Door County Byways - The Most Scenic Drives in America: 120 Spectacular Road Trips - page 567

ded in the style of an old European farmhouse. For an unforgettable vista, visit Ellison
Bluff Park.
6. Gills Rock
Nearly everyone calls this part of Door County the Top-o'-the-Thumb because of its posi-
tion on the tip of the Wisconsin “mitten.” In the waters offshore of the tiny village of Gills
Rock, you'll find some of the best fishing in the entire Great Lakes area.
7. Washington Island
SomanyIndianshadfallenvictimtotheturbulentcurrentsbetweenthetipofthepeninsula
and Washington Island that the Indians called it “place of death.” On hearing this some
300 years ago, French explorers dubbed the strait Porte des Morts (loosely translated as
Death'sDoor),fromwhichDoorCountyderivesitsname.Visitorscansafelytraversethese
same waters on a brisk ferry ride to Washington Island. Once there, you'll find the oldest
Icelandic settlement in America. With more than 100 miles of roadways, the island is ideal
for biking. At Jackson Harbor you can take another ferry (no cars allowed) to Rock Island
State Park, the site of Potowatomi Lighthouse—the first one built on Lake Michigan.
8. Newport State Park
Back on the mainland, this 2,400-acre park was once the site of a logging village and is
now a semi-wilderness containing several forest, wetland, and meadow communities and
11 miles of shoreline. Though nature has certainly reclaimed the land, traces of Newport's
early days can still be seen amid the ruins of old loggers' cabins. Adjoining the park is
Europe Lake, a spot soserene that it'shard to believe it lies only a few miles from the spir-
ited surf of Lake Michigan.
9. Ephraim
As you approach Ephraim's white steeples and white picket fences, you quickly discern
that this is a place of elegant simplicity, a town that reflects the purity and plainness of its
Moravian founders. When they arrived at this lovely site in 1853, they called it Ephraim,
a Hebrew word meaning “the fruitful land.” Their spirit lives on in the Moravian church,
which contains a pulpit handcrafted by the first pastor.