Traditional fish boil at White Gull Inn, Fish Creek
Cana Island Lighthouse
years ago as an economical way to feed hungry anglers and lumberjacks. The recipe includes adding potatoes to a boiling cauldron over a wood fire, and when cooked, adding chunks of locally caught whitefish. At nightfall, we stop by Fish Creek’s White Gull Inn to watch the preparation resulting in a dramatic fire flash when kerosene is poured onto the fire to burn off fish oils surfacing to the top. For great waterside views, I walk the winding ramp up Eagle Tower at Peninsula State Park overlooking Green Bay with Horseshoe Island and distant Chambers Island. For Lake Michigan views, the Cana Island Lighthouse can be reached with a tractor-pulled pedestrian wagon over an often-flooded gravel causeway. Farther south, Whitefish Dunes State Park has the state’s largest sand dunes and Native American village ruins. In downtown Sturgeon Bay, the newly built 10-story Door County Maritime Museum Lighthouse Tower overlooks the harbor and scenic bridges connecting the peninsula’s northern part to the mainland. The museum showcases the area’s shipbuilding heritage and Great Lakes commerce history with exhibitions of model boats, lighthouses, and more. Visitors can explore the crews’ quarters and twin diesel engines of the restored 1919 Great Lakes tugboat John Purves.
It’s in Door County where I finally become a true Wisconsin cheesehead. At Renard’s Artisan Cheese store in Sturgeon Bay, I sample fun string cheese and squeaky—yes, it squeaks—yellow cheese curds. “The fresher it is, the squeakier it is,” explains Renard’s Director of Sales Franca Bueno. “The proteins are tightly bound on the cheese curds so when you chew them, they rub against your teeth.” “I like to say it talks back,” she adds, “and it talks backs really loud.”
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ON THE WISCONSIN WATERFRONT
COAST TO COAST MAGAZINE SUMMER 2022 | 34
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