Namur in Door County, Wisconsin — The American Midwest (Great Lakes)
Belgian Settlement in Wisconsin
Photographed by Keith L, September 17, 2008
1. Belgian Settlement in Wisconsin Marker
Inscription.
Belgian Settlement in Wisconsin. . Wisconsin's and the nation's largest Belgian American settlement is located in portions of Brown, Kewaunee and Door counties adjacent to the waters of Green Bay. Walloon-speaking Belgians settled the region in the 1850s and still constitute a high proportion of the population. A variety of elements attests to the Belgian American presence: place names (Brussels, Namur, Rosiere, Luxemburg), a local French patois, common surnames, unique foods (boohyah, trippe, jutt), the Kermiss harvest festival, and especially architecture. Many of the original wooden structures of the Belgian Americans were destroyed in a firestorm that swept across southern Door County in October 1871. A few stone houses made of local dolomite survived. More common are 1880s red brick houses, distinguished by modest size and gable-end, bull's-eye windows. Some houses have detached summer kitchens with bake ovens appended to the rear. And the Belgians, many of them devout Catholics, also erected small roadside votive chapels like those in their homeland.
Wisconsin's and the nation's largest Belgian American settlement is located in portions of Brown, Kewaunee and Door counties adjacent to the waters of Green Bay. Walloon-speaking Belgians settled the region in the 1850s and still constitute a high proportion of the population. A variety of elements attests to the Belgian American presence: place names (Brussels, Namur, Rosiere, Luxemburg), a local French patois, common surnames, unique foods (boohyah, trippe, jutt), the Kermiss harvest festival, and especially architecture. Many of the original wooden structures of the Belgian Americans were destroyed in a firestorm that swept across southern Door County in October 1871. A few stone houses made of local dolomite survived. More common are 1880s red brick houses, distinguished by modest size and gable-end, bull's-eye windows. Some houses have detached summer kitchens with bake ovens appended to the rear. And the Belgians, many of them devout Catholics, also erected small roadside votive chapels like those in their homeland.
Erected 1993 by the Wisconsin Historical Society. (Marker Number 321.)
Location. 44° 44.062′ N, 87° 39.982′ W. Marker is in Namur, Wisconsin, in Door County. It is on County Road DK east of County Road N, on the left when traveling east. Marker is immediately south of Our Lady of the Snows Cemetery; near the Belgian Heritage Center, formerly Our Lady of the Snows Church. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 1255 County Road DK, Brussels WI 54204, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is on Wisconsin’s Door Peninsula. It is also in the American Midwest, on the Great Lakes, and in the Corn Belt. Globally, it is in North America, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once the territory of the Mississippian Culture and also the Northwest Territory.
Remaining headstones from the cemetery are saved on a cement slab.
Photographed by Keith L, September 17, 2008
4. National Historic Landmark Plaque
Photographed by Robert L Weber
5. Cemetery Behind Marker
Credits. This page was last revised on June 16, 2016. It was originally submitted on October 6, 2008, by Keith L of Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin. This page has been viewed 3,620 times since then and 90 times this year. Photos:1, 2, 3, 4. submitted on October 6, 2008, by Keith L of Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin. 5. submitted on December 14, 2010, by Bob (peach) Weber of Dewey, Arizona. • Craig Swain was the editor who published this page.
