Door County's Island Escape

To get to Washington Island in Door County, Wisconsin, you must cruise through Death’s Door, the dangerous six-mile passage connecting Green Bay with Lake Michigan. These waters are legendary in Native American and French Voyageur lore, and when the wind kicks up, ghosts of harrowing shipwrecks haunt the island’s nights. Such ominous crossings require a purpose, and this trip surely has one.

Washington is an isle of ethereal beauty, with bone-white beaches, sapphire waters, wildflower meadows, pine forests, and verdant farmland—well worth the six-to-seven-hour trip. The drive north from Green Bay is pleasant, as Wisconsin 42 narrows and winds along the coast. It’s punctuated with charming towns where travelers can stretch their legs and poke into galleries, eateries, and shops. Egg Harbor, Fish Creek, Ephraim, Sister Bay, and Ellison Bay string up the Door County peninsula to the Northport pier and ferry dock, where visitors can hop a ferry to Washington Island.

While similar to resort areas along Lake Superior’s North Shore, this roughly 24-square-mile island offers visitors the North Shore’s breadth of experiences all in one place. It’s as if the best was culled from Madeline Island to Grand Marais, then deposited on these remote shores.

Washington Island was rough cut by glaciers into a diverse landscape. Sheer limestone bluffs rise up along its western shores, beaches of fine white sand fringe the east and south, and smooth limestone rocks anchor the north shore. Surrounded by four smaller islands—Rock (a state park), Detroit, Plum, and Pilot—Washington is the largest in the Door County chain. The lookout tower at Mountain Park in the middle of the island offers the brave a bird’s-eye view of land and lake.

Home to the Potawatomi Indians, the island received its first white visitor, French explorer Jean Nicolet, in 1635. French traders were followed by Icelandic fishermen who built villages. Scandinavian loggers, farmers, and stone-cutters, familiar with harsh winters and demanding seas, came next. Today, Washington Island’s year-round population of 700 swells to several thousand people in high season, with seasonal residents drawn to its remote summer charms. There’s hiking, biking, horseback riding, sailing, boating, bird-watching, golf, tennis, a music camp, a folk art center and culinary school, classical music and theater performances, fish boils, and even an ostrich farm. It’s an easy, accessible place to explore history, nature, and the arts.

Island Life
Washington Island’s five beaches offer diverse experiences. Jackson Harbor Ridges, a Wisconsin State Scientific Area, is a stunning amalgam of beach, dune, boreal forest, and meadow that’s good for nature walks. The Red Barn Park/Gislason Public Beach (920-847-3064) features a playground and picnic area, grills, volleyball, and entertainment. There are regularly scheduled story hours and live jazz, country, gospel, and pop concerts.

The island’s beauty is magnified by its 218 species of birds, some from as far away as South and Central America. Though much of the island is privately owned, birds can be easily observed in parks and along roads and trails. The Washington Island Art and Nature Center (920-847-2025) offers birding hikes and guides. And each year the Birding Festival, held the last weekend in May, gathers flocks of birders from around the region.

Several museums curate island life. The Jacobsen Museum, a restored log cabin, is a window into pioneer times. Washington Island Farm Museum and the Jackson Harbor Maritime Museum replicate the folkways. Island Stavkirke, modeled on a 12th-century Norwegian stave church, is nestled in the woods. Its winding path through the forest leads visitors to the period when paganism evolved into Christianity.

Nestled in the rough, Sievers School of Fiber Arts (920-847-2264) draws world-renowned artists to teach workshops and summer sessions throughout the season. Classes in knitting, spinning, weaving, beading, quilting, and furniture making are all part of its mix. The pretty Shaker-style dorms house residential students, while an upbeat gallery sells original works of fiber art and handcrafted furniture, yarns, books, and supplies.

Closer to shore, the carefully restored Washington Hotel, Restaurant & Culinary School (Detroit Harbor, 920-847-2169), once the port for 18th-century captains, is an elegant retreat. The hotel’s intimate, weathered spaces are thoughtfully appointed with local artisan furniture and crafts (right down to the parlor throws, which are hand-woven from local wool). Lauded by The New York Times, Gourmet, and Southern Living, the hotel’s meals are fashioned from its bountiful garden; breads, pizzas, and pastries are baked on-site in the brick oven. The restaurant is the nexus for farmers and restaurateurs committed to restoring Washington Island’s agriculture, especially island wheat, which is used in all of the restaurant’s baked goods as well as Capital Brewery’s Island Wheat Beer and Death’s Door vodka and gin, found in area stores. Through the hotel’s culinary school, local chefs share their knowledge of regional ingredients and global cooking techniques. The hotel’s restaurant is also open to the public at dinner.

Throughout summer, the island’s restaurants offer special dinners “in tune” with the many theater and music performances on the island. Come August, the Washington Island Music Festival (920-847-3434) joins students and professionals in music classes and classical concerts at the Trueblood Performing Arts Center (920-847-3355). Here you can also find traveling performances and dance recitals as well as the Island Players’ theater company productions.

Island Hopping
For a more remote adventure, visit Rock Island State Park on an island in Lake Michigan. The state’s oldest lighthouse, restored and lived in by interpreters, is a vivid example of life back in the day. Tour C.H. Thordarson’s magnificent Boat House, built in the early 1920s by the Chicago inventor and industrialist. The Rock Island Ferry (920-847-3322) runs on the hour (10 am–4 pm) between Washington Island and Rock Island through the busy season, leaving plenty of time to enjoy the beaches and trails as well as overnight camping on primitive sites.

Nearby Plum Island, a bird sanctuary, and privately owned Detroit Island are inaccessible, but they’re still worth cruising past on the Island Clipper with its narrated tour. Or paddle around them in a rented kayak.

Washington Island requires a little more time and effort than the typical North Shore or Door County vacation, but the place is heaven on earth. Visit, and return reborn.