I Stayed At The UAW’s Vacation Hideout In The Middle Of Nowhere. Here’s What It Was Like

The phrase “go to your happy place” is often used to discuss a place where you can mentally escape from your stresses. Maybe it’s a tropical paradise, maybe it’s a cozy spot curled up with your dog in a blanket. For me, it’s a slice of Northern Michigan.

The Walter and May Reuther Family Education Center, also known as the Black Lake Conference Center, is a multi-use facility and retreat on 1,000 acres in Presque Isle County, Michigan. It sits on the south end of Black Lake, the sixth-largest inland lake in the state. It’s made up of the “Old Lodge,” the “Upper Lodge.” “traditional hotel style rooms” and 50 full hookup campsites. The center’s website says it has 228 rooms and can host up to 395 people at a time. Features include an Olympic-sized swimming pool, lake access with a sandy beach, a boat dock, a large gymnasium, and scenic trails. There’s a golf course that Golf Digest previously ranked as the #69 best public course in the country and #5 in Michigan.

In the summer of 2020, my family like many others, was looking for remote camping locations. That’s when we discovered UAW Black Lake was now welcoming the public. This after decades of operating something akin to an “Area 51 site.”A secret spot that was sectioned off for years, leaving many to wonder what was inside.

Where The Hell Is Onaway?

The nearest settlement, home to 920 souls, is the city (yes, city) of Onaway. And of all coincidences, it’s known locally for the phrase “Onway Steers the World,” as it used to be home to the American Wood Rim Company, the world’s biggest supplier of wooden steering wheels. Some of its customers included Durant Motors and Oldsmobile. However, a fire on January 14, 1926, broke out in a sanding machine and quickly spread through the building. Four people died and it marked the end of the American Wood Rim Company.

Why Would You Build This In The Middle Of Nowhere?

Why would a labor organization have a retreat like this? Decades ago, the fourth UAW president, Walter Reuther, was looking for a unique space to meet a variety of needs. While researching this location, I had the chance to talk with Gavin Strassel, the UAW archivist at Wayne State University. He says Black Lake became Reuther’s passion project. There was scenic beauty, the location was intentionally remote, and it was affordable. The land also had a preexisting hunting cabin–now known as the “Old Lodge”–that has since been expanded. There’s even a legend that Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz honeymooned at the lodge. It’s quite lovely and it’s not uncommon to see weddings at the lodge’s beach during the summer.

Reuther grew up in Wheeling, West Virginia. It had a fair amount of industry but also gave him the chance to access nature, giving him a deep appreciation. Per Strassel, Reuther’s photos and letters paint a picture of someone who appreciated hiking and fishing. He “believed that nature was something that could be calming and relaxing.” It also aligned with the union’s goals and mission. At that time, the UAW had a Recreation and Conservation Department. Acquiring this space would give workers a chance to see an environment worth saving and make use of it as well. Because when you’re fighting for vacation time, it’s beneficial to give people a place to play.

By 1967, the union had acquired the land and work had begun. Three years later, Reuther and his wife, May, showed off the main buildings to other UAW leaders.

Tragically on May 9, two months before the UAW was set to host a landmark assembly with the U.N. at the new facility, Reuther died in a plane crash while on approach to the Pellston Regional Airport, roughly 30 miles west of Black Lake. All six people onboard, Walter, May, their nephew and bodyguard Willy Wolfman, architect Oscar Stonorov, and pilots Goerge Evans and Joseph Karrafa, were killed.

Factoring In The Environment

Stonorov was not only the designer of the space but a close friend of Reuther. The center’s website says they “were committed to preserving the oak, pines, maples, aspen and hemlock trees on the site. He (Reuther) and Stonorov wanted the Center to be a lesson on how to build without destroying nature. Reuther personally examined and tagged practically every tree on the site and, in some cases, construction lines were altered to preserve a particular piece of nature.”

Strassel also says there was an overseas influence, both on the modern minimalist style and approach to the retreat.

“Ruth there was influenced by Scandinavian traditions for labor union traditions,” said Strassel. “I think it’s a focus on member education. And not just having people take classes but giving them a place a nice setting where their brains can be away from the daily grind and they can focus on learning.”

Parallels To Today

While talking with Strassel, I was surprised to learn how much early environmentalism was part of UAW history. The opening of UAW Black Lake predated the Carter administration by almost seven years.

Despite Reuther’s passing, the UAW Family Education Center hosted the U.N. symposium ” The Impact Of Urbanization On Man’s Environment” from June 14-20, 1970. The opening statement in surviving literature is a call to action that, even more than 50 years later, sounds eerily familiar.

 THERE IS A WORLDWIDE CRISIS of the human environment, and the impact of urban settlements on that environment takes place within the broader context of international instability and the difficulty, in highly industrialized and less developed countries alike, of transforming human settlements into true communities. The precarious condition of human life and the human community has resulted in a sharpened sense of solidarity. Society, however, has not yet found the capacity to install that sense of solidarity at the center of attention or in the making of decisions and the carrying out of policies, although such policies may conceivably destroy man himself, either through sudden nuclear annihilation or through a slower but ultimately total destruction of the web of life. Even if man escapes those fates, he nevertheless may well suffer the unhappy future that has been foreseen if world society does not mend its ways: that of the living death of long-term adaptation to a steadily declining quality of life.

Strassel says this conference was the first of its kind and led up to the landmark 1972 U.N. Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm, Sweden.

The Value Of Living History

In addition to serving as a lakeside getaway, the center also serves as a history museum of sorts. There’s an exhibit that documents the UAW presidencies of Reuther (1946-1970), Leonard Woodcock (1970-1977), Douglas Fraser (1977-1983), Owen Bieber (1983-1995), and Stephen Yokich (1995-2002). Photos and artifacts from their life and tenure help tell the story of one of America’s major labor movements, which have helped to shape the rights of workers. Strassel believes the exhibit helps demonstrate a direct line between then and now, especially coming off 2023’s Stand-Up Strike. That autoworkers, and labor rights, are a fight that each generation helps advance.

“They might see a lot of similarities between these historical materials and what they’re doing now,” said Strassel.

“You’d hope that by looking at this and making this connection, they might see that the work they’re doing now, decades and decades down the line, this is what people are going to be celebrating. This is going to be what people are studying. That today, this moment in history that they are making, (is) tomorrow’s history and I think that’s pretty special.”

You Gotta Drive North American

Respect for the UAW extends beyond its history and the Center, which stands as a living tribute. It also impacts your parking. Just like how many auto plants across the U.S. strongly encourage driving a car that bears the company’s logo, forcing those driving other makes to park in far-off parking lots, the same goes for UAW Black Lake. To park your car for more than 15 minutes at either the hotel or campground, it has to have been assembled by either the UAW, UNIFOR, or UNIFOR’s predecessor, the CAW. Otherwise, after you’ve dropped off your belongings and gear,  you’re directed to park in a small lot outside the retreat’s grounds. But don’t worry, a security guard on a minibus can shuttle you back to the resort or the campground if needed.

This also may or may not be the reason I purchased my 1997 Ford Mustang GT convertible. I got it for a song in the summer of 2021m and while it ran, it’s probably best to describe it as “well-loved.” It’s become the best kind of project car, one that I can enjoy on the weekend and while still learning how to wrench on weekdays. Just don’t tell anyone at Ford that I’ve used a lot of AC Delco parts.

Since this area was built for UAW members, that’s probably who you’re going to run into there 95% of the time. This creates a unique sense of camaraderie among the campers as their a shared sense of respect for each other’s work and an ownership and pride of the facilities. There’s nothing worse when camping than trying to go to the bathroom and finding it trashed. That’s never been my experience there, maybe because everyone there knows where the money comes from if something becomes abused and broken.

The first time I visited with my Mustang, I ran into a gentleman who worked at Ford’s Flat Rock Assembly. He said his tenure covered the Fox body to S197. He said it made him happy to see the cars he built at the center, even if the jellybean wasn’t his favorite aesthetic.

A Slightly Too Nice Cabin In The Woods

If you’ve heard of the UAW’s ties to Black Lake before, it might have been because of the 219 corruption scandal. The FBI raided the center and seized documents and records. It resulted in the resignation of then-UAW president Gary Jones. The UAW alleges that he spent more than $1 million of union funds on expensive trips, extravagant dinners and cigars, golf clubs, and clothes for himself and his friends and family. He was sentenced in 2021 to 28 months in prison and ordered to pay $550,000 in restitution. In all, 16 people were charged and at least eight have been sentenced, according to the Automotive News. Those include Dennis Williams, whom an incredibly lavish cabin was built for.

According to Strassel, the union has long had a practice of building cabins on the property for retiring presidents. These are formally gifted to them at their outgoing convention as a “tip of the cap” from the UAW delegates.

Well, that might sound weird, but experts the Detroit Free Press talked to in 2021 said it wasn’t unreasonable.

…allowing retired union leaders to stay at Black Lake is understandable, given that their compensation is likely many times less than the corporate executives they face off against during their careers.

However, this was not an “understandable” build according to retired autoworkers Dick Danjin and Frank Hammer.

“It is so exorbitantly unique,” said Dick Danjin, a retired General Motors worker and UAW International representative. “In a full-sun eclipse, it would be shining.”

“The fact that (former presidents) were able to use a cabin for their purposes when they traveled up to Black Lake seemed quite reasonable as an expression of gratitude for the president’s service to the union. I don’t think there was a soul in the UAW who had a problem with it. What’s been done here was not in the same category at all,” Hammer said.

William’s “Cabin 4” was sold in June 2020 for $1.1 million, down from the original asking price of $1.3 million. The Freep says plans included granite counters, stainless steel appliances, a fireplace, a wine cooler, and a hidden storage room.

In theory, the two in line for cabins would be Rory Gamble, who became acting president amid the 2019 scandal and retired in 2021, and Ray Curry, who lost his re-election bid last year to Shawn Fain. I have reached out to the UAW for comment on whether the practice of building cabins for former presidents has been revised or changed since 2019.

Even If You’re Not In The Union You’re Welcome Here

I’m not a member of the UAW. To my knowledge, no one in my immediate family has ever worked for an automaker. However, there are multiple teachers in my family and they’re members of the Michigan Education Association union. Since UAW Black Lake opened its doors to the public, it has offered discounted rates to union members, regardless of which union. This has made going back to Black Lake an affordable way to get back to a childhood spot.

My ties with the area are through my maternal grandmother. She acquired a plot of land in the 1960s on the lake’s west side. Initially used for camping with her kids, a kit home cottage was built there one section at a time with occasional contributions from her parents. Growing up, this is where we’d go as a family to escape from the world. In 2015, four years after her passing, my aunt and uncles (who all had 1/5 share of the property) voted to sell. I helped pack up all the furniture and thought I’d never see the lake again. Then, during the pandemic, as we were looking for remote areas to camp at, we discovered UAW Black Lake had opened its doors to the public. According to staffers, this happened around 2011-2012, which would have been during Bob King’s tenure as UAW president.

If you’re in the area or looking for an adventure, you should consider coming to stay here for a night (or six!). Campsites are just $48 a day and the spots come with all the natural beauty this part of Michigan has to offer. And now you don’t have to work the line to enjoy it.