Wilson’s Restaurant and Ice Cream Parlor in Ephraim is the perfect stop on your way to Stavekirke on Washington Island or to explore the tugboat John Purves.
leaving Door County and heading toward Milwaukee or Chicago. The lakes were the only way to get around.” The lighthouse still has its original third-order Fresnel lens made in France. “Nowadays it uses an electric light,” ex- plains Anderson. “It’s a light bulb the size of your little finger and only 250 watts, but on a clear night — because of the efficiency of this lens — you can see the light 18 miles out on the lake.” Before electricity, kerosene, mineral oil, and lard fueled the light. “Lard oil was troublesome because it’s solid at room temperature,” Anderson contin- ues. “They had to melt it on the kitchen stove and then climb the tower and pour it into the light. And they’d have to do that every two or two-and-a-half hours throughout the night.” While there are no clambakes, Door County does have its popular fish boils, created years ago as an economical way to feed hungry lumberjacks. The recipe includes adding potatoes and onions to a boiling cauldron over a wood fire and,
when cooked, adding chunks of Great Lakes whitefish. The final step results in a dramatic fire flash when kerosene is poured onto the fire to burn off fish oils surfacing to the top. I join the fish boil at the Rowley’s Bay Resort off Lake Michigan, which includes an actor portraying the area’s early settler and namesake, Peter Rowley, who recounts the bay’s history. “We’re talking about the early Jesuit missionaries called black robes trying to convert the Potawatomie to Christianity,” says resort owner Jewel Ouradnik. In the cheesehead state, there’s cer- tainly no shortage of Door County cheese, cherries, and wine tastings, with all three products from local suppliers. On the mainland part of the peninsula, I stop in Renard’s Cheese, a company that ages tangy cheddar for up to 14 years and sells more than 70 varieties — stringy mozzarella, sharp cheddar, and apple and cheddar with cinnamon, to name a few. “We have cheddar made with Door County cherries,” says manager
Carissa Neinas. Most popular are the small cheese curds made fresh every day — popular, because they squeak when chewed. “If you find a cheese curd that’s squeaky, then it’s fresh,” says Neinas. The area’s shipbuilding heritage comes to life at the Door County Maritime Mu- seum in downtown Sturgeon Bay, near the scenic bridges connecting northern Door County to the mainland. Exhibi- tions feature model boats, lighthouses and more. Visitors can also explore the crews’ quarters and twin diesel engines of the restored 1960s-era tugboat, the John Purves . “Whether it’s lighthouses or shipbuilding,” explains Jon Gast, volunteer coordinator,” we’re trying to preserve maritime interest and tell that story because that’s what this peninsula is all about.”
FOR MORE INFORMATION Door County, Wisconsin Doorcounty.com
SUMMER 2014 COAST TO COAST 13
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