Last Updated on June 19, 2018
Located in the exclusive 80-acre Lakota Lake Encampment Wilderness Preservation Community, this beautiful mountain lodge has been designed to meld into its Black Hills surroundings and offer signature line-of-sight views of the world-famous presidential faces lining the top of Mount Rushmore.
View property listing on LandWatch
Adjacent to over a million acres of National Forest land, the planned community of only 18 homesites was envisioned and designed by Aspen, Colorado-based architect Dick Knect. Shared homeowner amenities include a private dinner lodge, guest cabin lodging, horse barn acreage and paved roads and underground electric utilities throughout.
This property features a beautiful series of mountain meadows separated by treed ridges and large granite boulders. It has great possibilities and represents an opportunity for me to fulfill a lifelong dream of designing an entire mountain community from beginning to end. – Dick Knecht, Rapid City Journal (April 2005)
Additional recreational highlights include access to Lakota Lake, a stream-fed mountain lake stocked with trout and available for swimming and kayaking. The home itself features a distinctive guest tower designed in the style of nearby Harney Peak fire tower (Harney Peak was renamed to Black Elk Peak in 2016; the 7,242-foot peak is South Dakota’s highest point and remains a popular local hike). The main lodge offers an open-plan living area and outdoor space, plus master bedroom, on the first level, along with four bunk rooms on the second level accessed via a spiral staircase. Unlike other homesites in the development, this particular parcel also sits on two acres rather than the majority of one-acre lots.
Stretching from Badlands National Park at its southeastern edge to the beautiful mountain expanses of Black Hills National Forest to the west, Pennington County highlights obviously include world-renowned Mount Rushmore National Memorial, the state’s highest point at Black Elk Peak as well as thousands of miles of trails leading to mountain lakes, viewpoints and swimming holes (one local favorite is “Hippie Hole,” a 40-foot-wide pool along Battle Creek that’s a half-hour hike off of highway 40 between Keystone and Hermosa). Pennington County also incorporates Rapid City, the state’s second-biggest city, as well as Keystone, the tourist gateway to Mount Rushmore and the Black Hills region.
The property was listed for sale on the Land.com Network for $1,849,000 on June 15, 2018, via Faith Lewis with Keller Williams Black Hills Lewis Realty.