Glacier Park home on market for $15 million

A home on Lake McDonald in Glacier National Park has hit the open market. While other properties in Glacier have been sold in the past few years, none have had the expansive views afforded by the Graff family estate, a modest home at the foot of the lake.

The home is what’s known as an “inholding” meaning it was private property before the creation of the park in 1910. Lake McDonald has many private inholdings along its shorelines at the foot and the head of the lake.

The home is listed at $15 million, Realtor Angie Killian of Berkshire Hathaway Homes Services Montana Properties of Bigfork said.

The two-bedroom home was built in 1968 and includes three parcels totaling about 1.55 acres. It is set back from the Grist Road, surrounded by an idyllic grove of cedars. A short walk from the front porch takes one down to the lake shore. It has 103 feet of lake frontage. There are private parcels on both sides of the property.

The home directly overlooks Lake McDonald, with sweeping views of the surrounding peaks, perhaps some of the best views the entire lake has to offer.

The home initially went on the market in May, Killian said. 

“It’s a fantastic property, just visiting it is wonderful,” Killian said.

She said she plans on advertising the home in the Wall Street Journal and other national outlets soon. Other Glacier Park properties have seen the open market over the past few years and became extremely popular during the pandemic.

The complete listing is at glacierparklakefront.com

In 2021 a manufactured home on a private lot in Apgar sold quickly. It was listed for $1.5 million but had no views to speak of and was located in Apgar Village, which has throngs of tourists in the summer months.

To put in further perspective of the tremendous growth in the local real estate market, 10 years ago the Lundgren family holdings, which included most of the commercial real estate in West Glacier sold for $17 million.

Included in that sale were 199 acres of land in West Glacier which include the West Glacier Motel and Cabins, the West Glacier Restaurant and Bar, the West Glacier Mercantile and the West Glacier Gift Shop and other guest services, including a gas station. 

Additionally, the sale included 3.8 acres of inholdings within Glacier National Park in Apgar — the Apgar Village Lodge, the Cedar Tree Gift Shop and staff housing units in Apgar and West Glacier.

There used to be hundreds of privately-held parcels in Glacier. Today, there are about 113 homes and parcels. The Park Service over the years continually tries to acquire them, mostly through donations from the families that own them.