Door County Maritime Museum — Attraction in Sturgeon Bay

Seamen, Ships and Christmas Trees Too

As my time in Wisconsin begins to wind down, I recently traveled to Sturgeon Bay, in search of lighthouses. I’ve always been fascinated by them since seeing one in the movie, The Portrait of Jennie. My first stop was the maritime museum to gather some insight into the history of the town. One of the brochures I picked up about the museum offers a scavenger hunt that gives insight into the various galleries in the building. For example, in the Carla & Ellsworth Peterson Gallery, you can look through a 1985 periscope that was installed on the USS Lewis and Clark SSBN 644. It was removed in January of 1992. In the Horton Gallery, I learned the importance and contributions that dogs made as companions to lighthouse keepers and to rescue missions. In the presentation, “Sentinels of the Shore” insights to the history of the lighthouses of Door County is a wonderful tribute. I will admit that I was distracted by the Merry-Time Festival of Trees. (November 11-December 12) I’m a sucker for Christmas and these wonderful symbols, over twenty-five different decorated delights, were a joy. Businesses, organizations and residents adorn each tree in regards to a theme and surprises underneath its branches. The best part is that each one is a part of a raffle that allows you to bid on a tree of your choice. The admission fee of 10.00 provides a ticket to the raffle. The museum offers AAA discount. Overall: This visit was worth the time. They have a nice gift shop that offers shirts, mugs, knick-knacks and a wonderful collection of books related to maritime history, lighthouses and other information. Fingers crossed that I win the tree...

Stopped here on our way home from Door County. Adult prices: $10 for the museum, $8 for the tug, and $15 for both. The museum consists of four areas: two downstairs and two upstairs. There is much to see and history to read with so many awesome models of ships throughout the years. One room upstairs (The Shipwrecks of Door County) was all hands-on activities and items to get a feel for what being on the water would be like. We had read about the possibility of a tugboat tour if they had a tour guide in that day, which they did! We met with our guide, Paul, at 1130. There were 7 of us on the tour. We headed outside where he gave us the background of the tug, John Purves. It turned out that he was one of the volunteers who worked on bringing the tug back to its former glory! After learning its history we boarded the tug and went on a tour throughout receiving info on what the crew would have used the area for, what the renovation folks had to do to fix the area and what was all original pieces. Paul really knew what he was talking about and was a wonderful guide. We ended the tour in the pilot house where we received a little booklet on the tug (free!). Definitely spend the extra $5 for the tug tour, it is so worth it. We spent a total of three hours at the museum and tug,...

This is a wonderful museum on the Sturgeon Bay waterfront that educates the visitors about boats, ships, and lighthouses, and the people who’ve built and operated them through the years. We toured the new tower first (with great views from the top), and then the older section with the wonderful boat exhibits, beautiful mural, videos, and interactive displays about the many shipwrecks and how to operate a boat safely and competently. Right before they closed we bought a T-shirt in the nice gift shop, where the friendly employee told us we could come back the next morning for the tugboat tour. We did, and the competent tour guide (who had been a boat operator himself) showed us the 149-foot John Purves Tugboat that had been restored after being built in 1919 and traveling long distances in dangerous waters. Usually seeing only small tugboats in the Savannah River, we were amazed that this very large one was designed for a 13-man crew for long trips and had private bedrooms and bathrooms, a full kitchen, and a large engine room. (We read recently on the website that this tugboat is being repaired and will be open for guests again May 1.) This is a high quality museum, and we enjoyed...