Death County

   Death County? Let me clear that up. We've wanted to visit Death, I mean Door, County for years. I always wondered why it was called Door County. Was there an early Marvin's Door and Window factory there? 

  We decided to visit Door County this spring and find out what was going on. On May 4 we arrived in Egg Harbor. Now there's a strange name. Where did that name come from?  I've found the best place to get local history is in the bar. 

  The denizens of Casey's Bar & BBQ were happy to delve into the etymology of their town after I bought a round for the house. I bellied up to the bar next to Johnny (no last name) who told me about some early visitors to the area who as they rowed ashore for a picnic, began throwing hard boiled eggs at each other. Johnny thought alcohol was involved, which he said was appropriate since the area was going to eventually become part of the future state of Wisconsin. This story sounded so ridiculous, I decided it could be true. Johnny had no clue where the name Door County came from. I bought him a bag of Mexican crisps for his trouble and we went on our way. 

  The next morning we went for breakfast at a Swedish restaurant in Sister Bay. Our waitress told us there were two tiny islands called the Sisters out in the bay after which the town was named. She knew nothing about the Door name. So we kept moving north. The locals all knew the etymology of their own town or village but were hazy about the big picture.

  After much driving, we reached Gills Rock at the tip of the peninsula. Across a narrow channel we could see Washington Island. I noticed a building called Porte de Mort Museum. I have a smattering of French and translated it to Door of Death. Hmmmm. 

  Charley, the curator of the museum, was the man we were looking for. He said long long ago, two hundred Potawatomi warriors drowned during a squall in the strait between Washington Island and the mainland while on their way to attack a Winnebago village. When the French speaking Voyageurs arrived in the early 1700s they heard the story and started losing men themselves in the unpredictable channel. Thus the name.

The Voyageurs moved on, but when the Scandinavian settlers arrived, they thought the name Death's Door too morbid for their permanent home so they shortened it to Door. And that's the unvarnished truth.

Just south of Death's Door