Ely Minnesota’s Oldest Wilderness Resort

The History of White Iron Beach Resort

106 years of serving our guests

White Iron Beach Resort was founded in 1917, making it one of the region’s earliest wilderness resorts. Even then, the small community of Ely was becoming a tourist destination. With a history rich in Ojibwe Indian culture, fur trading and iron ore mining, not to mention the natural beauty of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, makes Ely a fun and fascinating community. One hundred and six years later, White Iron Beach Resort is still in business, creating vacation memories for folks around the world. White Iron Lake, which is part of a five-lake chain that extends into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, is known for its remarkable scenery, including dense forests, islands and rocky shorelines. We invite you to go back in time and discover the White Iron Lake of yesterday, little changed in nearly a century.

And Now…

White Iron Beach has been owned by us, Kerry and Sandy Davis, for the last 28 years. We both are originally from Galesburg, Illinois. Our jobs took us to Richton Park (Illinois), Agoura Hills (California_, Frankfort (Illinois) and then to our home of Ely. Our interest in the resort business was spawned by several vacations to resorts with 8 other families.  Kerry got the bug first and then Sandy got on board and loves the business and people we get to meet. Our boys Chad, John and Taylor have helped us all along the way to make WIBR a real family place.