SE Minnesota is One of the Strangest Areas of Our State, Here’s Why

Southeast Minnesota is a pretty cool place! I grew up in the Twin Cities and moved to Rochester in 2020, so I'm not from the area, and I still really like this part of the state.

I think Rochester is a cool place to live, I love the bluffs we have all around this corner of the state, and the driftless region is beautiful.

But there's one part of SE Minnesota that makes it one of the strangest spots in the state.

ALSO READ: The State's Longest Cave is in SE Minnesota

What Makes Southeast Minnesota Unique

There are plenty of things that make SE Minnesota unique from the rest of the state.

Mayo Clinic is the reason that Rochester is as big as it is today; that's a pretty unique thing.

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I mentioned the bluffs and driftless region in this part of the state, that's also unique to us.

But the one thing that is unique and also makes this part of the state strange is our lack of natural lakes.

SE Minnesota Has Some of the Fewest Natural Lakes in the State

Despite being in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, SE Minnesota has some of the fewest natural lakes. Isn't that strange?!

We've got bodies of water like creeks, rivers (Mississippi River, anyone?), and man-made lakes, but not too many natural lakes like the rest of Minnesota has.

Olmsted county and Mower county are actually two of the four counties in Minnesota that have ZERO natural lakes!

READ MORE: Four Minnesota Counties with Zero Natural Lakes

I couldn't find a good count for exactly how many natural lakes there are across southeast Minnesota in general. Whenever I searched for natural lakes in X county, all lakes, including man-made ones, came up.

However, we do know for a fact that our lack of natural lakes is a characteristic feature of southeast Minnesota.