The sign on the Cokato savusauna.
If you are traveling along a county road in wooded country regularly interrupted by small clearings, and intersected by roads with names that end in i or ala or nen, you are in the heart of North American sauna country. Any buildings you see that are similar to the structure just described have very likely been used as a family bathhouse.
Text excerpts and photographs taken from The Opposite of Cold:
The Northwoods Finnish Sauna Tradition by Michael Nordskog, photography by Aaron W. Hautala.
Published by the University of Minnesota Press, 2010. Copyright 2010 by Michael Nordskog. Photographs copyright 2010 by Aaron W. Hautala.
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