Sturgeon Bay

The Potawatomi and Menominee, and earlier peoples before them, lived on the Door Peninsula and fished its waters long before Europeans arrived. French explorers and missionaries passed through in the 17th century, and the portage across the narrow neck of land at the head of the bay was a well-known route for canoes travelling between Green Bay and Lake Michigan.

European American settlement began in the mid-19th century, built on lumber, stone quarrying and shipbuilding. In 1871 the great Peshtigo fire, the deadliest wildfire in American history, burned parts of the peninsula south of the town. The ship canal across the neck of land was completed in the early 1880s, letting ships cross from Green Bay to Lake Michigan without the long and dangerous passage around the peninsula's tip, and the town became the county seat and its commercial centre.

Shipbuilding grew into the town's defining industry. Yards here built vessels during the Second World War, and in the later 20th century they became known for building and repairing the large freighters of the Great Lakes, many of which spend the winter laid up in the bay. Over the same period the cherry orchards and tourism brought new visitors each summer, and the town became the southern gateway to Door County's holiday villages.

Sturgeon Bay mixes two identities: a working shipbuilding town and the gateway to a holiday region. The shipyards, the freighters and the maritime museum give it an industrial waterfront unlike the villages further north, while galleries, cafés and restaurants downtown serve the summer and autumn visitors.

Door County as a whole is known for its arts scene, with galleries, studios and summer theatre in the villages; Peninsula Players near Fish Creek, founded in 1935, calls itself America's oldest professional resident summer theatre. The fish boil, the cherry harvest and the autumn colour are cherished traditions, and the peninsula's Scandinavian, German and Belgian settlers left their marks on its churches, place names and food.

Like much of Wisconsin, the town is devoted to the Green Bay Packers, and football Sundays in autumn shape the week. Friday fish fries, supper clubs and the brandy old fashioned are part of local life, and people tend to be friendly, unhurried and proud of their peninsula.

About 9,600 people live in Sturgeon Bay, and around 30,000 in the whole of Door County, a number that rises sharply in summer as seasonal residents and visitors arrive. The town is the county's commercial and administrative centre, with its courthouse, hospital, schools and main shops.

Shipbuilding remains a major employer, with yards that build and repair vessels for Great Lakes and other customers, and the sight of freighters in the bay is part of daily life, especially in winter. Tourism, agriculture — cherries, apples and dairy — and services make up much of the rest of the economy. Like many holiday areas, the county has many seasonal homes, and its population is older than the state average.

The rhythm follows the seasons: busy summers and autumns, and long, quiet winters when the town returns to its residents, ice fishing and snowmobiling take over, and many businesses up the peninsula close until spring.

The fish boil is Door County's signature meal: whitefish from Lake Michigan, red potatoes and sometimes onions boiled in a large kettle over a wood fire, finished with a boil-over — a burst of flame when kerosene is thrown on the fire, making the pot overflow and carrying off the fish oils. It is served with melted butter, bread and coleslaw, and usually followed by cherry pie.

Cherries are the peninsula's crop. Door County grows mostly tart cherries, picked in summer and sold fresh at orchards and farm markets, or turned into pies, jams, juice, salsa and cherry wine. Apples follow in autumn, and local wineries make fruit and grape wines.

Wisconsin traditions shape the rest of the menu. The Friday fish fry — usually perch, walleye or cod with rye bread, coleslaw and potato pancakes or chips — is a weekly ritual, and supper clubs serve steaks and relish trays with brandy old fashioneds. Cheese curds, bratwurst and Scandinavian pastries such as Swedish pancakes with lingonberries are common across the peninsula.