Road Trippin' to the Door Peninsula

On Friday September 25^th the Fall 2015 Geography of Wisconsin class departed Eau Claire to take a class field trip to the Door Peninsula. I was extremely excited to go on this trip, not because I’ve never been to Door County before, but because I had been there so many times. There’s a certain uniqueness about visiting a place on a class trip because you see things from an insiders perspective. Growing up, every summer vacation was spent exploring Door County and when I heard that there was a chance to go back and learn about the place I had visited so many times I pounced at the chance.

Our first stop along the way was the Jean Nicolet statue at Wequiock Falls County Park. Nicolet was an explorer who arrived in present-day Wisconsin in 1634 in hopes of finding a route to the Pacific Ocean. He is well known for shooting his ‘Thundersticks’, as the Ho-Chunk people called his guns. To me it was intriguing that his symbols for power (guns and his Chinese cloak) are what are recognized when you think of Nicolet today. By attempting to imitate another culture, he hoped to find success in his interaction with the Ho-Chunk people (figure 1). In addition to the history on the statue, we meandered down a path in the park to where a 30 foot ‘waterfall’ was located. This waterfall was basically a trickle, but it showed a wonderful cross section of the dolomitic sandstone layers.

Figure 1. The class showing off
our 'Thundersticks' with Jean Nicolet

Figure 2. Roadside chapel.

The class made a couple of small stops on our way before stopping at Algoma. These stops specifically pointed out cultural heritage, specifically the Walloon Belgians who settled in northwestern Wisconsin in the 1850s. The land was marked by their influence in the Belgian markets that still exist there, such as trippe and smoked salmon, barn and house architecture, and my favorite: roadside chapels (figure 2) and churches right next to taverns. Although I have driven through this area of the state many times, I never realized that it was based on the cultural influence of the Walloon people. I never think to look at the cultural landscape around me because globalization makes it difficult to know who and why things are the way they are.

We continued to Algoma, which is 20 minutes south of Sturgeon Bay, which is generally considered the beginning of Door County, as least by those who visit the Peninsula. By far my favorite group that we talked to was Kewaunee Cares/Restore Kewaunee. This group’s purpose is to serve as stewards to the land: Citizens Advocating Responsible Environmental Stewardship (or CARES). The land in the county has become degradated because of overpopulation of dairy cows from CAFOs, or Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, which has resulted in a surplus of manure. The people we met with were all passionate individuals who took it upon themselves to raise awareness at the county and state levels. 

After the meeting with Kewaunee Cares, we explored the town: from seeing the marina area where they had just stocked Lake Michigan with salmon, to stopping by a winery stocked with local cherry and blueberry wines-whatever you wanted to see in Door County, you could almost certainly find in Algoma. Algoma is known as being the intervening opportunity on the way to Door County. They market the town as being less expensive and comparable to Door County and its known amenities. Their struggle lies with trying to add another stop to people’s regular vacation routine. Joy, the Executive Director of the Algoma Chamber of Commerce explained some of the ways that Algoma tries to bring in tourist including beautifying the beach on Lake Michigan and making the town more affordable for people to visit than Door County.

We completed the night by watching the gorgeous sunset (figure 3) over Green Bay while playing cribbage on the beach, it couldn’t have been more perfect, unless I had not known that the water directly in front of our spot was a dead zone during the summer months, that was a bit depressing! Nonetheless, it was wonderful getting to know my classmates a bit more by enjoying a fine meal of baked potatoes and later sitting around the campfire.

Figure 3. The sunset over the dead zone of Green Bay.

On Saturday September 26^th, we left the warmth of our sleeping bags at the YMCA camp in Brussels and headed to Matt and Erin’s (friends of Ezra) country home haven. There we got to see a very old Belgian style farmhouse, complete with a silo on the property (figure 4). They basically had it all on their land: a shed complete with a barn quilt, a large garden to supply the majority of their vegetables for the whole year, goats for cheese, chickens for eggs, and a beautifully landscaped yard to boot. The only downside, if there is one, is that a wind farm is located right across from their property, and they’re one of the properties closest to a wind farm that doe not get compensated for their proximity to them. However, this did not seem to bother Matt and Erin in the slightest.

Figure 4. Erin and Matt's silo. Matt converted it into a 3-story getaway, even outfitted with furniture. 

        

Forestville contained a nice surprise when we got to it, the original cherry store in the Door Peninsula called Cherry De-lite. Here we watched a video on the history of the company and we were able to sample dried cherries, blueberries, cranberries and various cherry juices. The couple who started up Cherry De-lite found that the Door Peninsula's unique microclimate made cherries and other fruits thrive, thus the popularity behind Door County cherries.

Following the sampling of the tasty sweet treats, our class stopped at the Strawberry Creek Chinook Facility which serves as a salmon spawning facility. Right before the salmon die, they come back to the creek to spawn and the DNR extract the eggs and sperm to be exported to hatcheries. On Friday in Algoma, we had actually just missed people restocking Lake Michigan with salmon, which would have been neat to see.

Figure 5. Cave Point County Park's limestone cliffs.

Next we stopped at Cave Point County Park for lunch, a popular stop to see limestone cliffs along Lake Michigan, which is a rarity in the Midwest. It really surprised me at how exposed the cliffs were and how dangerous the park could be for careless people (figure 5). There was even a sign that said that parents should be sure to keep track of their kids because of the lack of fencing over the cliffs.

The visit to Peninsula State Park was probably the most crowded state park that I've been to- people were biking all around and parking to see the lighthouse was hard to come by. It definitely takes away from the experience when you have other people around you distracting from the natural beauty of the landscape, but that just speaks to the popularity of Door County. However, we did lose a lot of people when we took the 'difficult' hiking trail down the 150 foot Niagara escarpment. It was awesome to be able to literally walk down the geologic feature which stretches along the Great Lakes through the US and Canada (figure 6).

Figure 6. The line marked in red is the location of the Niagara Escarpment.

The trip to Lautenbach's Orchard was probably the most touristy part of our field trip to the Peninsula. It was the Orchard's fall festival so parking was scarce and room to try their house wines was even scarcer. However, it was exciting to the area alive with happy people sampling wine, listening to live bluegrass music, and picking apples from the orchard. Every one I talked to associates autumn with apples and I think that's something really special about the climate in Wisconsin, and especially the microclimate on the Door.

In the evening, the class took some time to relax in Fish Creek. The town’s revenue, like the rest of the Door Peninsula, is based on tourism during the peak months of June through October. One really unique part about the shopping area of Fish Creek is the way in which the shops are set up; like most places in Door County the shops are clumped together in a ‘district’, but instead of a row of shops right next to the road, a few of them are tucked behind other shops that can only be accessed or even seen my walking down the paths that diverge off of the main sidewalk. On that note, Door County has made large efforts to prevent Big Box corporations from invading the Peninsula, which I have noticed really sets the tone for enjoying Door County for its slower (and often more expensive) pace.

We were able to enjoy the delicacy of a Door County fish boil at Pelletier’s Restaurant for our last night on the Peninsula. The fish boil includes cooking potatoes, onions, and white fish in a large pot over a wood fire. The 'boil over' is the final part of the cooking process that rids the pot of all of the fish oil, thus making the fish taste mighty amazing. At every age there is something so enchanting about watching a boil over happen-those young and old all refuse to blink their eyes during this exciting time. I feel like there are few things left in this world that can entertain everyone and it figures that food and fire would be the focal point of this one (figure 7). We finished off the fine meal with a piece of Door County cherry pie which was the best way to end our last night in Door County.

Figure 7. The fish boil 'boil over'

Our last day on the Peninsula was spent on Sunday where we visited a boat landing on the Green Bay side whose nice sand beaches had been turned into a zebra mussel cemetery. The sound of the mussels being crushed under our feet was far less like sand and more like the sound of a boot piercing through snow. The mussels historically found their way to the bay via boats who had come from the North Sea (figure 8). 

Figure 8. The zebra mussel beach.

Following that sad adventure, we stopped in the town of Brussels. Here was the site of the only Belgian flag we saw on our whole trip, which was located outside of the old church (figure 9). It had been closed some years before we got there, and Ezra mentioned that a town’s declining population is often seen through the loss of a church. On the bright side, the people of the town and the surrounding area have determined that they want the church to be turned into a Belgian museum, which would hold their heritage amidst a declining culture.

Figure 9. The town of Brussel's tribute to the cultural landscape of the region, the Belgian flag is on the left. 

We made a couple more stops before we got home, one of which was a geographer’s dream. There is a location in Wisconsin that marks the center of the northern hemisphere (45 degrees North and 90 degrees West). However, it is slightly disappointing when you get to the spot because a) the marker is actually in a corn field and the geologic marker shown that the site is fake and b) they messed up the title of the station and called it a ‘Geological marker,’ even though we all know that geologists focus on things below the Earth, not something fun like a geographical reference (figure 10).

Figure 10. The class in front of the 'Geologic Marker' at 45 degrees north and 90 degrees west.

All in all I had a wonderful time on the trip, I had the opportunity to see a lot of places that I hadn’t gotten the chance to fully appreciate. One sees the world in an entirely new way when the sake of a class and college education is involved! Whenever I have gone to Door County in the past, I have never spent much time at all talking to the locals because they are so few and far between. Hearing the insiders perspective on the good and bad about Door County really gave me a new appreciation for the place, and I have to say that spending a weekend away from the good ol Eau Claire out in the sunshine and fall weather was pretty perfect!