The Door County Maritime Museum in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, is dedicated to showcasing the area’s rich maritime roots. The museum’s exhibits spotlight fishermen, ship captains, skilled craftsmen, inventors, and lighthouse keepers, among others who have contributed much to the area for centuries. Under the same management is the Death’s Door Maritime Museum in Gills Rock, which traces the area’s commercial fishing tradition.
Among the museum’s most popular offerings are the Door County Lighthouse Festivals that are held each spring and fall. The festivals include tours that highlight all 11 of the lighthouses of Door County and three additional lighthouses to the south.
In addition, Cana Island Lighthouse, built in 1869, is owned by Door County and managed by the Door County Maritime Museum. Visitors are taken across a causeway to the island via hay wagon, and tours include a sweeping view of Lake Michigan and the Door County peninsula.
Sam Perlman, Deputy Director and Development Manager for the Door County Maritime Museum and Lighthouse Preservation Society, Inc., is interviewed in this episode. Averie Shaughnessy-Comfort, executive director of Presque Isle Lighthouse in Pennsylvania, co-hosts.
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Jeremy D’Entremont is the author of more than 20 books and hundreds of articles on lighthouses and maritime history. He is the president and historian for the American Lighthouse Foundation and founder of Friends of Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouses, and he has lectured and narrated cruises throughout the Northeast and in other regions. He is also the producer and host of the U.S. Lighthouse Society podcast, “Light Hearted.” He can be emailed at Jeremy@uslhs.org
When in Wisconsin, our family would spend summers in Door County to escape the heat of Milwaukee, in particular, Kangaroo Lake. My own love of the area prompted me to write a Door County ghost story novella based on the Cana Island Lighthouse (although not specifically named in the book, anyone reading the book will recognize it). “The Wabele” was awarded Silver by the Florida Writers Association for fiction in 2017.
Very cool, thanks for your comment!