Famous Door County… Plus A Torpedo Next To Your Bed!

Wisconsin Maritime Museum, Manitowoc, Wisconsin. After the attack on Pearl Harbor by Japanese on December 7, 1941, it became very important for submarines to be constructed since Pacific Fleet had been so decimated. Over 250 vessels were built along northeastern Wisconsin when US entered WW2. Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company and Burger Boat Company built more than 100 vessels, including submarines, steel tugboats, landing craft, and tankers. Also built in Manitowoc: rescue tugs, sub chasers, and wooden minesweepers. A lot of the museum is about the WW2 submarine, Cobia. It was built in Connecticut, not here but is parked outside. We noticed Cobia has a broomstick out the top. It turns out that subs would put that there when coming back to port to show they had a “clean sweep” and all was well. So cool! Today Northeastern Wisconsin is the center of Great Lakes shipbuilding. The tour through Cobia was great – the museum has mini iPads with the audio plus text to read at several stops throughout the tour. That was very helpful! Most interesting fact onboard: “Both space & freshwater on the sub were very limited. In fact, most crew members only showered 2 or 3 times over the course of a nine-week patrol.” Stinky! I have to plug my nose just thinking about that!!! 

Next on our plans was Rogers Street Fishing Village, Two Rivers, WI. We saw the 1936 fishing tug named Buddy-O. The men would bring the fishing nets along side and pull it in the side to off load the fish into crates inside. North Pierhead Lighthouse was the first of two lighthouses and built in 1886 to service the harbor entrance to Two Rivers. It ended in 1969 and it 1974 was moved to this current place. The fishing shed gave a lot of information about nets, type of fish, kinds of fishing boats, etc. We saw the Kahlenberg Engine displays in another small building. Across the street was a building that showed treasures from shipwrecks. The “Christmas Tree Ship” that sunk was named Rouse Simmons – the investor was the Simmons of Simmons Mattress. 

Bev is an excellent cook! One night for dinner she fixed potatoes in butter, onions in butter, and burgers with cheese and bacon. I took pasta salad that I had made that morning. Kevin was in charge of the fire and we even did s’mores.

Rock Mill at Devils River. In 1847 the mill was built along the rapidly falling waters. First it was made as a sawmill and then quickly converted to gristmill when the timber around the area was depleted. It ground as many as 118 bags of grain per day and produced flour, rye, wheat, and animal feed. Operations stopped in 1934. It was fun to see the waterwheel, silo and a few buildings. Next we followed a path to the river. The leaves are just starting to change here and there were a few pops of orange, red, and yellow colors. We saw where there used to be a dam to hold back the water and the water trough used to reroute water to the waterwheel. Part of that dam is still there. 

Hamilton Wood Type Museum, A Printing Museum. In November 1880, the editor of Two Rivers Chronicle “needed to print sign promoting a Grand Ball for a poster. He asked the young J.E. Hamilton, who had demonstrated wood working skills, and Hamilton obliged, using a scroll saw on his mother’s back porch. This began a long career and established the company which bore his name.” I read that a sanding machine mills the wood to .918” which is the American standard for type height. If a wood piece was beyond .003 inches it would be rejected for out of tolerance. It was fun to see some of the font names I recognize from the computer fonts. HA 

Road trip to Door County! Kewaunee: Tug Boat Ludington (Major Wilbur Fr Browder) was built in 1943 and participated in the D-Day Invasion at Normandy during WW2 when it towed ammunition barges across English Channel. I read that back in 1892 there used to be a railcar ferry that went across Lake Michigan from here. This was needed so the 3 big railroads developed a plan to connect rail lines on opposite shores of Lake Michigan. The ferry could hold at least 22 railcars! They wouldn’t have to be unloaded. What a neat idea! The last one was in 1990. The lighthouse is Kewaunee Pierhead Lighthouse. You walked a long ways out on concrete. There were a few people fishing along the way. 

Sturgeon Bay Canal Lighthouse. We saw Sturgeon Bay Canal Lighthouse and then walked along the pier to North Pier Lighthouse. Looking back through the ship canal we saw what looked like to be a huge cargo ship. Was it moving? Was it the one we had just seen in Sturgeon Bay? Nope, not moving. Too bad, that would be so neat to see it go through the canal and out to Lake Michigan. Wait, it is moving. Hurry!

Watching Joseph H Thompson cargo ship being pushed by Tug Laura L Vanenkevort turned out to be the highlight of this entire day for both of us. It took 21 minutes for it to travel from just inside the canal to out in the lake. Then I turn around and look at the canal and what do I see? A “tiny” sail boat. HAHA So minuscule compared to the ship.

Cana Island Light Station at Baileys Harbor. The walk to the lighthouse is a rough dirt/rock road right with the water on both sides. That was unique. At the lighthouse path, once we were on the island, we saw a barrier with signs that admission is $12.00 a person. I thought that must be for people to go inside the lighthouse. We went into the store and found out, nope, that is $12.00 even just to walk closer to the lighthouse. Sorry, not worth it.

Continued on the road back to the west side of the peninsula to the coastal town of Ephraim. This is what Door County is known for. Lots of shops, restaurants, beaches, hotels, etc. It is in a bay and you can easily see the other side. I got a nice photo of Robin and Jordyn. Of course, Bev and Kevin were acting like siblings, and not cousins, and having a silly ole’ time.

Gill Rock is on the northern most part of the peninsula. We watched a car ferry to the islands. We were too late in the day for that, and hadn’t planned on any ferries this time. Next drove the short way to car ferry to Washington Island. We saw one of the ferries come in; it was fun to see the few cars get off. It is a very small ferry.

Robin’s favorite place around here and the place she wanted to go to is Newport State Park. This state park is heavily wooded with thinner trunk trees. At a parking lot we stopped and walked to the beach. Near this spot in 1881, a Scandinavian immigrant named Hans Johnson built a large wooden pier.  Then he and his business partner, Peter Knutson, built a general store, post office, and a lumber mill. This became a thriving place for the next 40 years. Sign said “Sailing vessels and steam barges stopped frequently at Newport’s pier during the shipping season. The entire community helped load the vessels with cordwood, railroad ties, posts, and other lumber products. Cargo was hauled onto the big pier with horses, but the ships themselves were loaded by hand. During the winter, men logged nearby forests and stacked cordwood on the shore, where it awaited the next shipping season. Most lumber was designated for the markets of Milwaukee, Racine, and Chicago. As Door County’s forests thinned, Newport’s fortunes declined. Today only skeletons of the village and pier remain.”

Heading back to Two Rivers: drove through Sister Bay and got some good pictures just after the sunset. (We didn’t stop; just took pics from the truck.)

NOTE: I have so many more pictures that I want to share with you but this post is getting long. So I am thinking about doing a post early next week with just some pictures and small explanations of our time in Two Rivers, Wisconsin. It was a delight to be with our cousins. They showed us great and interesting places.