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Peninsula State Park Turns 100

2009

“Let the State of Wisconsin give to its children this vast playground, where the old, and tired, and worn may grow young in spirit and rested in body, nursed by the purity of Nature’s medicine, and where the young may romp and their bodies grow strong among the wonders of scenic beauty.” – Jacksonport Assemblyman Thomas Reynolds' plea to the state assembly that helped convince the state to establish Peninsula State Park in 1908

One can scarcely imagine Door County without Peninsula State Park, the 3,776-acre centerpiece of the Door Peninsula. This year, the Door County Half Marathon kicks off a season of celebration, as the venerated park celebrates a century as the area’s defining attraction.

It’s home to some of the county’s most iconic imagery: Eagle Tower, Nicolet Bay, the Eagle Bluff Lighthouse, Peninsula Golf Course, American Folklore Theatre and the breathtaking view from Sven’s Bluff. Each is among the most photographed and most visited attractions in Door County.

The second most visited park in the state has served as the gateway to generations of Door County vacations for decades. Many who now stay in resorts or own condos or vacations homes were introduced to the area by the park as children or young parents, creating a bond to the land that lasts a lifetime.

The park is the aesthetic centerpiece of two thriving tourist towns that bookend it, Fish Creek and Ephraim. Peninsula State Park plays a large role in the communities’ reputations as picturesque getaways, including being named the Best Small-town Getaway in the Midwest by Midwest Living Magazine.

It’s hard to believe, but the park we now take for granted as integral to the Door County lifestyle was a controversial topic at its founding a century ago. Selected by celebrated landscape architect John Nolan as one of the first sites in the state for the new State Park’s System in 1908, its creation was opposed by many prominent citizens.

The Wisconsin State Parks Board convinced the Harvard-educated Nolan to move from Cambridge, MA to Wisconsin to find the most appealing sites. He canvassed the state before coming up with four recommendations – Devil’s Lake, Wisconsin Dells, the Wyalusing area, and Peninsula.

Both the Green Bay Press Gazette and Door County Advocate expressed reservations about the idea, and none other than Door County historian H.R. Holand was vehemently against it. The Young Men’s Progressive Club of Ephraim proclaimed that the park “would not benefit the community.”

They were wrong, of course, and fortunately Nolan saw it differently.

“Discriminating people, now numbering at least 1,000 a year, have discovered its charms and become familiar with its attractions,” Nolan wrote. He predicted many more would come to experience the park and surrounding communities, but it’s doubtful he had any idea how prophetic his words would prove to be. Nearly a century later the park is much more than an attraction. It has come to earn immeasurable importance in terms both personal and economic.

One hundred years later, Peninsula State Park is still spawning relationships between visitors and Door County’s natural splendor.

The Door County Half Marathon and Nicolet Bay 5K are proud to introduce a new generation to the county’s greatest lure.

Peninsula State Park Fast Facts:

• Peninsula is Wisconsin’s second most popular state park, behind Devil’s Lake State Park in Baraboo
• Peninsula has more campsites than any other park and is the state’s most popular camping destination
• Many of the park’s prominent features – Eagle Tower, Eagle Terrace – were produced by the hard work of the Civilian Conservation Corps, a New Deal program that put thousands of Americans to work.