Eeek!!! Can it be the second week of October already?
In a constant drizzle, we lined up for the ferry that would take us to Washington Island via the treacherous Death's Door! Look at all those stickers on that car in front of us! Anyway, it was a smooth ride and only took about half an hour.
So where did we go after checking into our hotel and having a few drinks? A church of course, this reproduction Stavkirke or Church of Staves, was built to reflect the immigrant influence on the island. It was constructed by hand, as a community effort and finished in 1995. Although it looks like something you might find in Middle Earth, it's actually based on one in Norway that dates from 1150 A.D. This one is owned and managed by the Trinity Lutheran Church across the road and is actually used for weddings and baptisms.
The haunting exterior has an ominous presence.
Until you open the door and the inside is automatically flooded with light, ha!
Honestly, it works just like opening a refrigerator door.
Doesn't this look like a door on a ship?
"Stav" is the norse word for the posts that make up the vertical structure in post and lintel construction. During medieval times, to prepare pine trees for use in building material, the trees were stripped of their branches and left to stand. The tree resins would bleed out through the branch cuts which caused the heartwood to become highly resinous. This made the wood more resistant to rot and decay and it is the reason there are so many of these structures still around hundreds of years later. Do you see the ship in this photo amongst all the stavs? It's a replica of a Mackinaw Boat. They were famous for their speed and used for fishing on Lake Michigan in the 1800's.
HM taking a pinhole photo through the front door.
The landscaping and bell tower were completed in 1999. It's towards the end of the growing season but these plants really go well with the surrounding woodland and medieval look of the stavkirke.
If this looks familiar to you, it may be because you have seen a similar structure at Disney World in Orlando. The Norway pavilion in Epcot is also based on the same design. Maybe Elsa and Anna will stop by for a visit someday? It was a fun place to explore but we had to get back to the hotel and warm up, between the rain and the chilly temps we were absolutely Frozen!
Thanks for visiting!
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