Attractions - Upper Lake Michigan




Attraction Name Description
Anderson Dock and Museum Anderson Dock and Museum is a tribute to the history of Door County and small town life, specifically Ephraim. The Anderson complex is composed of four main buildings. Anderson Barn tells of Ephraim's past through photographs, artwork, artifacts, and stories, as well as changing exhibits. The Sva...
Appleton Lock 2 Maritime Trails Marker Steamboats on the Fox River The locks on the Lower Fox River were built for steamboats. When construction of the locks began in the 1850s, steam-powered vessels had replaced barges towed by mules and flat boats pushed by hand with long poles. The narrow locks favored steamboats with paddlewheels ...
Appleton Lock 3 Maritime Trails Marker Locks on the Fox. The Fox River once crashed over waterfalls and surged through rapids, descending 170 feet over 39 miles between Lake Winnebago and Green Bay. Appleton and Kaukauna were founded near especially rough passages and steep drops. In the 1850s, European settlers sought to make the Fox...
Australasia Buoy Lying in about 20 feet of water, the shipwreck site is easily accessible by boat or kayak. Australasia is a popular shipwreck for beginner divers, and the bow and stern sections remain partially intact. The site is marked with a seasonal Wisconsin Historical Society shipwreck mooring buoy, allowi...
Baileys Harbor Lighthouse (Old) This forty-foot-high lighthouse was built in 1851-52 on a tiny peninsula on North Point Island, sometimes called Lighthouse Island, at the eastern entrance to Baileys Harbor from Lake Michigan. The rocks used in the circular tower are large, flat, and light-colored, harvested from the immediate a...
Baileys Harbor Range Lights Both built in 1869-1870, 'this rather odd-looking set of buildings is a unique duo of Wisconsin lights. The Baileys Harbor Range Lights were built to allow mariners a safer harbor passage than the Old Baileys Harbor Lighthouse afforded. The lights guided vessels in a northwesterly direction throu...
Beyer Home Museum Built in 1868 and the first brick home in Oconto County, today the Beyer Home Museum has been completely restored in Victorian era fashion. Several exhibits inside the house focus on the maritime history of the area, examining both ice and open water fishing practices on nearby Lake Michigan, dis...
Bullhead Point Maritime Trails Marker To visit the Bullhead Point City Park in Sturgeon Bay: Head north on N. Duluth Ave. Keep going straight on Duluth Ave. when County Road C turns east. Bullhead Point will be on the right, across from the old stone quarry which is on the left. In 1931 three abandoned vessels were burned to the wate...
Bullhead Point Site In 1931 three abandoned vessels were burned to the waterline at Bullhead Point. These well-worn remnants of the once thriving limestone fleet were last owned by the Sturgeon Bay Stone Company. The hulls of the vessels Ida Corning, Oak Leaf, and Empire State lie just offshore from the point and re...
Cana Island Lighthouse Yes, it is possible to stroll to an island. Cana Island, with its historic lighthouse facilities, is open to the public seasonally. Please call or visit the Web site below for details. Walk across the rock causeway from the Door County mainland to the island. Step inside the keeper's house where,...
Carrington Buoy Lying in nearly 60 feet of water, the shipwreck site is easily accessible by boat. Carrington is a popular shipwreck for beginner divers, and remains scattered on the bottom of Green Bay. The site is marked with a seasonal Wisconsin Historical Society shipwreck mooring buoy, allowing boats to tie...
Chambers Island Lighthouse Built in 1868, this lighthouse is located on Chambers Island off the west shore of the Door County peninsula in Green Bay. The lighthouse stands in a 40-acre park and is open seasonally when the caretaker is present. Access to the island is limited to excursion boats. Please call the island caret...
Christina Nilsson Buoy Lying in about 10 feet of water, the shipwreck site is easily accessible by boat. Christina Nilsson is a popular shipwreck for beginner divers. The site is marked with a seasonal Wisconsin Historical Society shipwreck mooring buoy, allowing boats to tie up directly above the site while protecting...
Christina Nilsson Maritime Trails Marker This is a perfect site for snorkelers and kayakers! The schooner Christina Nilsson lies in 15' of water just off the Old Baileys Harbor Lighthouse. The site is a boat entry dive. On October 23, 1884, the Christina Nilsson departed Escanaba, Mich., carrying 525 tons of pig iron bound for Chicago. ...
DePere Lock Maritime Trails Marker Wisconsin's Maritime Trails-Early Routes. In an attempt to exert stronger control over Native American groups, the United States government set up a series of forts along the Fox-Wisconsin River system. Fort Howard was built at the mouth of the Fox River. Under the watchful presence of the fort, ...
Door County Maritime Museum Located on the west shore of the Sturgeon Bay Canal, the Door County Maritime Museum features exhibits on the maritime history of Door County. Open year round, exhibits of special interest include the pilot house from the Great Lakes steamer Elba, a replica of the Roen Steamship Company office, a...
Door County's Stone Fleet Maritime Trails Marker Behind you, Government Bluff rises 150 feet above the waters of Sturgeon Bay. It was here that Door County’s first industry began in 1834- a limestone quarry. Originally intended for a military fort that was never constructed, the stone was later used by the federal government to construct piers ...
Eagle Bluff Lighthouse The Eagle Bluff lighthouse is open seasonally and located in Peninsula State Park, between Fish Creek and Ephraim on Hwy 42. All visitors must pay the daily park admission fee or have a current annual park sticker. A map of the park may be obtained at the park entrance. An active aid to navigatio...
Early Steamboat Tourism Maritime Trails Marker Maritime Trails Marker commemorating early steamboat tourism to Door County at Anderson Dock in Ephraim
Fleetwing Maritime Trails Marker This is a perfect site for snorkelers and kayakers! The schooner Fleetwing lies in 11-25' of water just to the right of the public boat landing and historic marker at Garret Bay in Hedgehog Harbor. The site can be either a shore or boat entry dive. On Sept. 26, 1888, the Fleetwing departed Menomi...
Frank O'Connor Buoy Lying in about 70 feet of water, the shipwreck site is easily accessible by boat. Frank O'Connor is a popular shipwreck for intermediate divers. The site is marked with a seasonal Wisconsin Historical Society shipwreck mooring buoy, allowing boats to tie up directly above the site while protectin...
Frank O'Connor Maritime Trails Marker The historic marker for the Frank O'Conner is located at the Cana Island Lighthouse, north of Baileys Harbor. The shipwreck of the Frank O'Connor lies 2.6 miles NNE of Cana Island on the Lake Michigan side of Door County. The wreckage of the 300-foot-long vessel sits in 65 feet of water. Two seas...
Gills Rock Maritime Museum When in the northern part of the Door Peninsula, be sure to visit the Door County Maritime Museum at Gills Rock. The museum is open seasonally. Please call or visit their Web site for details. The newly remodeled facility features the fishing tug Hope built in 1930 by Sturgeon Bay Boat Works (cur...
Grassy Island Range Lights Grassy Island lies at the very southern end of Green Bay near the mouth of the Fox River. The Grassy Island Range Lights, built in 1872, were located on an eastern embankment that was cut through the island, enabling seamen to recognize the deepened artificial navigation channel in lower Green Ba...
Heritage Hill State Historical Park Located on the Fox River in Green Bay, Heritage Hill is a living history museum devoted to the preservation of its buildings and artifacts and the interpretation of the history of Northeastern Wisconsin and its people. There is always something new and fun to discover at Heritage Hill! Bring your...
Jackson Harbor Maritime Museum The museum is located in two former fishing sheds located in Jackson Harbor where fisherman continue in the commercial fishing trade. View artifacts, photographs and videos on local maritime history including commercial fishing, Coast Guard and area shipwrecks. Special programs available during t...
Jacobsen Museum Located on the south shore of Washington Island's Little Lake, the Jens Jacobson Museum houses an eclectic collection of natural and historical artifacts from the area, including ship models hand-carved by Jacobsen himself. Outside the museum you will find large artifacts salvaged years ago from ...
Jennibel Buoy Lying in about 120 feet of water, the shipwreck site is easily accessible by boat. Jennibel is a popular shipwreck for advanced divers, and remains mostly intact. The site is marked with a seasonal Wisconsin Historical Society shipwreck mooring buoy, allowing boats to tie up directly above the si...
Joys Maritime Trails Marker Resting 150 yards off shore from here is the wreckage of the steam barge Joys, a vessel once hailed as a 'greyhound among lumber carriers' for her record-breaking speed. The Joys was constructed in 1884 in the Milwaukee Ship Yard Company. She hauled lumber, iron, and stone through the Sturgeon Ba...
Le Griffon Maritime Trails Marker Maritime Trails Marker commemorating the voyage of Rene-Robert Sieur de La Salle.
Little Chute Lock Maritime Trails Marker Working on the Fox In 1854, one hundred and fifty men found jobs building canals, locks and dams in Little Chute. Many of the workers were Irish, and a sizable number of Dutchmen brought canal building experience with them from the Netherlands. By 1856, the work had made it possible for steamboat...
Louisiana Maritime Trails Marker The Louisiana Maritime Trails historic marker is located at School House Beach, Washington Harbor, Washington Island. Washington Island, at the tip of Door County, can be accessed by seasonal ferry. The bulk carrier Louisiana, built in 1887, was a steam driven freighter. Nearly 270 feet long, she...
Marinette County Historical Soc. Museum The Marinette County Historical Society 'Logging' Museum offers a look into 130-years of local history. Though a main focus of the museum is on Marinette's long logging history, other displays include dioramas, hunting tools, weapons, clothing, musical instruments and the restored Evancheck log c...
Meridian Buoy Lying in about 40 feet of water, the shipwreck site is easily accessible by boat. Meridian is a popular beginner for advanced divers. The site is marked with a seasonal Wisconsin Historical Society shipwreck mooring buoy, allowing boats to tie up directly above the site while protecting the shipw...
Mueller Stern The Mueller, formerly the Edwin C. Tice, was built in 1887 in Manitowoc, Wisc., and abandoned in 1935 near Sturgeon Bay. A two-masted wooden screw steamer, she was originally used for the Great Lakes lumber trades. In later life she carried stone and mixed cargoes, as well as acting as a tow for ...
Neville Public Museum The Neville Public Museum houses a variety of excellent exhibits, many of which illuminate the history of Green Bay. The permanent exhibit, On the Edge of the Inland Sea, takes visitors on a trip through history, beginning in a simulated glacier representing the last Ice Age, and ending with a lo...
Newport Maritime Trails Marker Near this spot in 1881, a Scandinavian immigrant named Hans Johnson built a large wooden pier. Soon afterward, Johnson and business partner Peter Knudson built a general store, a post office, and a lumber mill. For the next 40 years, these structures supported a thriving, lumber-based economy in ...
Newport State Park Newport State Park, northeast of Ellison Bay, is Wisconsin's only formally designated wilderness park. With 2,373 acres and 11 miles of Lake Michigan shoreline it offers quiet alternatives to bustling Door County. There are evergreen and hardwood forests, wetlands, and upland meadows. The park ha...
Ocean Wave Buoy Lying in about 110 feet of water, the shipwreck site is easily accessible by boat. Ocean Wave is a popular shipwreck for advanced divers, and remains mostly intact with a screaming eagle figurehead still visible. The site is marked with a seasonal Wisconsin Historical Society shipwreck mooring bu...
Ocean Wave Maritime Trails Marker Four miles southeast of here, in 110 feet of water, lie the remains of the Ocean Wave. The two-masted wooden ship was a scow schooner, a boxy, flat-bottomed vessel of the late 1800s. Scow schooners could enter shallower harbors than more shapely vessels, and they connected small frontier towns to...
Peninsula State Park Peninsula State Park, established in 1909, is a 3,776-acre state treasure on Wisconsin's Door County peninsula. Nearly seven miles of Lake Michigan's Green Bay shoreline wrap around a landscape of forests, meadows and wetlands. Rocky bluffs ascend over 150 feet while deer graze contentedly in aba...
Peshtigo Reef Lighthouse This seventy-two foot light marks the shallow Peshtigo Reef that sticks out into Green Bay three miles beyond Peshtigo Point. Prior to the building of this lighthouse in 1934, the reef was marked by Lightship No.77, the Peshtigo Reef Lightship. The current light is a metal tower on a cement crib ...
Pilot Island Lighthouse Pilot Island is located east of Northport at the tip of the Door Peninsula, approximately two miles from an area known as the Porte des Morts or Death's Door. This area is particularly dangerous with numerous shoals to the south. Strategically located on the eastern edge of the Door passage, the ...
Pilot Island Maritime Trails Marker The Maritime Trails marker describing the three shipwrecks near Pilot Island is at the Northport Ferry Terminal of the Washington Island Ferry. The sign is on the right of the loading area. Pilot Island, which is not accessible to the public, is straight ahead of the sign. The Pilot Island shipwr...
Pilot Island Site The Pilot Island shipwrecks rest in 20-50 feet of water and are marked with a Society seasonal mooring buoy. On the night of October 28, 1891, the scow-schooner Forest entered the Death's Door en route from Chicago to Nahma, Michigan. A gale struck and drove the ship onto the reef at Pilot Island...
Pilot Island Site Buoy The Pilot Island shipwrecks rest in 20-50 feet of water where the remains of three shipwrecks, J.E. Gilmore, A.P. Nichols, and Forest can be investigated. A popular shipwreck for new divers, as well as snorkelers and kayakers, the Pilot Island wrecks can often be seen from the surface. The site ...
Plum Island Range Lights The original Plum Island Lighthouse was built in 1849 and was decommissioned ten years later. The equipment was moved to the newly built, Pilot Island lighthouse. The Plum Island range lights were constructed in 1896 and first lit the following year. The lights are located on the southern end of...
Potawatomi Lighthouse The original Potawatomi Light, built in 1836, was the first lighthouse in Wisconsin and the first on Lake Michigan. The lighthouse seen today was built in 1858 and has been beautifully restored. The lighthouse is in Rock Island State Park at the very tip of the Door County Peninsula. Rock Island ...
Potawatomi State Park Potawatomie State Park, south of Sturgeon Bay, has gently rolling upland terrain, bordered by steep slopes and rugged limestone cliffs along the Green Bay shoreline. Potawatomi offers a 75-foot observation tower, camping, boating, fishing, picnicking, hiking, on and off road bicycling, skiing and...
Reynolds' Pier Maritime Trails Marker During the heyday of Wisconsin's lumber industry, Jacksonport's business and community life centered around three large piers. Each pier had its own general store and lumber mill. Wooden schooners, called 'lumber hookers,' often crowded the piers to load cordwood, shingles, and posts bound for th...
Rock Island State Park Take the ferry (Memorial Day weekend through Columbus Day) to this primitive island off the tip of the Door County peninsula in Lake Michigan. Stone buildings, built by a wealthy inventor who owned the island between 1910 and 1945, house exhibits. Cars and even bikes are not allowed on the 912-ac...
Sherwood Point Lighthouse The Sherwood Point Lighthouse sits on the south shore of the western end of Sturgeon Bay overlooking the entrance to Green Bay. Sherwood Point is a unique Door County light. It is the lone lighthouse in the county constructed of red brick and resembles an old red schoolhouse. The original light w...
Sturgeon Bay Canal Constructed between 1872 and 1879, the Sturgeon Bay ship canal allowed vessels to cut through the Door peninsula instead of using the dangerous Deaths Door passage at the tip of the county. The lighthouse at the eastern end of the canal is an active aid to navigation and part of a busy U.S. Coast...
Sturgeon Bay North Pier Lighthouse Constructed between 1872 and 1879, the Sturgeon Bay ship canal allowed vessels to cut through the Door peninsula instead of using the dangerous Deaths Door passage at the tip of the county. The lighthouse at the eastern end of the canal is an active aid ...
Washington Island Ferry A few miles off the tip of the Door County peninsula lies Washington Island. A friendly year-round home to 700 people, the island is also an enchanting destination for thousands of visitors each year. The Washington Island Ferry Line is the vital transportation link across storied Death's Door pa...
Whitefish Dunes State Park The 6,600-foot beach at Whitefish Dunes is considered by many to be the best in Wisconsin. This Door County park also offers rugged Lake Michigan shoreline and huge protected sand dunes. In winter, it showcases beautiful ice formations with frigid Lake Michigan waves in the background. An observa...
© 2024 - Wisconsin Sea Grant, Wisconsin Historical Society