We drove up the Door Peninsula along the Lake Michigan shoreline from Manitowic, stopping briefly at the Waterfront Bar & Grille in Kewaune for a surprisingly good lunch of made from scratch soup and salad. We reached Sturgeon Bay by 3pm and drove immediately to the shipping canal. This turned out to be a disappointment. The canal connects Green Bay to Lake Michigan via Sturgeon Bay, enabling ships to avoid a series of dangerous rapids. We headed toward the Sturgeon Bay Canal Lighthouse, a tall column light built in 1899 and then reinforced with steel bracing in 1903 to improve stability. Unfortunately, the area near the canal is a coast guard station and restricted to the public. We found this out as we approached the canal, only to be quickly escorted off the property and told we were trespassing on a military base!
We were able to walk out to the end of a very poorly maintained pier. A second lighthouse, the Sturgeon Bay North Canal Pierhead Light, anchored the end and guided boats to the opening of the canal. We’d expected to watch lake freighters passing in and out of the channel not unlike what happens at the Sault St. Marie locks but alas, except for a few pleasure boats we did not see any vessels entering or leaving the canal. A local man on the pier said that shipping traffic was down considerably in Green Bay and that we’d be lucky to see one cargo ship a day pass by at this time of year. The best time to see freighters in this area he said was in late October – many of the ships in the Great Lakes come to Sturgeon Bay to dock for maintenance at the large shipyard during the winter.
We drove to downtown Sturgeon Bay and easily found our lodging, the Holiday Music Motel, located at the approach of the Main Street bridge. Built in 1952, the property was the first motel in Door County and included such modern amenities as a ventilated phone booth, fire proof furnishings, tile bathrooms, photo-mirrors and theater-lit hallways. The original neon sign still illuminates the way for guests.
Today the hotel is owned and operated by a group of musicians and music lovers and is an integral part of the local music scene. It hosts open mic nights, concerts and songwriters’ retreats and musicians from around the world often stay as guests while recording music in the facility’s on site recording studio. It’s advertising materials claim that thousands of songs ‘have been written, recorded and mastered’ at the Holiday Motel.
Damaged by an electrical fire in 2008, the motel was upgraded but restored to its 1950’s vibe with vintage tile and furniture. The lobby showcased the venue’s musical heritage with an assortment of guitars, keyboards and old radios strewn about the room. The classic cellophane Christmas tree in the middle of July was a quirky touch. Our rooms were quintessential 1950’s decor complete with rotary dial phones! The self serve breakfast nook was reminiscent of a diner from that era with a patterned formica countertop and fuscia swivel stools! All in all, this was a very fun place to spend our one night in Sturgeon Bay!
After settling into our rooms, we drove a few miles down the road to Sunset Park to enjoy the beautiful weather & water and a glass of wine & snacks before dinner. With 41 acres on the bay, the park is a lovely place to stroll, picnic and watch a variety of water fowl congregate along the water’s edge. The park is also next to the Sturgeon Bay shipyard so when leaving, we drove around the property to see the immensity of its operation – there were only a few yachts in the yard at this time of year but it was easy to image the yard filled with enormous lake freighters.
We had dinner on the patio of the Stone Harbor Inn overlooking a marina and one of the many bridges across Sturgeon Bay. It was a lovely location to watch all types of boats sail back and forth under the drawbridge.
The water level of Lake Michigan and consequently, the bay, was extremely high. This required raising the drawbridge for any boat bigger than a pontoon. We saw the bridge raised and lowered at least five times over the course of our 75 minute dinner.
As dusk approached, the light softened, casting lovely reflections of the bridge on the calm surface of the bay. With the bridge closed, you could see how close the water level was to the underside of the steel roadway. As the sun set, we finished our dinner, then headed across the street to our motel for the evening.
Up early the next morning, I explored the town of Sturgeon Bay on foot. The Main Street bridge is walkable so I strolled across the girder to the opposite shore. Sturgeon Bay spans both sides of the bay and is connected by several bridges.
Across the bay at the foot of the bridge is the Door County Maritime Museum; we planned to visit before heading out of town later this morning.
While crossing the bridge, a brigade of boats passed under in single file. I never discovered their purpose but it was interesting to watch this flotilla of twenty five boats parade past.
Much to my delight, while on the bridge, the crossing gates lowered, lights flashed and bells clanged signalling that the drawbridge was being raised. I had a great view of the platform rising and lowering for a passing boat from the stationary deck of the bridge – a very cool vantage point to watch from!
I continued walking along the water’s edge passing the many marinas filled with sailboats, yachts and fishing boats. This is a paradise for boating and water sports enthusiasts especially on beautiful summer days like today.
I wandered into the central business district of Sturgeon Bay, a quaint town with lots of food shops (chocolate, fudge and cheese being the most prominent), boutiques and cafes. Scattered throughout the streets, chairs painted by local artists were not just for display but encouraged visitors to take a seat and rest. These would be auctioned later in the summer to raise funds for community art development. The chair on display near the Holiday Music Motel was appropriately themed!
After a quick breakfast in the motel diner, we visited the Door County Maritime Museum. Located on the waterfront across the bay from the Main Street Bridge, the museum showcases the area’s rich maritime heritage. There are three galleries; the first exhibits a variety of exquisitely crafted wooden boats, most notable those constructed by iconic boat builder ChrisCraft in the early 1900s, a variety of outboard motors and a restored 1907 steamship wheelhouse. A second gallery, called Sentinels of the Shore, was all about lighthouses and not only displayed photos and information on the history of the Door County lights but artifacts from the keepers and their families who tended the lighthouses.
The final gallery brought to life the story of Door County shipbuilding – from Native American dugout canoes, to fishing vessels, to cargo carriers, to pleasure boats and even naval vessels. Coming from Detroit, I was keenly aware of the role women, referred to as Rosie the Riveters, played in keeping the auto industry running during WWII but I had never heard of WOWs – Women Ordinance Workers. Like Rosies, these women were instrumental in providing labor in the Sturgeon Bay shipyards, building vessels for the war effort.
From the balcony of the museum, we had a great view of the tugboat, John Purves. Built in 1919 as a floating radio station for the U.S. Navy in the Caribbean, she later worked towing barges on Lake Superior and then served in WWII as a supply boat in the Aleutian Islands. The Roen Steamship Company of Sturgeon Bay purchased the tug in 1956 employing her across all five Great Lakes for towing and salvage. In fact, after the construction of the St. Lawrence Seaway connected the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, the John Purves rescued many a saltwater vessel that ran aground in the tricky channels of the Great Lakes. The tug retired in 2003, was donated to the museum and today is a popular tourist attraction.
Time to head to Milwaukee to meet up with my niece and other family members flying in this evening. We broke up the drive with a stop at Renard’s Cheese shop to sample some amazing cheeses and curds. I particularly liked the Tuscan herb curds and pesto infused farmers cheese. My parents enjoyed the cheddar flavored with rye. We left with an assortment of cheeses and a bottle of Wisconsin’s own chocolate brandy!
Instead of paralleling the shoreline as we did on our drive to Sturgeon Bay, we headed south via freeway planning to stop in Green Bay. Unsure of where to stop for lunch, we did not see an area that appealed so instead pressed on to Oshkosh. Here we discovered the Dockside Tavern located on the Fox River near the entrance to Lake Winnebago. We had sandwiches on the patio and watched the pleasure boats go up and down the river.
From Oshkosh, we had a 90 minute drive to our hotel in New Berlin, a Milwaukee suburb. Traffic was heavy and by the time we got checked in, unloaded the luggage and got my parents settled, it was time for me to pickup family from the airport. Fortunately, the Milwaukee airport was a short 20 minute drive. That evening we had build your own burgers and beer on the patio of the Point Burger Bar across the parking lot from our hotel and planned our activities for the next two days in Milwaukee!