Sevastopol orchards thrive in an ideal blend of climate and soils. Lime-rich soils provide essential nutrients for fruit trees. In addition, cool spring temperatures moderated by the waters and ice of Lake Michigan and Green Bay delay blooming. . . . — — Map (db m130498) HM
Blessed with good farmland and a deep water port, Egg Harbor has thrived since its beginning in 1861. In the early years, Egg Harbor served fishermen, farmers, and lumbermen. It was the first community in Door County to hard surface its road. . . . — — Map (db m130495) HM
This bell called students to class at the Rowleys Bay School for about 40 years until the school was consolidated with Wildwood School in the fall of 1923. For 37 years the Rowleys Bay Resort tolled the bell at their fish boils (1986-2023). In 2024 . . . — — Map (db m254159) HM
The Door Peninsula is a dynamic landscape formed by
water and limestone.
The Niagara Escarpment, a high limestone ridge along Green Bay, tilts at a 6-degree angle toward Lake Michigan where it disappears under water. This limestone is . . . — — Map (db m254228) HM
Sevastopol is the heart of Door Peninsula's famous fruit orchards. Swiss immigrant Joseph Zettel planted the first orchard one mile from here in 1862. His State Fair apple exhibit led University of Wisconsin scientists Emmett Golf and Arthur . . . — — Map (db m130496) HM
The land surrounding you was once owned by John Ellison. Johan Eliason, later known as John Ellison, was a Danish immigrant who founded this community in 1865. He purchased 8,000 acres of land including a mile of shoreline, and advertised in . . . — — Map (db m130477) HM
This view has inspired people for more than a century.
From this vantage point, you can see Ellison Bay nestled into the wooded bluffs of the Niagara Escarpment, the waters of Green Bay, and Washington Island in the distance. A Door . . . — — Map (db m254230) HM
The limestone bluffs you see along Green Bay are part of the same formation that Niagara Falls plunges over in New York. The Niagara Escarpment arches for a thousand miles around the Great Lakes. Lower layers of soft, erodible shale are . . . — — Map (db m130478) HM
Sister Bay was named For the Sister Islands that Flank its harbor. This pair of small uninhabited islands is a significant nesting site for gulls and terns. The Village of Sister Bay offers the largest public waterfront in Door County for . . . — — Map (db m229455) HM
Village life has always revolved around this deep water port.
The community of Sister Bay was born in 1870 when the firm of Henderson, Coon & Dimond built a pier, sawmill, grist mill, hotel, and two stores. They hired Swedish woodchoppers . . . — — Map (db m229454) HM
Village life has always revolved around this deep water port.
The community of Sister Bay was born in 1870 when the firm of Henderson, Coon & Dimond built a pier, sawmill, grist mill, hotel, and two stores. They hired Swedish woodchoppers . . . — — Map (db m229453) HM
In 1858 Joseph Zettel, a native of Switzerland, acquired the farm directly south of this Station and established the first commercial orchard on the Door Peninsula. The high yields and quality of his fruit aroused the interest of Emmett S. Goff of . . . — — Map (db m5190) HM
Behind you, Government Bluff rises 150 feet above the waters of Sturgeon Bay. It was here that Door County’s first industry began in 1834 — a limestone quarry. Originally intended for a military fort that was never constructed, the stone was . . . — — Map (db m74258) HM
The Town of Williamsonville
Tornado Memorial Park in Door County is located on the site of the former settlement of Williamsonville. The town was settled by the Williamson family in 1869 to take advantage of the Door County State Road . . . — — Map (db m80215) HM
The schooner was found off Bailey's Harbor in Door County, Wisconsin. The rudder was brought up from Lake Michigan by Century Divers of Lake County, Illinois. It is estimated to be from about 1827. — — Map (db m131469) HM
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 . . . — — Map (db m12141) HM
The Farm Forty (SW 1/4 of NW 1/4 Section 26 Township 28 North, Range 26 East) was part of the first commercial orchard in Door County. In 1895, this orchard of 77 acres was the largest in Wisconsin. Joseph Zettel, a Swiss immigrant who arrived in . . . — — Map (db m289818) HM
Introduction
You are in the Namur Belgian-American National Historic Landmark District, certified in 1900 and the only such District of Wisconsin. This rural landscape appears today much as it did a century ago, and harbors a number of . . . — — Map (db m145892) HM
The Door Peninsula is an ecological treasure with more shoreline and rare plants and animals than any other county in Wisconsin.
Ancient rivers and glaciers carved valleys through the soft limestone peninsula creating rich and varied . . . — — Map (db m254231) HM
Why is the fence here? The fence is to limit access to a contaminated area. In the early days the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) was contacted by a hunter that an area within the boundaries of the wildlife refuge was devoid of . . . — — Map (db m39114) HM
"There is a certain irony to the fact that Wisconsin's only formally designated Wilderness Park was once a bustling village."
—Robert J.W Erwin
Wisconsin Natural Resources Magazine
This stern frame cast iron propeller and steel shaft is believed to be from the lumber steamer Mueller which was built as Edwin S. Tice in 1887 at the Burger yards in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. She measured 159.9 x 32.1 x 12.5; 728 gross tons. The vessel . . . — — Map (db m145895) HM
Prior to merging with the City of Sturgeon Bay in 1891, the west side of the bay was known as Sawyer. Despite being absorbed into Sturgeon Bay, the west side continued to be called Sawyer for many years and many landmarks bear the Sawyer name, . . . — — Map (db m145896) HM
While the WIS 57 corridor is rich in Euroamerican history, prior to the 19th Century, the Native American presence is the major historical record on the Door Peninsula. For perhaps 12,000 years, Indian peoples have lived on the Door Peninsula and . . . — — Map (db m143329) HM
Mid 1800s Carrington Home built by Miles Carrington.
1863 Thomas Toft arrives in Baileys Harbor, WI
1868 Massive fire in Baileys Harbor, Carrington built a two-family home for housing . . . — — Map (db m288580) HM
Donors: Jeanette and Myrtle Fitzgerald
This corn crib was already old when it was given to the Fitzgeralds for their farm on Blackberry Rd. in the 1950s. For many years it held corn cobs, which were fed to livestock.
Later, Fitzgerald . . . — — Map (db m254212) HM
One hundred years ago, the Fish Creek dock was a bustling portal to a summer vacationland.
Arriving tourists, decked out in elegant clothes, waved cheerfully as steamers delivered them from the summer heat of Chicago and Milwaukee. Many . . . — — Map (db m230274) HM
Meadows along Sentinel Trail hint of past lives. Many Scandinavian settlers farmed and logged the land that became Peninsula State Park in 1909. An 1899 map shows this spot belonging to the Neilsons. Can you imagine a log house and barn?
As you . . . — — Map (db m253921) HM
The home of Ole Larsen, first farmer in Door County, stood here. In 1850 he came to Eagle Island where he supplied the Buffalo Steamer with wood on its weekly run to Green Bay. Three years later the timber was consumed and he moved his log house to . . . — — Map (db m306939) HM
Early Presence
Jean Nicolet was among the first Europeans to arrive in
Wisconsin, landing on the eastern shore of Green Bay near Red Banks in 1634. He was followed by Claude Allouez in 1639 and Father Louis Hennepin in 1675.
For . . . — — Map (db m80287) HM
How old are the rocks? The rocks exposed at Cave Point are from the Silurian Period, a geologic time period which lasted from approximately 435 million years ago to 410 million years ago. Where can the same bedrock be . . . — — Map (db m218520) HM
About 1878, John Leathem and Thomas Smith came to this area from Door County, Wisconsin. They cut the towering pines along the west shore of Green Bay and built a saw mill to make lumber and shingles. Over 400 hundred men were employed in the . . . — — Map (db m139042) HM
The Roi-Porlier-Tank Cottage… has an extraordinary rich history in Green Bay, as it was home to a fur trader, schoolmaster, judge and missionary.
In 1803, a French Canadian fur trader by the name of Joseph Roi built the small cottage . . . — — Map (db m241106) HM
Joseph Harris, Sr. recognized as the Father of Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal, was born in London, England in 1813 and emigrated to the United States in 1849. Coming to Door County in 1855, he became involved in real estate. He built the first brick . . . — — Map (db m191568) HM
When Sturgeon Bay was settled in the 1850's a boat was needed to cross the bay except in winter when people and teams of horses or oxen could cross over the ice. Ferry service was established beginning in 1860, using rowed or winch pulled ferries . . . — — Map (db m131478) HM
Here on Rock Island's northern most point, 122 feet above Lake Michigan, Wisconsin's first lighthouse was constructed in 1836.
Since this lighthouse was not well built, it was replaced with the present structure in 1858.
In the . . . — — Map (db m204693) HM
Type: Wooden Schooner, three masted
Built: 1873, George Goble, Oswego, N.Y.
Sank: October 18, 1878
Length: 138’ Beam: 26’
Cargo: Wheat
Depth of Wreckage: 110’
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places
About eight miles . . . — — Map (db m56036) HM
Once this land flourished under the waves of a warm, shallow sea. Then it lay frozen under the weight of thick, glacial ice. After millions of years, it emerged as a gem to be treasured.
1 Bathed with Warm Waves Around 420 million years ago, . . . — — Map (db m232588) HM
What Does the Vandermissen Brickworks Site Represent?
On October 8, 1871, the Peshtigo fire destroyed many of the Belgian farms and small towns along the west side of the Door Peninsula.
The Belgians rebuilt after the fire using bricks . . . — — Map (db m80223) HM
Thin black lines indicate changes in relevance. Between each pair of lines entries are ordered geographically but all have the same relevance.
* Inflectional forms of words are their plurals, singulars, and possessives as well as gramatical tenses and similar variations.
