The Jampot

To this idyllic spot next to Jacob's Fall three monks in hooded brown robes withdrew from the world in 1983 to create the monastic community of the Society of St. John. Their mission, as explained at their website The Magnificat, is "to embrace the struggle of life in a hard place; to heed the counsels of the monastic fathers, to come to know God through personal and liturgical prayer, and to beg His mercy upon ourselves and upon the whole world."

The Society is a Catholic Monastery of the Byzantine Rite, belonging to the Ukrainian Metropoly in the U.S. "We embrace evangelical poverty, chastity, obedience, and stability of life, according to the Rule of Saint Benedict," states their web site. Ukrainian Catholics have historically looked both to the east and the west.

Things have worked out well for the monks. Their location on a beautiful road busy with summer visitors has enabled them to build a market for their exusite baked goods and jams, without a phone and without much advertising. Their jam, muffins, breads, cookies, brownies, and giant chocolate chip cookies are not cheap, for they obviously have not cut corners with ingredients. Summer business has led to

As strange and wonderful as the Jampot bakery is this splendid chapel across the road. It's an outgrowth of the monks' modest beginnings at the Jampot. Visitors are welcome for daily 8 a.m. services.

lots of Christmas business shipping their jams and rich and delicious rum cakes, sold by mail and on the Internet the Jampot Store (The website also gives retreat information.)

The long winter and physical bakery work meshes well with the traditional monastic life of contemplation. "The winter solitude and the healing presence of Lake Superior make this a good place to live out the monastic tradition," states the Magnificat.

Originally the monks gathered their own local berries for the jams and fruit butters they make, but now that work is paid. Some bakery customers become interested in the retreats offered to men — only men — who are clergy or are interested in pursuing a monastic vocation. Retreatants focus on celebrating the Divine Office and Divine Liturgy for four hours a day, and then meditate and reflect in silence and solitude except for meals.

Great Lakes Waterfalls & Beyond

Jacobs Falls, next to the Jam Pot, flows right next M-26. Weirdly, a motel once straddled Jacobs Creek on the other side of the highway. But in the 1950s, a beaver dam far to the east near the creek's source at Meadow Lake burst. The resulting tidal wave of water destroyed the motel.

Increased business has, alas, necessitated a large parking lot which spoils The Jampot's early tucked-away mystique. The monks' elaborate, onion-domed Holy Transfiguration Skete has been constructed just east of The Jampot on Lake Superior's shore. A large surprise bequest from a distant customer enabled it to be built ahead of schedule.

Visitors are welcome at Sunday Mass, but be prepared to stand — for up to two hours — and to be surrounded by incense. Check the Society's web site for details.

Getting back to food, the pumpkin muffin, full of raisins and nuts and iced with lemon frosting, wins raves for its flavor and texture. Just one with milk and a piece of fresh fruit makes a good lunch. The cakes — delights like walnut ginger cake, lemon pound cake, the Abbey Cake, rich with walnuts, raisins, molasses, and bourbon — are elaborate and costly.

Orders can now be filled online — a convenience for customers, since the monks have no published phone number. The newsletter is filled with prayers, scripture, meditations, and reflection, plus descriptions of the monastic life in the far north. An excerpt: "When we hear the comment at the Jampot, 'Well, you certainly do live in God's country,' we are likely to respond, 'Everywhere is God's country.' If we are feeling talkative, we may also add, 'But it is easier to see Him in some places than in others.'"

Open Mon-Sat 10-5 Mem. Day thru color season. Early May by chance. No phone. Mailing address: Society of St. John, Star Route 1, Box 226, Eagle Harbor, MI 49950. societystjohn.com
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