Door County Wisconsin

Published on

May 31, 2026

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We start a three day exploration of Wisconsin’s Door Peninsula. Today we visit Sturgeon Bay’s Maritime Museum, Egg Harbor, and Eagle Bluff Lighthouse before setting up camp at Peninsula State Park.

10 September 2025 – Wednesday

Wandered around the barnyard to enjoy the sunrise.

Check out yesterday’s post to learn about this fascinating dairy farm.

The farmers were busy loading up breakfast grains for the cows as we prepared to leave.

0810 74,557 54°F Leave Stone House Dairy – Harvest Host

1150 74,707 72°F Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin

Door County Welcome Center

1205 74,709 72°F Sturgeon Bay Waterfront

Sawyer Park is next to the US Coast Guard facility. Here’s a little buoy trivia if you are interested…

The buoy on display here is a large “nun buoy”, so named because the conical shape of its top loosely resembles a nun’s habit (hat). The buoy’s size, shape and color are all important to its use as a navigational aid and indicate which side of the navigational channel it was designed to mark.

This buoy has a large cast iron sinker secured to its bottom by mooring chain. The letters “US LHE” indicates that this particular sinker was manufactured for the United States Lighthouse Establishment. The Lighthouse Establishment was created by the first Congress in 1789 to oversee the nation’s lighthouses and other navigational aids. The organization eventually became known as the Lighthouse Service and merged with the U.S. Coast Guard in 1939. The US LHE identifier dates the sinker to the mid-1850s. Note the plates added to the bottom to increase the sinker’s weight.

Though we’re no longer traveling by boat, we felt securely parked behind this big anchor at the Door County Maritime Museum.

Beth relaxed in the van while I participated in a (very worthwhile)guided tour of the Tugboat John Purves.

One of the most critical parts of a towboat is the winch. The motor inside the tug is huge, as is the manual brake handle. Directly behind the motor is a slot, with rollers on both sides, where the cable exits to the outside. An old journal shows how small the boat is compared to the float of logs it was pulling across the big lake.

Back inside the museum we rode the elevator 118 feet to the top of the Jim Kress Maritime Lighthouse Tower. A 360° observation deck allows great views of the bay, town, marinas, and shipyard.

Bay Shipbuilding is the large facility in the righthand photo. Producing ships here since 1918, they have berths accommodating ships over 1,000 feet long and cranes that can lift up to 200 tons. Check out this local tv station drone footage showing tugs, barges, a naval vessel under construction, and even a submarine in dry dock.

From the top of the museum we walked down through the 10 floors of interesting exhibit halls before exiting through the gift shop.

A lighthouse poster gave us locations to find during our three days in the area. I’d definitely recommend the museum and the tug tour if you have time.

1534 74,715 George Pinney County Park

Sturgeon Bay meets the larger Green Bay here. Parking with a view is free. I could easily pass a day or two fishing and watching the boats pass by.

Earlier in the day we watched an Island Packet, like our s/v Intuition, cross under the drawbridge in town. Here she is motoring out into Green Bay where sky and water almost merge.

1618 74,729 Egg Harbor, WI

We enjoyed the park, harbor, and the cute downtown, featuring this Cupola House (built in 1871).

A vintage bookmobile, friendly rabbit, and a stately rooster were a few of the fun sights around town.

1631 74,736 67°F Peninsula State Park Entrance

Bought an annual pass for $50. It is good for 12 months, not just the calendar year.

The Wisconsin State Park System is celebrating 125 Years, and the ranger gave us a special sticker.