Michigan’s Interesting Saunas
The Northwoods region is home many wonderful saunas. The state of Michigan, surrounded by four of the five Great Lakes, has the largest number of Finnish immigrants, and consequently an abundance of unique saunas. These are a few interesting examples.
Sauna in a church
When it was built in the 1970s, Eden Evangelical Lutheran Church in Munising had one rather unique feature. Eino Kainlauri, the Finnish architect from Ann Arbor, included a sauna. While making the plans, he asked the congregation for ideas; one parishioner suggested a Finnish steam bath. Their sauna consists of changing room, spacious hot room, and some nifty artwork. It is heated with an Ilo rock-tower stove made in Dollar Bay, Michigan. What bible passage does the congregation read before saunaing? The story of the three Hebrew captives thrown into the fiery furnace — of course!
Finnish professor’s smoke sauna
It’s fitting that history professor Jon Saari would build a traditional, log Finnish savusauna (smoke sauna) at his camp in the woods. Don’t know what a savusauna is? See this article. While savusaunas have experienced a revival in Finland, sadly, here in North America they are mostly lost to history. Many connoisseurs consider them to be the pinnacle of sauna experience.
Detroit gangster haunt
For obvious reasons, you can’t wear a wire in the sauna. Maybe this is one reason The Schvitz, an eastern European style bathhouse in Detroit, was popular with the 1930s mob. The Schvitz has new ownership which has generated some buzz and is hopefully revitalizing this institution.
Island artist retreat
Rabbit Island is an idyllic, privately owned, artist community. And as if being located in Lake Superior wasn’t inspiration enough, they have a wood-burning sauna for residents to use! To read more about the fascinating origins of the Rabbit Island artist community, see the links below.
On the shores of Superior
No Finnish church camp would be complete without a sauna. Zion Lutheran in Hancock operates their scenic Camp Lahti retreat center on the shores of Lake Superior. Their sauna is large enough for a bevy of campers and is heated with a gigantic, custom made stove. All of this is just steps from a frigid dip in the waters of Gitche Gumee.
Historic saunas
Michigan is home to many historic saunas. A couple examples preserved for visitors to see are: the sauna at Old Victoria Restoration (a restored copper mining camp), and the smoke sauna at Hanka Homestead.
