Navigation

Letter to the Editor: Saving Door County From Itself

As we see one Door County icon after another fall to the ax of yet another naïve town, county, or DNR board or committee listening to engineering firms trolling for lucrative municipal projects, we should remember what makes Door County special.

It isn’t a widened street that removes every mature tree, a redesigned traffic pattern, more parking, more manicured lawns, more businesses, more hotels and condos or any other unnecessary developments. It is those time-tested treasures that are remembered and commented on by both residents and tourists alike. It is the steel bridge in Sturgeon Bay, the wooden look-out tower in Peninsula Park, the Pioneer General Store in Ellison Bay, Nelson’s Hardware Store in Baileys Harbor. They are the fabric of memory; experiences that live on in countless photo albums and spoken histories that bind us to our families and friends. Our natural beauty needs vigilant protection, but all these other touchpoints are important, too. To hell with whatever Baileys Harbor was harassing Nelson’s Hardware Store with. They should have worked around it, because keeping Nelson’s was more important than any arcane rules on their books, and more meaningful than another green-lawned park that will probably replace it. These actions are scrubbing the personality right out of our peninsula. As the longtime residents of Egg Harbor said in their letters to the editor about their town, learn to leave things alone, and quit caving to outside “consultants” who always know better. That would be real progress.

 

Susie Watson

Gills Rock, Wis.

Article Comments