The glass
A small leaded pane in pond and ember, cut in our ripple pattern and set in the door where the stove light can find it. Each one made for its barrel.
Wood-fired · Strafford, Vermont
Handcrafted cedar barrel saunas
Wood-fired heat, pond-chilled water.
Hand-built cedar saunas you can own, book for two hours on our pond, or rent for weddings and gatherings. Made in Vermont.
Manifesto
A field note
Three rounds. No phones.
Heat until the noise in you goes quiet.
Cold until everything is awake.
Rest, and watch the fog move across the water.
Miller Pond Sauna Co. builds wood-fired cedar barrel saunas on a family pond in Vermont. We believe in slow heat, cold water, and the particular silence of a winter field. A sauna is not an appliance. It is a small building with a point of view.
The build
Raised by hand, in order.
Scroll to raise it
- 01The cradleTwo cedar cradles, leveled on the pad. No foundation, no pour.
- 02The stavesWhite cedar staves raised one at a time around the form, hand fitted.
- 03The bandsStainless compression bands drawn tight. Then drawn tight again.
- 04The doorTempered glass hung south-facing. The roundel leaded in, the driftwood pull last.
- 05The stoveWood-fired stove set, stone crown loaded, chimney through the crown of the barrel.
- 06First fireEvery unit fired on the pond before delivery. Then it's yours.
The sauna
A barrel, a stove, and nothing it does not need.
Every sauna leaves our barn the same way. Cedar staves fitted by hand, bands drawn tight, a stove sized for real löyly. No plastic, no film-set minimalism. Just wood that still smells like the forest it came from.
- Wood
- Clear white cedar, milled in Vermont
- Build
- Hand-raised, one at a time
- Heat
- Wood-fired stove, electric on request
- Capacity
- Seats 4 to 6
- Temperature
- 170 to 195 degrees F
- Footprint
- 7 by 9 feet, no foundation required
- Lead time
- Built to order, 8 to 10 weeks
- Tested
- One full winter on the pond
- Marks
- One glass roundel, one driftwood pull. No two alike
- 01Vermont white cedar staves, hand fitted and oiled
- 02Stainless compression bands, drawn tight twice
- 03Wood-fired stove with stone crown (electric on request)
- 04Two-tier cedar bench, seats 4 to 6
- 05Tempered glass door, south-facing by default
- 06Stained glass roundel, leaded by hand, set where the stove light lands
- 07Driftwood door pull, pulled from the pond
The maker's marks
The wood
A driftwood pull for the door, gathered from the pond and finished by hand. The water decides the shape. No two saunas alike.
The ritual
The oldest schedule there is.
01
Heat
Fifteen to twenty minutes on the top bench. Ladle water on the stones and let the steam settle the argument you were having with the day.
02
Cold
Walk out. The pond in summer, the plunge in winter, a bucket if you are brave in February. Ten seconds is enough. Stay for thirty.
03
Rest
A wool blanket, cold water, a chair facing the trees. This is the part people skip. It is the whole point.
Repeat until you stop counting.
The place
Named for a pond, kept by a family.
Miller Pond is a real place, just up the road. Its water runs down the brook, through this land, and into the pond our family shaped and has kept since 1972. Every sauna we build is tested here first, fired through a full Vermont winter before the design earns its name.
The pond is our benchmark. If a barrel cannot hold its heat at ten below while the ice creaks, it does not ship.
You can also just come sit in it. We host private two-hour sessions on the pond, Thursday through Sunday.
Book a session on the pondRead our story →One view, four seasons. Drawn, then photographed.
Mud season. The ice lets go of the shore.
Loons at dusk. The water finally warm.
Woodsmoke and sugar maples. Stacking season.
The plunge hole, cut and kept open daily.
For venues
The amenity your guests book twice.
For inns, farm stays, and small resorts across New England, a wood-fired sauna is the rare amenity that photographs well and operates simply. It runs on a cord of wood a season and turns a winter Tuesday into a reason to stay.
- Site walk
We visit, site the barrel for view and wind, and handle delivery logistics end to end.
- Install
Trailer or crane set, leveled, and fired the same day. No plumbing, no foundation, no permits in most towns.
- Protocol
Printed guest guides, staff training, and a seasonal maintenance schedule your team can actually follow.
- Support
One call. We built it, we service it, and we keep a stove and parts on the shelf for every unit in the field.
1 day
from delivery to first fire
Zero
plumbing or foundation
4 seasons
of bookable evenings
The mobile sauna
The pond comes to you.
The same hand-built barrel, set on a galvanized trailer and towed to your wedding, your retreat, your backyard, your finish line. We arrive early, level it, fire it, and stay to tend the stove. You hand your guests a towel and take the credit.
- Weddings
- Retreats
- Race recovery
- Ski weekends
- Backyard winters
01 We tow it
Driveways, fields, trailheads, town greens. If a pickup can get there, the sauna can.
02 We fire it
Hot in forty-five minutes, held near 180 all day. Cold plunge tubs and towels ride along.
03 We tend it
A stoker stays with the stove from first fire to last ember. You stay with your guests.
The waitlist
Built to order. Worth the wait.
We build a small number of saunas each year. Leave your email and we will write when a build slot opens. No newsletter, no noise.