Etched with caves and overhangs from years of scouring from ice and crashing waves, limestone ledges rise 20-40 feet above Lake Michigan in Cave Point County Park.
While these factoids may seem a bit dry, here’s a juicier tidbit: the Door region is one of the leading fruit producers in the nation. Tart, succulent Montmorency cherries and crunchy Ida-Red apples are grown in nearly 100 orchards, and from spring to fall you’ll find them everywhere—in pick-it-yourself orchards, at roadside stands, in jams, preserves and salsas, in wines and beers, and especially in those temptingly delicious pies served at eateries throughout the county. A friend and I paid a well-timed visit to Door County last September—just after the mass exodus of summer visitors—where we were blessed with sunny skies, near perfect temperatures, and delightfully uncrowded conditions. So please join us for a recap of our three-day driving tour, taking in key points of interest along both the lakeside and bayside of the slender peninsula. Our tour got underway in Sturgeon Bay, Door’s largest community with a population of about 9,800, situated near the bottomof the peninsula. We didn’t stop here, but as we crossed the State Route 42/57 bridge, we spotted several large freighters passing through a canal below. Sturgeon Bay boasts the Great Lakes’ largest shipyard and the city is home to the Door County Maritime Museum, an institution that anyone with nautical interests might want to include on their itinerary.
Welcome to Door County Story and photos by Dave G. Houser
For most of us, the Midwest doesn’t exactly pop to mind when planning a vacation. No soaring mountains. No towering redwoods. No steaming geysers or snowy glaciers. No ocean or palm-lined beaches. Agreed, much of the American heartland is flat, land-locked and best suited to farming—but it does offer a few surprises. Wisconsin’s Door County is one of them. A narrow 70-mile-long finger of land jutting northward between Lake Michigan and Green Bay, the Door Peninsula is a popular getaway destination for residents of Midwest metro areas such as Milwaukee, Chicago, Minneapolis/ St. Paul, and Indianapolis. But if you live elsewhere, listen up. You have no idea what you’re missing. Door County is a region rich in superlatives. It has more miles of coastline (298), more lighthouses (11), and more state parks (5) than any county in the United States.
DOOR COUNTY
COAST TO COAST FALL MAGAZINE 2017
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