Josh Duhamel recently shared details about his Minnesota property, which he calls his “doomsday cabin.” The actor, 52, spoke with Country Living about the rustic amenities of his lakeside retreat, located about an hour-and-a-half drive from Fargo, North Dakota. “We’re about 40 minutes from civilization,” he remarked. “It’s an exhale whenever we get here.”
Fifteen years ago, Duhamel purchased the initial parcel of land, which was empty at the time.
Over the years, he added several structures, including a rustic cabin, a hunting shack, and a charming red cabin with a stone chimney. “It’s basically a painting,” he said, comparing his property to a nature illustration. The early years at the cabin were quite primitive.
“We were basically homesteading the first 12 years. For the longest time, we didn’t have plumbing. We were using outhouses and washing dishes in the lake,” Duhamel detailed.
“I feel so connected to it — I didn’t just buy the place, I built this place. While we’ve made a lot of improvements, you still feel like you’re roughing it, and I love that.”
Despite such hardships, the experience has been invaluable for Duhamel, his wife, and two children.
Cherishing a Minnesota retreat
“There are a lot of great things about L.A., but here my kids get to be kids — catching frogs, collecting sticks. They come home and they’re filthy, and I think that’s so good for them,” he said. “These days, there’s so much anger in the world, and I think it’s because people are on their phones, getting caught up in whatever they’re being fed through their devices as opposed to being outside, connecting with the world.
Nature helps ground you to what’s important.”
Duhamel also spoke about how the property has allowed him to bond with his children, especially his son, Axl. “I love seeing it through my kids’ eyes now,” he told PEOPLE. “Axl is really starting to love it.
He’s got some buddies who are out there. I’m able to teach him some of the things that I’ve learned, and I didn’t know much when I got the place, so it’s been good.”
Reflecting on the practical skills he’s acquired, Duhamel added, “I’ve become much more handy than I was before I started, and you have to be just out of necessity. You have to be able to fix stuff.
And so all that, all around, it’s been great. Making a lot of great memories out there.”
