt road with a speed limit of 15 mph. Please be respectful of our neighbors who are permanent residents.
Grave Lake is a private lake with no public boat launch. We have kayaks and a canoe for guest use. We have great swimming. The water starts out 10- 12 inches deep (no real beach) and gets gradually deeper. It is 3.5 - 4 feet deep at the end of the dock. The bottom is hard sand with rocks and occasional weeds. The water in Grave Lake is tea colored due to tannins in the water. The tannins seep into the water from the roots of the trees around the lake and stain the water. It is safe to swim and boat. The water indoors is treated to remove tannins and iron to prevent damage to laundry.
There is plenty of room to park your boat if you would like to explore nearby lakes. Nokay Lake is just across Hwy 18. Upper South Long and Bay Lake are also nearby. Mille Lacs, Gull, and Pelican are popular options but a bit of a longer drive. Bay Lake Marine is an option several guests have used for a pontoon rental day trip.
The exterior of the property is monitored by three cameras. One monitoring the front entrances of the home (located on the detached garage), one monitoring driveway (located on front of attached garage) and one monitoring the rear entrance to home (located on back of attached garage). All cameras record audio and video.
