WASHINGTON ISLANDLocated 6 miles off the tip of the Door County Peninsula- a favorite Midwest destination for those who want to get away..."NORTH OF THE TENSION LINE"- a slower and relaxing pace. It takes a special person to appreciate this lifestyle. Year round population is 718 and blooms to 1600 in the summer. Yooohooo- Bubba- sounds like a place for you. He tthought loading the tractor on the Ferry was absolutely awesome and predicting his kind of island fun.
One of the earliest immigrant settlements in Wisconsin. The town dates back to 1865. Icelandic and other Scandinavian immigrants made this island their home. Before these times the Island was populated by American Indians. Long known for abundant fish in the waters surrounding the island, it is also well known for some of the most treacherous water conditions on Lake Michigan. Hundreds of wooden shipwrecks are located here and your passage to the island takes you thru port des mortes or Deaths Door.
The early French explorers translated Door of Death into Porte des Morte, which became our Death’s Door of today. Prior to today’s modern navigation aids hundreds of ships floundered here. In the fall of 1872 alone, over 100 large vessels were stranded or damaged through the “Door”. In 1880, about 30 boats were driven ashore at Plum Island (located between Washington Island and mainland Door County). Today, with modern boats, weather forecasting, accurate charts and the United States Coast Guard stationed on Washington Island, Death’s Door does not prove such a threat to tourists, fisherman, and boating enthusiasts.
Now this is Bubba's kind of museum- a woodsie cabin filled with natural and historical artifacts of the region. Good old Jens Jacobsen left it to the state as a museum.Our tour guide is the son of the local Minister. He attends Bible College in Kansas. This nice young man had Bubs attention...wanting to know about each and every tool. Yup, we were the only ones in the Museum.
Ol' Jacobsen had the right idea. All this manly stuff was right up Bubs proverbial alley. After what seemed like forever in that "museum" I had to drag Bubs out....
ISLAND FUN
And if you can't get a job driving the Trolley back in Fish Creek there's always the Cherry Train onWashington Island. And for you bikers- I mean the peddling kind- this is your mecca. Few cars and lots of smooth roads to explore this beautiful bucolic island...farms here too. Bubba immediately started looking for real estate...more of that fantasy stuff I suppose.
Hey honey, how do you think this would look out on our patio?? Yes my darling. I am sure we would be the talk of the town. oh so Boca. And I bet you have just the right chain saw to make your own.MOUNTAIN PARK LOOKOUT TOWER
Fall in Boca-let's climb to the top. How many steps Bubba? A few or so. 186 steps later, I was ready to hit him with my flip flog- great climbing shoes. And if that wasn't enough then there were more on the Tower. Come on Boca, I am sure this tower can hold the both of us-and it will give you an opportunity to work off those CHEESE CURDS. Oh aren't you the comedian today...
HEY Honey, I heard there was a bar at the top....
worth the huff and puff to catch the majestic view on such a beautiful day.
NELSEN'S FOR LUNCH
Agostura Bitters Shot at Nelsen's Hall is a rite of passage. Nelsen's, built in 1899 by Danish immigrant Tom Nelsen, who drank a pint of the bitters a day- and often created his long and healthy life to the habit. During the Prohibition Era, Nelsen applied for and was granted a pharmacist's license to dispense his 90 proof "stomach tonic" to the local island residents. As a result his pub was allowed to stay open, making Nelsen's Hall the oldest legally, continuously operated saloon in Wisconsin. Each year over 10,000 people join the Bitters club in this pub on tiny Washington Island....and Bubs loved the idea of deers getting registered there too! Poor Pleep- that Corona gets him every time.STAVKIRKE CHURCH
The Stavkirke ("Church of Staves") is modeled on an original Scandinavian design, and was hand-built by islanders. This church was built of wood and in complete Norwegian tradition. The design is very peculiar and the story goes that when God entered the church the devils exited from the signs at the top of the Church
Buildings speak also of heritage. The immigrant influence. All of which calls us home—back to wherever it all began and was reborn here in some visage of the past, whether it was our own heritage or someone else’s.
Door County is blessed with a history of many cultures, especially Scandinavian. From the Viking-like presence of the Village Hall in Ephraim, to the authentic beauty of Al Johnson’s Swedish Restaurant and Butik in Sister Bay, which defines the whole village. The exterior/interior logs, imported from the old country, the grass roof, wood carvings, rosemaling, the Scandinavian dishes on the menu all beckon that within us searching for a connection to a real past. It is surprising that more of this old world experience is not evident on the peninsula.
Washington Island, however, harbors a real, almost hidden historical treasure: the Stavkirke (Church of Staves) based on drawings of one built in Borgund, Norway in 1150 AD. This was a home-grown project, another testament to ‘life in a small town,’ community effort, where skilled local craftsmen, under the direction of head carpenters, John Herschberger, Dale Bjarnarson, and a half-dozen volunteers, came together whenever time permitted, mostly in summer. John began laying the foundation of mortared beach stone and cement in 1992, then covered it all with a shed, which made it possible for the men to work on the building a few mornings each week, even in winter.
The original project of the StavkirkeReiff .a pastor on the Island in the early 1980’s who felt such a structure would reflect the immigrant influence on the Island. Sister Bay architect, Pat Mangan offered a personal interest of stav history to the project, made the drawings based on the Borgund stavkirke and the list of necessary materials.
David Ranney carved the dragon heads, based on the style of the old Stavkirke.
Washington Island ferry captain and author, Richard Purinton did the carved roof boards while Gary Hendrickson carved the panels in the altar, and his wife painted the faux marble supports on the altar. The beautiful model of the Mackinac schooner that hangs from the knave was built by head carpenter, John Herschberger.
The project was completed and dedicated the summer of 1995. Landscaping and the bell tower followed in time. Seven years later, by 1999, everything was in place.
The Stavkirke ("Church of Staves") is modeled on an original Scandinavian design, and was hand-built by islanders. This church was built of wood and in complete Norwegian tradition. The design is very peculiar and the story goes that when God entered the church the devils exited from the signs at the top of the Church
stave church is a medieval wooden church with a post and beam construction related to timber framing. The wall frames are filled with vertical planks. The load-bearing posts (stafr in Old Norse, stav in Norwegian) have lent their name to the building technique. Related church types are post churches and churches with palisade walls.
All of the surviving stave churches except one are in Norway, but related church types were once common all over northwestern Europe. The only remaining medieval stave churches outside Norway are one dating to approximately 1500 located at Hedared in Sweden and one Norwegian stave church that was relocated in 1842 to the outskirts of Krummhübel, Germany, now Karpacz in the Krkonoše mountains of Poland. One other church, the Anglo-Saxon Greensted Church in England, has many similarities but is not universally regarded as a stave church.
Construction- per Wiki
Archaeological excavations have shown that stave churches, best represented today by the Borgund stave church, descend from palisade constructions and later churches with earth-bound posts.
Similar palisade constructions are known from buildings from the Viking era. Logs were split in two halves, rammed into the ground, and given a roof. This was a simple form of construction but very strong. If set in gravel, the wall could last for decades, even centuries. Remains of buildings of this type are found over much of Europe. An archaeological excavation in Lund uncovered the post holes of several such churches.
In later buildings the walls were supported by sills, leaving only the corner posts earth-bound – post churches. Such churches are easy to spot at archaeological sites as they leave very distinct holes where the posts were once placed. Sometimes the remains are even preserved, which makes possible very accurate dating of the church building. Under Urnes stave church remains have been found of two such churches, with Christian graves discovered below the oldest church.
A single church with a palisade construction has been discovered under another medieval church, the Hemse stave church. This church used a palisade wall, yet the walls were supported on sills.
The next phase resulted from the observation that earth-bound posts are susceptible to humidity, which will cause them to rot away over time. To prevent this the posts were placed on top of large stones, significantly increasing their lifespan. The stave church in Røldal is believed to be of this type.
In still later churches, the posts were set on a raised sill frame, resting on stone foundations. This is the stave church in its most mature form.
It is now common to group the churches into two categories: the first without free-standing posts, often referred to as Type A, and the other with a raised roof and with free-standing internal posts, usually termed Type B.
Those with the raised roof, Type B, are often further divided into two subgroups. The first of these, the Kaupanger group, have a whole arcade row of posts and intermediate posts along the sides and details that mimic stone capitals. These churches give an impression of a basilica.
The other subgroup is the Borgund group. These churches have cross braces joining upper and lower string beams and the posts, forming a very rigid interconnection, and resembling the triforium of stonebasilicas. This makes it possible to omit the freestanding lower part of intermediate posts. In some churches in Valdres, only the four corner posts have been retained (see image of Lomen stave church).
Many stave churches had or still have outer galleries running around the whole perimeter, loosely connected to the plank walls. They probably served to protect the church from a harsh climate, and for processions.
STAVKIRKE PRAYER PATH
Bubs enjoyed the prayer path. Loaded with scriptural passages along with sea worthy stuff....
Bubs enjoyed the prayer path. Loaded with scriptural passages along with sea worthy stuff....
You betcha. Bubba fell in love with Washington Island. Farm and deer- doesn't get any better.....and we spent the rest of the day checking out the farms and property for sale. Joy. Is that a guy thing?
