Back Issue: Early Summer 2008

Door County Living - a magazine that celebrates the area's unique culture and lifestyle is available at select locations throughout the Peninsula. Through its coverage of home & garden, boating, leisure & recreation, dining, fashion, culture, and the arts, Door County Living entertains its readers by highlighting the many wonderful things the Peninsula has to offer.

 


Supporting Artists’ Visions: The Peninsula Arts Association
By Kay McKinley Arneson

Many a Door County artist’s career has taken flight after receiving a Peninsula Arts Association (PAA) ArtFUND grant.

According to recipients, the down-to-earth planning and rigorous preparation required for a successful application free artists to pursue their vision untethered by financial worry and practical concerns. (more)

 



Hanging on the Hook
Moorings 101
By Peder Nelson

Sailboats swing in Eagle Harbor to a new wind brought up by the break of a new day. Like birds at rest, boats on moorings huddle together in safe harbors tethered to the seafloor.

For sailors onboard these vessels and shore-side voyeurs, the picture of sailboats in a haven has been likened to tranquility or the completion of a successful passage. (more)


A Trail for All Seasons – The Ahnapee State Trail
By Sam Perlman

For almost 75 years, beginning in 1894, the sounds of train whistles and steam engines could be heard in Southern Door County, moving freight and commerce back and forth between Green Bay and the Door Peninsula.

Since the mid-1970s, however, what was once a railway has been transformed into a year-round recreational pathway utilized by thousands of Door County residents and visitors annually. (more)


A Different Frame of Mind: The Whistling Swan Inn & Restaurant
By Karen Grota Nordahl

What is it about a place that makes visitors feel at home the moment they arrive?

Those entering the doors of The Whistling Swan Inn and Restaurant in Fish Creek may well be able to answer that question. (more)


Between the Blossoms
The Orchards Golf Course
By Megan O’Meara

When the season opens this year at The Orchards golf course, it will be with an entirely brand new look. Returning golfers will be greeted with an impressive 9,500-square foot Cape Cod-style clubhouse built on the footprint of the original clubhouse constructed in 1999.

Regrettably, the remodel was one of necessity due to a fire, which totaled the building on August 15, 2007. (more)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Archive Issue: Early Summer - 2008

Our current issue features:

Ecosystems of Door County
By Roy Lukes

Little did I realize while growing up as a boy in Kewaunee, Wisconsin during the 1930s and ‘40s, what incredibly rich biodiversity (biological diversity) existed on the steep, un-eroded lake banks near our home along the shores of Lake Michigan.

Native plants and animals also thrived in the marshes and the woods sloping down to the Kewaunee River where my friends and I spent countless hours hiking and learning about nature. (more)


 

Stories in the Wreckage
By Katie Dahl

The cold, mercurial waters surrounding the Door Peninsula are literally legendary. Because they began vanquishing ships long before there were local newspapers to report losses or technology with which to plot locations, much of the havoc they’ve wreaked on maritime travel remains the subject of speculation and fable.

Door County’s very name derives from an untraceable story of American Indian canoes being overturned in the perilous passage now known as “Death’s Door,” and the first known Euro-American shipwreck in the area, a vessel called the Griffin, left Washington Island in 1679 and vanished without a trace. A rich and storied culture has sprung up around these tragedies and mysterious disappearances. As remarkable as this wealth of stories are the shipwrecks themselves, which offer a fascinating look into the history of Door County and its people. (more)

 

Building Tradition: Door County Churches
By Lauren Bremer

It’s a frosty Sunday morning in March and I’ve found myself standing in silence in front of a building I’ve passed by hundreds of times in my life.

. It’s eerily silent for downtown Fish Creek, and the only sound I hear is the lake wind screeching off the ice and swirling down Main Street from Sunset Park, tousling and swaying the cedars as it rushes past. (more)

 

 

 

 

Das ist alles mein!
Dr. Herman Welcker and the Rise of Fish Creek
By Emilie Coulson

One way to leave a lasting impression on a small village is to build an imposing building in the center of it. Or better yet, find that building far away, drag it across the frozen lake, and reconstruct it where it will stand over 100 years later.

This was what Dr. Herman Welcker did in Fish Creek, and the determination that got the hotel (now the Whistling Swan) across the frozen water can be a symbol for what drove this man. (more)


Optimism Paints Way to Door County:
Artists Karsten Topelmann and Ellen Sprogo-Topelmann
By Melissa Ripp

As a girl who spent many summers in Ephraim, I visited Hanseatic Art Gallery frequently, but one visit when I was 16 years old always stands out in my mind. I had just started to enjoy art, and even though I had seen many of Karsten and Ellen Topelmann’s paintings before, the beauty and detail of their work hit me as it never had before.

Ellen’s acrylics were romantic, bustling with people and their expressions and movement. Karsten’s oils and watercolors revealed a passion for landscape with a focus on architecture. I remember looking at those canvases for hours, constantly discovering another detail I hadn’t seen only moments before. (more)


 

Organic Milk Production in Door County
By Mariah Goode

There is a small handful of Door County dairy farmers currently producing certified organic milk. One of these is Gary Mosgaller – a third-generation farmer working the same land as his grandparents and parents before him – of Sunny Slope Farm in the Town of Jacksonport.

With his herd of 55 to 60 dairy cows, he produces upwards of one million pounds (over 116,000 gallons) of USDA-certified organic milk per year. (more)

Dan Hansen: Island Musician
By Myles Dannhausen Jr.

His voice is raspy, but not the thick, dark rasp that keeps you a couple bar stools away or comes from behind shadowed, untrusting eyes and a plume of cigarette smoke.

It’s a light scratch which fails to intimidate, and it comes accompanied by the thinnest trace of a smile in conversation. (more)


 

The Seanchai - Jack Moneypenny
By Megan O’Meara

Spring is fighting to make its entrance as Jack Moneypenny looks out his office window at the Door County Visitor Bureau. He, along with the nearly 1,000 business owners who belong to the DCVB, is anxious for the new season to begin.

Having arrived at his new post as President and CEO in mid-October of last year, Jack has not yet experienced a full Door County season from the beginning. Seeing local tourism in full swing will be another important step in working toward completing his mission for the county – namely, keeping Door County a must-see destination for visitors from the Midwest and beyond. (more)

 
 

© 2008 - Door County Living, Inc.