12 Jun 2023 - Washington Island via Ferry

 

This morning we loaded up Liberty and drove about 30 minutes north to Northport and boarded a ferry to Washington Island, which is about 7 miles northeast of the Door Peninsula.  We visited the island in 2015 after I retired and thoroughly enjoyed it, so why not go back?!

The ferry runs every hour on the hour this time of the year, and of course if you are not early you are late, so we arrived at 0911 hrs and got in line for the 1000 hrs ferry.  There was a line forming already with commercial vehicles hauling supplies to the island, and tourists heading over for the day.  Ironically the car in front of us was from Polk County IA!  We had plenty of time and while walking Liberty, Doreen struck up a conversation with the driver, who was a FedEx driver from Ankeny, same town that we live in!  He knew exactly where we live, not surprising for a FedEx driver!  His wife coordinates fire training for the Des Moines Area Community College and is pretty sure she knows our son.

It's good that we were early as the ferry loaded at 0934 hrs and departed at 0939 hrs, 21 minutes ahead of schedule!  I assume they saw that they had a full load waiting to board and decided to make it so.  We were marshalled onboard quickly and stacked in there like sardines!

The ride went quickly but was strange as our vehicles were loaded into the ferry backwards, so as we travelled it seemed to be backwards!

We passed Plum Island Rear Range Lighthouse on the way to Washington Island.  Doreen already had this one documented in her Lighthouse Passport from last trip.  Unfortunately it is closed to the public and there are no tours.

We also passed the US Coast Guard station off in the distance.  It would be interesting to visit these facilities but there are no visitors allowed.  

At 1012 hrs we arrived at Washington Island, 33 minutes after departing the mainland.   We drove off the ferry quickly and headed up the "Main Road", rightfully named!  It is the main north/south route up the west side of the island.  

We made our way to the northwestern-most point in the island to the Jacobsen Museum.  Unfortunately it was closed today.  We would later find out that many more places would be closed on Monday. Oh well, we improvise, adapt, overcome!  In the circle drive at the end of the road, a quasi-parking lot, there are several pieces of hardware displayed including a rock crusher, a wagon used to haul rock, a huge ship rudder, some windlass's, and other items. 

Wagon used to carry rock.

Rock crusher.

Rudder.

There are several buildings here including this Thorstein Veblen Study Cabin.  Veblen was an economist and an author or hundreds of articles and dozens of books.  He first came to Washington Island in 1896 and spent many summers here.  He built a summer home here for his family, and also this study cabin.  The last year he was here was 1926.  It is great that they preserved this piece of history.

Thorstein Veblen Study Cabin

Another building here is the Jacobsen Museum, but as said before, it was closed today.  It would have been interesting to see the displays inside including Native American arrowheads, beadwork, map stone and spirit stone, Danish scrollwork, shipwreck models, pioneer tools and fossils. 

 

The Jacobsen Museum

Museum pictures through the windows

Around the corner from the Jacobsen Museum we headed towards Little Lake.  This is such a peaceful area down here.  It seems like you are walking back in time.  Liberty was having a blast as no one was around so we let her be unleashed.  The scents must have been overwhelming!

The next building we found was Jens Jacobsen's Cabin.  This was completed in 1931 using vertical logs with the bark left on.  This is apparently a Danish design because (1) there were no long logs for Abe Lincoln-style cabins and (2) rain runs down the logs preventing rot.   

Jens Jacobsen was born in Denmark and his family migrated to Washington Island in 1881 when he was 14.  He attended to Schoolhouse Beach School here where he learned English, and over the next 70 years he became one of the island elders.  He was a farmer but also the assistant lightkeeper on Rock Island.  He served as assessor, an agent for the potato farmers, Justice of the Peace and Chairman of the Town Board.  He lived here until he was 85 years old, and now his legacy lives on in his museum and cabin.  The cabin was also closed up but I was able to take a couple pictures through the windows.

His furniture was all hand made out of butternut.

We continued towards Little Lake, onto the dock.  It looks like neighbors have some kayaks here.  The lake was so quiet!

Woodpeckers doing their thing here!

We loaded up and headed for the northeast corner of the island and Jackson Harbor.  There is the ferry that goes to Rock Island State Park.  We spoke with the office there and the timing for going to Rock Island was not going to work out.  The ferry only ran every two hours and the hike to Potawatomi Lighthouse there would have been 40 minutes one way, and it would not have been dog-friendly with little miss Liberty.   

The Rock Island pedestrian ferry.

A picture of a picture of Potawatomi Lighthouse

So we then headed south and back west to the Fragrant Isle lavender farm.  Here there are 20,000 lavender plants with a shop with "all things lavender" .  The lavender was not yet blooming but likely within a couple weeks.  The bakery and gift shop inside the main building were amazing. 

 

No canines allowed here, so Liberty and I hung out in the parking lot while Doreen went inside and looked around.  Dogs were also not allowed near the lavender plants.

Once done there we headed back to the Main Road in search of lunch.  Again, many places were closed on Monday but we did find the Historic Nelsen's Hall and the Bitter's Club.  We found a table outside so Liberty could join us for lunch.  We both had wraps and a beverage.  I did not find out the history behind the "historic" Nelsen's Hall but can only assume it was a gathering place for the locals.

After our late lunch we headed back towards the ferry, and as things go, the car in front of us was the last vehicle allowed on, so us along with many others had an hour to wait for the next ferry.  The good news was we were first in line!

After we returned to the campground we took advantage of the great weather and gave the RV a bath.  It really needed it after the drive down from Munising in the rain a few days ago.  

Tomorrow we will head down to Sturgeon Bay and restock on supplies before leaving for Oshkosh in a couple days.