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Justine Kerfoot

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Justine Kerfoot was an author and outdoors-woman who moved to the Boundary Waters in 1928 and helped establish the Gunflint Lodge.

History

Early life in the Chicago area

Born Justine Spunner in Barrington, Illinois to George W and Mae (Lane) Spunner in 1906,[1] she spent her early years in the Chicago area.[2][3][4] She attended Northwestern University circa 1928. Her father was a successful attorney, their home was in Barrington, IL, in the Chicago area. Spunner majored in zoology, minored in philosophy and chemistry, played soccer and volleyball, and joined the Outing Club at Northwestern. She planned to go to medical school and become a doctor. She graduated with a degree in zoology and finished one year of graduate study before moving to Gunflint Lake in 1928.

Life in the north woods

Her mother bought the Gunflint Lodge in 1927.[5] During the Great Depression her family lost almost everything except for the lodge.[6] They moved to the lodge which had no plumbing or electricity.[6] Justine learned how to put the plumbing it herself. She also learned how to mush sled dogs, repair cars, fix telephone lines, build furniture, [6] and fur trapping.[2]

She married Bill Kerfoot in 1934. They had 3 children; Neal (1935-1935), Bruce, Pat and Sharon [4]. She once led a winter hunting trip while 8 months pregnant. They eventually divorced. The lodge burned in 1953 and the family rebuilt. Their son Bruce bought the lodge from his parents. He ran it until he sold in it 2016.[7][8]

It took 5 years for the Chippewa Indians, who taught her wilderness skills, to trust her.[5][9]

She played an important role in the shaping of the Gunflint Trail.[10]

She served as Cook County Commissioner from 1965 to 1968, serving as Chair in 1968.[11] She was unhappy about the extension of the Gunflint Trail to Saganaga Lake via a toll road on private property.[12]

She portaged her own canoe until she was 90 years old.[6] Her canoe is on display at the Chik-Wauk Museum & Nature Center center [13] She died on May 30, 2001, at age 94 having visited the Amazon and Antarctica.[2][8]

Kerfoot as an author

She was the sole author of two published books, co-authored a third, and created the foreword for a fourth:

  • Woman Of The Boundary Waters: Canoeing, Guiding, Mushing, and Surviving (Minnesota) Paperback – April 15, 1994[1]
  • Gunflint Reflections on the Trail [14][15][16]
  • A life in Two Worlds 1996, co-authored
  • The Gunflint Lodge Cookbook: Elegant Northwoods Dining 1997, wrote the foreword and provided some recipes [17]

She wrote a “On the Gunflint Trail” column that ran weekly for 42 years in the Cook County News Herald.[2]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Woman of the Boundary Waters". University of Minnesota Press. Retrieved 2020-06-19.
  2. ^ a b c d "City Girl Justine Kerfoot became a North Woods Icon", Star Tribune, May 5, 2019.
  3. ^ "Minnesota Environmental Issues Oral History Project: Interview with Justine Kerfoot : Collections Online : mnhs.org". collections.mnhs.org. Retrieved 2020-06-19.
  4. ^ a b "Justine Spunner Kerfoot (1906-2001) - Find A..." www.findagrave.com. Retrieved 2020-06-19.
  5. ^ a b "Interview with Justine Kerfoot, Minneapolis, Minnesota". reflections.mndigital.org. Retrieved 2020-06-19.
  6. ^ a b c d "PRX". beta.prx.org. Retrieved 2020-06-19.
  7. ^ July 16, ohtadmin | on; 2016. "An interview with Gunflint Lodge's Bruce Kerfoot | Cook County News Herald". www.cookcountynews-herald.com. Retrieved 2020-06-19. {{cite web}}: |last2= has numeric name (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  8. ^ a b "Welcome to the Gunflint Trail New Owners of Gunflint Lodge | Boundary Waters Blog". Retrieved 2020-06-19.
  9. ^ Tribune, Shirley Barnes Special to the. "ROUGHING IT". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 2020-06-19.
  10. ^ "EXPLORE THE STATE". www.mnwritersmap.org. Retrieved 2020-06-19.
  11. ^ "Goodbye to Gunflint's Justine Kerfoot". bwca.cc. Retrieved 2020-06-19.
  12. ^ June 01, ohtadmin | on; 2013. "Historical Reflections | Cook County News Herald". www.cookcountynews-herald.com. Retrieved 2020-06-19. {{cite web}}: |last2= has numeric name (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  13. ^ Lodge, Gunflint; Outfitters (2019-08-24). "Justine Kerfoot's Canoe at Chik-Wauk". Gunflint Lodge. Retrieved 2020-06-19.
  14. ^ "Gunflint Reflections Trail". www.amazon.com. Retrieved 2020-06-19.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  15. ^ "Gunflint". www.goodreads.com. Retrieved 2020-06-19.
  16. ^ "Gunflint". University of Minnesota Press. Retrieved 2020-06-19.
  17. ^ Berg, Ron; Kerfoot, Sue (1997). The Gunflint Lodge Cookbook: Elegant Northwoods Dining (NED - New ed.). University of Minnesota Press. doi:10.5749/j.cttttmq5. ISBN 978-0-8166-2831-5.
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