Dorothy Louise Molter (May 6, 1907, in Arnold, Pennsylvania – December 18, 1986), lived for 56 years on Knife Lake in the Boundary Waters area of northern Minnesota.

Various factors combined to give her national prominence, extensive coverage in media, books and documentaries, and tens of thousands of visits by Boundary Waters Canoe Area canoeists, often with 6,000–7,000 visitors per year.

She lived with her five brothers and sisters in a Cincinnati orphanage until 1919 when her father remarried and was able to provide a home for them in Garrett, Indiana.

At the same time that these transportation changes "moved" her even farther from civilization, they brought tens of thousands of canoeist visitors to her home.

These factors contributed to the interest in and endearment of her, including print media and television coverage during the last 34 years of her life.

[2] A few of the noteworthy changes to the BWCAW include:[2] During the 1970s and 1980s, although her home no longer operated as a resort, visitation to Molter's islands reached upwards of 5,000-6,000 canoeists each year.

She had small, rustic footbridges between the islands, and a fence made of broken canoe paddles donated by visitors.

This required finding and hauling dirt and placing it into decommissioned fishing boats repurposed into planters and gathering wild seeds.

Due to an outpouring of support (including efforts by Senator and future Vice President Walter Mondale), a special exception was made allowing her to stay until 1975.

Benny Ambrose died in 1982, leaving Molter as the last full-time resident of the Boundary Waters wilderness.

[1] She was survived by her brother, John A. Molter and sister Hazel Hoffman, both of Chicago, her niece, Sally Margis of Midlothian, IL and many other relatives.

[3] She was also the subject of National Geographic publications, a broadcast of the "Real People" television series, and of a documentary video "Dorothy Molter - Living in the Boundary Waters.

The effort involved transporting the disassembled cabins by dog sled to a point at the Boy Scout canoe base on Moose lake.

An unseasonably warm March stymied those efforts to move her cabins by dogsled and special permission was obtained to use motorized transportation such as snowmobiles.

The museum is located on the south side of Route 169 (Sheridan St) at the east end of Ely, Minnesota.