Red Wing house on 12 acres with an indoor pool and sauna listed at $1.4M

About 20 years ago, Margaret and Kevin Simanski asked themselves what life would be like if they lived on a large piece of property with horses and cows.

That’s how they wound up building a 5,650-square-foot house in rural Red Wing, Minn.

“We just wanted to get out of the rat race,“ Margaret Simanski said. “So we decided, ‘Hey, we’ve got this property down in Frontenac. Let’s build our house!’”

They’d bought an old dairy farm, about 60 miles southeast of the Twin Cities, a few years earlier. In 2003, the Simanskis gave up their garbage-collection business, tore down the property’s old house and built a new one throughout the following year.

Now with both in their mid-60s, the two want to downsize and are building a different house about 12 miles away. They’ve listed the four-bedroom, five-bathroom house, as well as its surrounding 12 acres, at about $1.4 million.

The house has an indoor pool and sauna. There’s also two stone fireplaces, a large pantry and a deck spanning one side of the home. The lower-level TV room has built-in surround sound and a wet bar. The Simanskis recently refinished the hardwood floors throughout the house, which local contractors custom built.

The Simanskis were a part of the construction every day. For example, they rented a stone splitter and cut all of the fieldstone for the fireplace in the main floor’s great room, Margaret Simanski said.

The lower-level fireplace, meanwhile, is a different design made of limestone.

Since it’s indoors, the pool is low maintenance and has temperature controls.

“That’s why we put in the pool. That’s why we put in the sauna,” Kevin Simanski said, “so you didn’t have to go to the Y.“

Windows throughout the home offer broad views of nature.

“When you walk in the front door you look out on this beautiful pasture and this field,” Margaret Simanski said.

In the other direction, you can see Frontenac State Park right across the street.

“You can see all the way to Wisconsin because we’re on top of the hills,” she said.

Frontenac Park has 13 miles of hiking trails and nine miles of cross-country ski trails, said Lisa Filter of the Parks & Trails Council of Minnesota.

It’s great for bird watching, Filter said, because of its proximity to the river, a avian migration route and a diverse landscape that includes prairie, oak savanna and bluffs with various vantage points.

“It’s a mecca for birds,“ she said, noting visitors have spotted 260 bird species there.

The picnic area on a large bluff overlooking Lake Pepin offers a spectacular view, Filter said.

“I would describe it as feeling as you were high up and a bird flying over the water,” she said.

The city of Red Wing, with a population of about 17,000, is known for its pottery and sturdy shoes, dating back to the 19th century and early 20th century, respectively. Two local museums, the Pottery Museum of Red Wing and the Red Wing Shoe Company Museum, celebrate the city’s famous products.

The shoe museum, located in the Red Wing Shoe Store, displays what the museum claims is the world’s largest boot, a size 638 ½ piece of footwear that stands more than 20 feet tall on its main floor. It also offers “kind of a history of the company as well as how the boots are made,” said store employee Sam Brady.

Back at the Simanskis’ farm, they restored an old barn. It’s spacious enough to store a boat, camper or other large items.

They kept two silos standing to help maintain the property’s “old farm feel,” Margaret Simanski said. The couple did indeed raise horses, cows and chickens, including collecting their fresh eggs.

The 12 surrounding acres are good for hunting, and “it’s nothing to drive up there and see 20 to 40 deer right next to the house,” Margaret said.

The property has a number of potential uses the Simanskis said. It already holds half a dozen apple trees of different kinds, including the Honeycrisp and Haralson varieties developed at the University of Minnesota. Those produce so many apples, the Simanskis had to give some away.

Other ideas include a Christmas tree farm, among other crops.

“There was a guy that wanted to know if we could sell him the land so he could raise hemp,” Kevin Simanski said.

The animals helped enrich the soil, which helped Margaret Simanski’s garden. A particularly ambitious grower could think even bigger. The couple actually owns 92 adjacent acres, so a separate purchase of more land is negotiable, they said.

“The house has every amenity you could possibly want,” Margaret Simanski said, including a original well that holds “the best water you‘re ever going to drink.”

Jennifer Busch of LandProz Real Estate (507-923-7657, jenbusch@landproz.com) has the $1,399,000 listing.