Jake and Meghan Zoesch never set out to build one of Minnesota’s most distinctive lodging experiences. For years, they lived in different worlds – Meghan in newsroom studios at KARE, CBS58, NBC15, and KAAL, and Jake in Milwaukee working alongside his family as an auto body technician. But everything shifted when Meghan’s parents bought a cabin in Crosby. She encouraged Jake to join her on weekends, hoping he’d fall in love with the rhythm of northern Minnesota the way she had growing up. He brought his mountain bike on one of those early visits, rode the trails, and returned with a revelation: “Meg, this is the mountain biking destination in Minnesota.”
That moment rewrote their future. Soon they were spending every spare hour renovating a neglected miner’s house in Crosby – driving up after long workweeks, gutting rooms, sanding floors, and imagining what it could become. When they finally posted the finished home on Airbnb and bookings began pouring in, they felt something click. They had stumbled into more than a project – they had found a calling.
In 2022, they officially launched Cuyuna Cabin Collection. What began with that miner’s house quickly expanded into five thoughtfully designed properties, each offering the serenity, beauty, and sense of escape they loved about the Northwoods. But nothing they created – not even the lakeside retreats or the tiny house tucked deep in the trees – prepared them for their boldest vision yet: Minnesota’s first Mirror Cabin.
The idea was born on their honeymoon road trip. They booked a stay in a mirrored cabin in Tennessee, and stepping inside was unlike anything they had experienced. The structure was small, but surrounded by seamless reflections of sky, water, and forest, it felt endlessly open. “It took my breath away,” Meghan remembers. Jake turned to her almost immediately and said, “We need one of these in Minnesota.”
They purchased the cabin before they even found land. Jake went into full entrepreneur mode, calling 100 property owners in search of a parcel that felt magical. When they finally walked a five-acre stretch wrapped around a quiet mine lake, Meghan knew instantly: this was it. They placed the structure as close to the water as county rules allowed and preserved nearly every tree, wanting the cabin to disappear into its surroundings.
Today, the Mirror Cabin truly does. During the day, you can’t see inside at all – its mirrored exterior reflects pines, sky, and shifting light. At night, floor-to-ceiling blinds offer complete privacy. Inside, the cabin is intimate and serene, with a queen bed, rainfall shower, indoor movie projector, and a small but well-equipped kitchenette. Outside, the experience unfolds: a hot tub and sauna for year-round warmth, a stargazing net stretched above the water, a lakeside lounge, a clear kayak and paddleboards, a custom mural by Dani Liana, and a solo stove for winter nights spent beside the fire.
Winter gives the retreat a special magic. Snow settles softly on the mirrored exterior, the lake freezes into a still white canvas, and steam rises from the hot tub as guests slip in under the stars. Some come for a romantic escape; others arrive alone, needing space to breathe. Meghan still remembers reading a guest’s handwritten note: “This might be the closest thing to heaven.” Another solo traveler wrote that she slept soundly for the first time in months.
That, Jake and Meghan say, is why they do this. They’ve built more than cabins – they’ve built places where people can rest, reconnect, and rediscover themselves, all in a corner of Cuyuna Country that now feels like home.
To book your next stay, visit cuyunacabins.com.