The Door County Maritime Museum in Sturgeon Bay features the 10-story Jim Kress Maritime Lighthouse Tower.

The Door County Maritime Museum in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, is dedicated to showcasing the area’s rich maritime roots. The museum’s exhibits spotlight fishermen, ship captains, skilled craftsmen, inventors, and lighthouse keepers, among others who have contributed much to the area for centuries. Under the same management is the Death's Door Maritime Museum in Gills Rock, which traces the area’s commercial fishing tradition.

Among the museum’s most popular offerings are the Door County Lighthouse Festivals that are held each spring and fall. The festivals include tours that highlight all 11 of the lighthouses of Door County and three additional lighthouses to the south.

Sam Perlman

In addition, Cana Island Lighthouse, built in 1869, is owned by Door County and managed by the Door County Maritime Museum. Visitors are taken across a causeway to the island via hay wagon, and tours include a sweeping view of Lake Michigan and the Door County peninsula.

Sam Perlman, Deputy Director and Development Manager for the Door County Maritime Museum and Lighthouse Preservation Society, Inc., is interviewed in this episode. Averie Shaughnessy-Comfort, executive director of Presque Isle Lighthouse in Pennsylvania, co-hosts.

Cana Island Lighthouse, USLHS photo by Dan Reis.