Maritime Museum Honors Door County Fishing

The Death’s Door Maritime Museum hosts festivities July 4 to celebrate its new name at the Gills Rock location. A special bronze statue will be unveiled to honor northern Door County’s fishing industry and traditions. The afternoon will include free admission to the museum from 2 to 5 pm.

Previously known as the Door County Maritime Museum at Gills Rock, the name change took place Jan. 1, 2018 and was updated to attract more visitors to the Death’s Door-focused museum. Pieces of Death’s Door shipwrecks, the Plum Island Fresnel lens, Kahlenberg engines, the 17th century dugout canoe and the fishing tug Hope are displayed. Visitors have the rare opportunity to explore, inside and out, the 45-foot wooden fishing boat. The museum also features a shipwreck and scuba diving exhibit, artifacts brought up from the bottom of Lake Michigan and information on the area’s dangerous passage known as Death’s Door.

Festivities begin at 2 pm, with the ceremony starting at 3 pm. Speakers include Amy Paul, executive director of Door County Maritime Museum, Mark Weborg, member of Door County Maritime Museum Board of Directors, Rep. Joel Kitchens, Congressman Mike Gallagher, and Mary Ott Davidson, the statue artist.

The Death’s Door Maritime Museum, located at 12724 West Wisconsin Bay Road in Ellison Bay, is open 10 am – 5 pm daily through Oct. 14. For more information visit DCMM.org.