Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume and the third-largest by surface area, after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that of Lake Huron through the 3+1⁄2-mile (5.6-kilometer) wide, 295-foot deep Straits of Mackinac, giving it the same surface elevation as its easterly counterpart; geologically, the two bodies are a single lake that is, by area, the largest freshwater lake in the world.
Door County is the easternmost county in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census, the population was 30,066. Its county seat is Sturgeon Bay.
Baileys Harbor is a town in Door County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 1,003 at the 2000 census. The unincorporated community of Peninsula Center is located in the town. The census-designated place of Baileys Harbor is also located with the town.
Sturgeon Bay is a city in and the county seat of Door County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 9,646 at the 2020 census. Located at the bay of Sturgeon Bay for which it is named, it is the most-populous city on the Door Peninsula, a popular Upper Midwest vacation destination.
Porte des Morts, also known as Porte des Mortes, the Door of Death, and Death's Door is a strait linking Lake Michigan and Green Bay between the northern tip of the Door Peninsula and the southernmost of the Potawatomi Islands. At its narrowest reach between Plum Island and the peninsula, the Porte des Morts Passage is about one and one third miles across. The name is French and means "door of the dead".
The Door Peninsula is a peninsula in eastern Wisconsin, separating the southern part of the Green Bay from Lake Michigan. The peninsula includes northern Kewaunee County, northeastern Brown County, and the mainland portion of Door County. It is on the western side of the Niagara Escarpment. Well known for its cherry and apple orchards, the Door Peninsula is a popular tourism destination. With the 1881 completion of the Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal, the northern half of the peninsula became an island.
Ellison Bay is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in northern Door County, Wisconsin, United States, within the town of Liberty Grove and is located on Highway 42 along the Green Bay. As of the 2020 census, its population is 249. Sur La Baie, one of Wisconsin's largest and most expensive homes, is located nearby.
The Plum Island Range Lights are a pair of range lights located on Plum Island in Door County, Wisconsin. Plum Island was transferred to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service in 2007 and became part of the Green Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Plum Island is seasonally open to the public for day-time use.
The Pilot Island Light is a lighthouse located near Gills Rock, on Pilot Island at the east end of Death's Door passage, in Door County, Wisconsin.
Washington Island is an island of the state of Wisconsin situated in Lake Michigan. Lying about 7 miles (11 km) northeast of the tip of the Door Peninsula, it is part of Door County, Wisconsin. The island has a year-round population of 708 people according to the 2010 census. It has a land area of 60.9 km2 and comprises over 92 percent of the land area of the town of Washington, as well as all of its population. The unincorporated community of Detroit Harbor is situated on the island. It is the largest in a group of islands that includes Plum, Detroit, Hog, Pilot, Fish, and Rock Islands. These islands form the Town of Washington. Detroit Harbor bay is on the south side of the island. A large part of Washington Island's economy is based on tourism.
State Trunk Highway 42 is a state highway in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It runs for 135 miles (217 km) north–south in northeast Wisconsin from Sheboygan to the ferry dock in Northport. Much of the highway is part of the Lake Michigan Circle Tour from the eastern junction with U.S. Highway 10 (US 10) in Manitowoc to its junction with WIS 57 in Sister Bay. WIS 42 parallels I-43 from Sheboygan to Manitowoc, and parallels WIS 57 throughout much of the route, particularly from Manitowoc to Sturgeon Bay, meeting the northern terminus of WIS 57 in Sister Bay.
Fish Creek is an unincorporated community located in Door County, Wisconsin, United States, within the town of Gibraltar and is located on Highway 42 along Green Bay.
Rock Island is a mostly wooded island off the tip of Wisconsin's Door Peninsula at the mouth of Green Bay, in Door County, Wisconsin. The 974.87-acre (394.5 ha) island is approximately 1.6 miles (2.6 km) long and 1.1 miles (1.8 km) wide. It rises to 65 meters above Lake Michigan, making it the highest in elevation out of all the Potawatomi Islands. It is almost entirely owned by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, which maintains Rock Island State Park. It is the northernmost part of the town of Washington.
Plum Island is an island in Lake Michigan in the southern part of the town of Washington in Door County, off the tip of the Door Peninsula in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The uninhabited island has a land area of 1.179 square kilometres (0.455 sq mi) or 117.87 hectares. Carp Lake is located on the northwestern side. During years when Lake Michigan's water levels are high, it is a lagoon of Lake Michigan, but it gets cut off as a separate lake during low-water years.
The Potawatomi Islands is the most common historic name given to the string of islands that delineate the transition from Green Bay to Lake Michigan, one of the Great Lakes. The archipelago is also termed the "Grand Traverse Islands".
The Strawberry Islands are a small chain of four islands located on the Wisconsin side of Green Bay between Chambers Island and Peninsula State Park. The islands are part of the Town of Gibraltar, Wisconsin.
The Door County Maritime Museum is an American maritime museum located in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, with additional sites in Gills Rock, Wisconsin, and the Cana Island Light.
Detroit Harbor is a bay between the southern end of Washington Island, and the northern end of Detroit Island. It is located in Washington, Door County, Wisconsin. An unincorporated community also named Detroit Harbor is found on the northern side of the bay. There are three islands inside of the bay, Snake Island, Big Susie Island, and Little Susie Island. The bay is dredged on either side to allow boats through, forming the East and West channels. Both car and passenger ferries to Washington Island go through Detroit Harbor, before they dock. The United States Coast Guard maintains operations in Detroit Harbor through the Washington Island Station. Detroit Harbor is designated as a Wisconsin state natural area by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
The climate of Door County, Wisconsin is tempered by Green Bay and Lake Michigan. There are fewer extremely cold days and fewer hot days than in areas of Wisconsin directly to the west. Lake waters delay the coming of spring as well as extend mild temperatures in the fall. Annual precipitation is slightly lower than elsewhere in northern Wisconsin. The county features a humid continental climate with warm summers and cold snowy winters.
Looking north at downtown Gills Rock
Sign on Wisconsin Highway 42
Welcome sign
Island Clipper ferry
Gust Klenke's garage
Fish tug Gem near Gills Rock, photo taken March 1973
Fishing village at Gills Rock, published 1941
United States 
Wisconsin 
