Area: Door County
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As Time Goes By: Three Area Artists Celebrate Milestones
It’s not easy being an artist in Door County. As a result, reaching a significant anniversary for an arts-related business is much more than the average milestone. It’s been a long strange trip for Ellison Bay Pottery. 30 years ago, potter John Dietrich purchased 10 acres of the old Driftwood Farms and began converting the […]
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Door County and Jingdezhen, China: Sister Cities
*2004 is the millennium celebration of the founding of the city of Jingdezhen, China as the world inventor and originator f modern porcelain production techniques. The artifact above is at least 300-400 years old. When the firing of pottery in a kiln produced less-than-perfect results, the ruined pots were cast aside into mounds. Over the […]
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Weaving a Tradition: The Life and Times of the Maple Grove Gallery
Sometimes, when you search long enough, you will find exactly what you are looking for. This is how Gloria, and her husband George Hardiman, came upon their little shop called Maple Grove Gallery on the corner of County Road F and Maple Grove Road in the middle of the Door peninsula. One summer, more than […]
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Ephraim Jeweler Amanda Dewitt: The Work, The Struggle, The Journey
Many Door County entrepreneurs have seen their ideas and enthusiasm quashed by the doubt of a long, slow winter or the unpredictable nature of a tourist economy. It is often less the idea that will make or break a business here, and more the fortitude of the person. One has to work hard, run into […]
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Note by Note: The County Comes Alive with Music
Listen to the music. From folk to classical, from blues to jazz, from ethnic to rock, someone someplace is playing it right now in Door County. Join me on a wander down the peninsula’s sheet music page and discover the heart of this community. Perhaps the two most recognized theater groups in Door County are […]
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Indulge: A Retreat to the Peninsula’s Spas
Relax, breathe, and melt into some very talented hands in Door County. Whether for a bachelorette party, honeymoon, or personal time, Door County now has quite a few options for special body treatments. Three spas, Lucia Luxury Day Spa, Lori’s Spa and Nail Studio, and The Spa at Sacred Grounds, provide a menu of different […]
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Every summer in Door County there are an endless number of wonderful theatrical and musical performances for one to participate in, but if you are looking for a unique experience this summer look to the sky in August and nature will put on amazing performance — the Perseid Meteor Shower. The Perseid Meteor Shower begins […]
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Underwater Terrain: Exploring Our Clear Water Sanctuaries
Warm sunny days in Door County are to be revered for many obvious reason. For one, consistently warm summer days bring the temperature of the surface waters that surround the peninsula to a comfortable level for immersion. During this rather short-lived period, Door County’s waters are ideal for snorkeling. With hundreds of miles of shoreline […]
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The Toft Family: Preserving a Piece of the Peninsula
Most Door County residents and visitors, if they know of the Toft Family at all, have probably heard only of “Emma Who Saved The Ridges,” as a Milwaukee Journal Magazine headline once referred to Emma Toft. Emma was certainly involved in protecting the area known as The Ridges Sanctuary, although many others were equally involved. […]
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Door County Classic & Wooden Boat Show
Summer is here and once again the Door County Classic & Wooden Boat Show will be held on the grounds of the Door County Maritime Museum & Lighthouse Preservation Society in Sturgeon Bay. Now in its 14th year, this two-day celebration of handmade and lovingly restored boats will take place Saturday and Sunday, August 7th […]
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I consider myself a sailing aficionado. In my free time, when I’m not sailing, chances are I’m a) goading, b) guilting or c) bribing one of my yacht-owning friends into hoisting the sails and taking me along for an offshore cruise – none of which, I admit, tends to require much effort. For the card-carrying […]
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A Triad of Chefs: Inspiring Culinary Excellence
The path to culinary excellence is unique to each traveler. Few kids grow up with chef’s coats in their dreams; and, thus for most, the choice of a career in the restaurant business comes late and unexpected. A whim, an inspiration, an accident, a crossroads. Such is the case with three of Door County’s best […]
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For anyone who loves golfing in Wisconsin, this is going to be a special year. As host of the 2004 PGA Championship, Whistling Straits in Kohler is close enough to the Door Peninsula to be considered “just down the shore.” The event will bring with it the finest tour players, roughly 300,000 spectators, an estimated […]
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If you want to capture someone’s attention, whisper. So it is currently with the arts in Door County. Everyone is whispering about Common Ground. Have you heard? Have you heard? And heard we have. Finding Common Ground” is the biggest, all encompassing art exhibit ever put together by the Francis Hardy Center for the Arts […]
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The Pleasure of Breaking the Rules
Necessity is the mother of invention. No doubt about that. Ask Michael Beaster. After eight years of running his own business of underground power line installation in the Midwest, the economy started pinching and a new source of income had to be found; and this he did. When business started slowing down too much, Beaster […]
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Destination Learning: Diverse offerings in the Arts, Crafts, and Humanities
Door County is known throughout the Midwest, nationally and even internationally as a premier vacation destination. The natural beauty, outdoor activities, boating, shopping and thriving arts and crafts bring millions of visitors to the peninsula each summer. For many visitors to Door County, the peninsula represents the ultimate in idleness. Time spent in Door County […]
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Unique County Habitats Support Endangered Species
Have you looked closely at slabs of exposed limestone, stacks of rock talus, piles of sand, swaths of sandy-gravely soil along the lakeshore, stretches of thin patches of soil over flat beds of limestone/dolomite, wide expanses of thick perpendicular tree branches, and into centimeters of water in cool slow moving streams? These features in Door […]
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School’s Out: The Past Times of One-Room School Houses
The old Door County one-room and two-room schoolhouses of the late 1800s and 1900s have all but retired from their education-related functions. Many have fallen into disrepair or are altogether gone, but the surviving buildings have been converted to homes and businesses. One of the early schools can still be seen today in its original […]
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Rod “Chief” Billerbeck A Legendary Presence in Northern Door
The numbers are the first thing you notice, and how could you not? They pop off the page at you: 41 yeas as head baseball coach, 377 wins – a state record when he retired, 25 league or conference titles, and one state championship. I began the task of writing about the man responsible for […]
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The holiday season is approaching and for many golf enthusiasts, there is no better gift than one that will make for an enjoyable 2004 season. There’s never a shortage of gift ideas for golfers, but the real question is what will put a smile on the face of that special someone on your list. We […]