Fastest Growing Village in County is What They Call Town of Sister Bay Residents of Community are Wide Awake and Alert to Push Any Plan Which Will Please Guests “The fasted growing community on the peninsula,” that’s what they are saying about Sister Bay, and not far wrong at that, for the residents of this […]
Sister Bay Stories
The Search for Perfection by Ruth Cook
Door County Almanak, No. 2, 1985 Door County folks are a varied lot, but one common trait is an appreciation for the outdoors – an affinity for green, growing things. My enthusiasm often leads me to a feeling of wild infatuation with whatever plant is currently in bloom, from hepatica and bloodroot on through lilacs, […]
The Long Dock by Janet Hough McCray
Door County Almanak, No. 5, 1990 As I reach the Labor Day of my life, I think back on all the summers I have spent in Door County and of the tremendous effect these golden seasons have had on my life. In sorting out these recollections, probably the most potent and pervading influence comes from […]
Birchwood Hall – Summer, 1914 By Barbara Larsen
Door County Almanak, No. 5, 1990 Evening shadows were lengthening. Although the sky was still bright blue over the bay, the dense woods surrounding the dirt road leading from Birchwood Hall into Sister Bay kept the sun’s rays at bay. Mamie Hedeen shivered as she hurried along the rough stony trail. It was too dark […]
Sunday Drives by Martha Lambiotte
Door County Almanak, No. 5, 1990 During the years that our children were growing up, every disagreement between parents and their offspring was blamed on the “generation gap.” In our family, the most evident sign of that so-called gap was the aversion our five had to the Sunday drive. Growing up in a home with […]
The Names in the Orchard by Tom Davis
Door County Almanak, No. 2, 1985 The shape of the conversation remains the same. Its timing varies only slightly from year to year, beginning as an offhand remark in mid-summer, by September swelling in proportions like an apple tree loaded with fruit, then dropping off gradually, like windfalls, through the autumn. It is heard in […]
Door County’s First Cherry Cannery: Preventing Fresh Fruit Spoilage by John Enigl
Door County Almanak, No. 2, 1985 When were the first cherries processed in Door County? By what company? Who headed the processing operation? Fortunately, the man who can answer those questions with authority is still living. Capt. Edward S. Reynolds, now 93 years old, organized Company F, of the Thirty Second Division of the U.S. […]
Sister Bay’s Farmer Market is on Saturdays, 9 am – 1 pm
Due to the current coronavirus pandemic, the Farm Market will have some new restrictions during the 2020 summer season. The Sister Bay Historical Society’s annual Farm Market, a season-long event at Corner of the Past in Sister Bay, will still take place every Saturday this summer and early fall, through October 3. Farm Market hours […]
Ellison Bay’s First and Only Meat Market, 1908
Ellison Bay’s first and only meat market was built in 1908 by Gilbert Wickman, an enterprising young man only 21 years old at the time. Gilbert purchased the lot from Simon Evanson. Later, his brother-in-law Anton Anderson helped Gilbert build living quarters on the site, located at 12020 Lakeview Rd. in Ellison Bay, a highly […]
The Conversion from Manpower to Steam Power in the Fishing Industry By Walter M. and Mary K. Hirthe
Door County Almanak, No. 3, 1986 Although the age of steam was well launched on the Great Lakes by 1818, the revolution made possible by steam power did not reach the northern islands of Lake Michigan until half a decade after the Civil War. The fishermen of Washington Island were leaders in the conversion from […]
