Know&Go Guide: Door County, Wisconsin, USA

Destination GuideUSAKnow&Go Guide

24 Mar

Written By Linda Bentley

Door County* encompasses the tip of Wisconsin’s east coast peninsula, nestled between Green Bay and Lake Michigan. It’s a special place with droves of visitors returning year on year to enjoy the beauty of nature at its best.

Home to six state parks and famous for cherries, cheese and wine, this region encourages long, lazy/active visits at any time of year. Sturgeon Bay is the gateway to the county, with the small but perfectly formed towns of Ephraim, Sister Bay and Egg Harbor bustling with visitors.

In case you’re wondering, the name tag image is a fish boil, put simply: it’s a tradition brought by early early Scandinavian settlers comprised of “fresh-caught Lake Michigan whitefish with onions, potatoes and corn with a slice of Door County cherry pie for dessert.”^
(To find out more, see the “The Fish Boil Explained” below.)

Akin to a luau in Hawai’i, you watch the whole process, waiting for the moment they ignite the flames. Just after the pot boils over, in a burst of pyrotechnics, you’re whisked inside to partake of the meal.
I found the whole experience fantastic to behold and the end result was simple, but delicious.

On my first/last visit here – just two nights, ten years ago during The USA 50/50 Challenge – I stayed in the absolutely charming and tiny town of Ephraim (pop. 345) which stuck with me as a place to which I wanted to return. It evokes New England, especially in fall (coincidentally the season for both visits), and I’m not the first person to notice, given its epithet, "Cape Cod of the Midwest.” This time I stayed in Sister Bay – a busier town (pop. 1,189) with a main street offering many dining and shopping options – and Sturgeon Bay, the largest city (pop. 9,892) in the county with deep maritime roots.

*The name comes from the treacherous strait between the Door Peninsula and Washington Island, which early French explorers called Porte des Morts “Death's Door,” after they were warned by the local Native Americans.

^Destination Door County’s website.

Reservations are essential and the whole experience takes 30-40 minutes of standing outside, while the Master Boiler shares some history and details, all the while preparing the stage.
The pot of fish and vegetables are brought out, popped into the stand over the fire and they start to cook.
Then when the time is right – and that’s why they’re called Master Boilers – they throw an accelerant onto the fire, causing a great conflagration which forces the fish oil that has floated to the surface to boil over and off.
The fire is then dowsed, the pot taken inside and plates of goodness are delivered to the hungry hordes.
Here’s the history, as described by Destination Door County:
“Though Native American settlers practiced their own version of the fish boil, the modern version prepared in Door County has its roots in the late 1800s. That’s when a large migration of Scandinavian immigrants brought their version of the tradition to the area. With a seemingly endless supply of whitefish in Lake Michigan, the fish boil was an efficient and economical way to feed large crews of lumberman that were busy clearing the native forests.

For decades to come the tradition was passed down through churches and family gatherings, but it didn’t become a tourism staple until 1961, when Lawrence and Annette Wickman began the modern version at The Viking in Ellison Bay and the White Gull Inn did the same with their own recipe in Fish Creek.
Today that tradition continues at several local restaurants. These carriers of the torch still use fresh, locally caught Lake Michigan whitefish and continue to provide a spectacle of storytelling and showmanship, capped with the famous boil-over that sends flames high into the air and elicits oohs and ahhs from crowds of hungry travelers.”