Returning to Northern Door County 2007

(Note: Found this in the drafts ... hadn't ever posted it, reread it and decided to share it...it's now history as the trailer was sold in 2010.. but it captures the thrill of our series of annual returns to Door County from 2005-2010.)

Door County called us this week for the third year. And so we packed the car with anything we might need, or want, to enjoy special days there this year. Along the route to Door County we often take advantage of genealogy research opportunities. Bonnie’s roots are deep in the areas near Port Washington and Sheboygan. This time was no exception.

Our first stop was at the Ozaukee County courthouse in Port Washington where we sought probate records for her paternal great-grandparents, Wilhelm Freier and his wife Katharina Witte Freier, in hopes of learning a bit more about them and their lives.

We found that Wilhelm, who came to Port Washington in 1856 at age 25, as a cooper (barrel maker)and shortly thereafter married his wife, wrote his last will and testament in early 1890 and upon his death it was probated in November, 1890, leaving his possessions to his wife. We found a deed that showed Wilhelm purchased his farm from his wife’s parents in 1866 for $500. We found records of Katharina’s parents, Christian Witte and his wife Christianne, which told us that Christian died around 1873 in the Town of Belgium, where he farmed, and that Christianne, with her son Louis (aka Ludwig) sold the family farm on a land contract to John Niederkorn in 1874 and a year later to Nicolas Pierron. We also learned that Christianne Witte was living in Milwaukee when she sold the farm, creating new questions such as, where did she live in Milwaukee, did she live with her son Louis, when did she die, did she remarry, etc. (We will need to check the Milwaukee City directories, Milwaukee marriage records).

We moved on to Sheboygan, stopping at the beautiful Mead Library to look for an obituary for Carl Henning, Bonnie’s maternal great-grandfather. We knew the date of his death from an earlier check of his probate records in Sheboygan. After checking five Sheboygan newspapers we found a brief death notice in the Sheboygan County News dated February 19, 1890, “HENNING – Chas. L. Henning, aged 30 years, died Tuesday, Feb. 11 at his home, 1706 Twelfth Street, of consumption” (tuberculosis), not very lengthy or personal. But we learned that the newspapers of the day in Sheboygan gave little attention to local news, unlike newspapers in other cities.

With these two goals achieved our Mercury turned toward the business of reaching Door County at a reasonable hour. We needed time to open the trailer, extend the sliding rooms, and hookup the electricity, water, and propane gas, along with the purchase of provisions at the Pick N Save in Sturgeon Bay (Wednesday it turned out was Senior discount Day = 5% off). We arrived about 4 PM and by 7 PM we were comfortable and ready to eat supper and relax in comfort.

The next day we busily setup the campsite cleaning and transforming this special place into a home once again, for the summer season. We both felt the fatigue of these efforts as the day drew to a close. We agreed to find nourishment at "JJ’s on the Bay" on the north end of Sister Bay, where we each enjoyed a Margarita and shared a huge burrito.

As the last hour of the day approached we headed north toward Ellison Bay to visit the Ellison Bay Bluffs county park, an annual ritual. Soon we were rolling slowly down the two lane gravel road into the woodland park where we saw white trilliums for as far as we could see. We also stopped for a closer look when a yellow flower appeared. Upon a closer look we saw a yellow lady slipper, then another. At the terminus of the road we parked a walked to the overlook where several couples were enjoying the view toward the sun and the lake far below. We stood for some minutes in the sun’s glow and the spectacular view.

We walked to the left and found a gravel trail to follow, only to find more white trilliums and yellow lady slippers abundantly waiting for the next walker. A large brass marker lists the names of several hundred citizens of the area who donated generously to buy and preserve this idyllic spot for others to enjoy now and hopefully in the future.

Bonnie quickly produced a wild flower book and soon was looking for proper name of each new flower we saw. There were tiny Forget-Me-Not blue flowers growing close to the ground in large groupings. We also identified two different yellow flowers, one called Downy Yellow Violet, the other was a Bellwort, and a tall purple flower called Dame’s Rocket.

We then returned to our Aqualand campsite and the warm comfortable trailer that awaits us each year, our transition from the city to Door County was now complete.