Cromwell Island
Highlights
Description
Like the cold, clear waters of Flathead Lake, mystique surrounds Cromwell Island. It overlooks the legendary Wild Horse Island, where the Salish and Kootenai tribes historically swam their horses to protect them from rival groups. In the 1930s, construction began on a dam near Polson, Montana, at the outlet of the Flathead River. Before its completion, during periods of low water, Cromwell Island would become a peninsula connected to the shore. It is all but certain that Native Americans once herded their horses onto this peninsula before swimming them across to Wild Horse Island. Today, Cromwell is a full-time island—the entirety of which is now for sale.
Flathead Lake, with nearly 200 square miles of surface area and 185 miles of shoreline, is the largest natural freshwater lake west of the Mississippi River—even larger than Lake Tahoe. To our knowledge, Cromwell Island, encompassing almost 350 acres and nearly three miles of shoreline, is the largest private island in freshwater west of the Mississippi under a single ownership.
Like Loch Ness, Flathead Lake even has its own legendary creature. The lore of a giant antlered monster, rooted in the ancient oral histories of the Kootenai Tribe, dates back to 1889, when a steamboat captain and 100 passengers spotted a “whale-like” object that dove underwater after being shot at. Locals later nicknamed the creature “Flessie,” a playful nod to Scotland’s Nessie.
Cromwell Island was purchased in the late 1980s by Robert M. Lee, a renowned automobile and antique arms collector, explorer, author, and conservationist. Before his death in 2016, Mr. Lee and his wife, Anne, partially completed construction of a monumental residence with over 45,000 square feet of living space, intended to serve as their full-time home. Even in its unfinished state, the structure carries a presence reminiscent of Versailles.
The mystique endures as Cromwell Island is now for sale, offering a rare opportunity for a new owner to write the next chapter of this storied place.
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About Bill McDavid
Raised between Alabama and the Cayman Islands, Bill joined Hall and Hall as a ranch partner in the fall of 1996. He came to Montana to work as a fly-fishing guide and ranch hand during a summer break from law school. Bill returned to Montana after graduation and became the Tribal Prosecutor for the Crow Tribe. In addition to his law degree, Bill holds an undergraduate degree in music from the University of Miami and remains passionate about his music. He is also a skilled photographer specializing in underwater imagery with images having been published by National Geographic, the BBC and elsewhere. He is an FAA licensed UAS (drone) Pilot which he uses for real estate photography and cinematography. He is also a hospice volunteer and dedicated practitioner of hot yoga. It was inevitable that he found his way into a real estate career as the profession stretches back four generations in his family. His love of the northern Rocky Mountain region compelled him to move to Missoula where he handles transactions in the backyard as well as those stretching from Florida to California. Bill is currently licensed as a real estate broker in Montana (RRE-BRO-LIC-8609), Idaho (#AB00021997), Florida (#BK3229636), Georgia (#347418), Tennessee (#317360), and California (#01455038).
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