Making Northern Door County A Destination Spot
Visitors Can Explore Several Scenic Wildlife Areas
Aug 12, 2009
The 2,370 square mile area is a popular vacation and tourist destination spot, and some have compared it to the Cape Cod community off the state of Massachusetts, USA,.
What is Door County?
Wikipedia, an Internet dictionary resource, mentions that the county is named after the strait between the Door County peninsula and Washington Island, located to the north. The dangerous passage now littered with shipwrecks, was known to early French explorers and local Native Americans. Because of the natural hazards of the strait, the French gave it the French appellation “Porte des Morts Passage”, which in English means “Death's Door”.
Visitors to northern Door County can experience its wild side by visiting a few of the area parks and islands. Newport State Park, nestled along 11 miles of Lake Michigan shoreline at the peninsula's northeast tip, is Wisconsin's only formally designated wilderness park.
Newport State Park Used to Be a Logging Camp
According to Kurt Smith, longtime area resident and self-proclaimed tour guide, Newport State Park was once home to a bustling 19th century lumber and fishing community. He told Suite 101 through a telephone interview recently that the park's 2,373 acres consists of forests, wetlands and upland meadows.
“As a wilderness park, development here is minimal,” Smith said. “No man-made structures really exist other than an informational center and a picnic shelter, and there are no amenities or roads beyond the picnic area.”
He said there is a long sprawling beach area that can be accessed by a park road, and the waters of Lake Michigan are crystal clear. The park also has about 38 miles of hiking trails, on which 17 are open to mountain bikes. In the winter, about 26 miles of trails are available for cross-country skiing, classical skiing, skate skiing and snowshoeing. The park also has 16 year-round back country camping sites, 13 of which may be reserved, are within reach of Lake Michigan, Rowley's Bay and a spring-fed inland lake called Europe Bay Lake.
Life Was Difficult For Loggers in the Camps
Smith added that in the late 1800's to early 1900's, there was a secluded loggers camp operating within the Newport State Park area called “Jute Mill” (now a local road named “Juice Mill Rd.” travels to this particular area of the park).
“The logger camp workers at that time were cutting and moving cedar wood out of the park area, and were situated in a very remote and rugged area,: Smith said. “In order to survive winters, they needed food and supplies flown in, or they would have froze to death. Over time, it became difficult to ship in the food, so the workers deserted the camp.”
Smith added that his uncle from Chicago, who owns property near the park, several years ago found a bunch of old coins dating back to the era of the logging camp days on his property.
Other fascinating destination points located in and around northern Door County include Washington Island, Rock Island and the Mink River Estuary.
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