Day Trip: Ellison Bay

Art, culture and spectacular views in a Door County square mile

Your tour guide: Robert Murray, Cana Light Communications

Where in North America, within a single square mile, can one find the highest inland bluff overlooking the largest inland bay in the lower 48 states, a world-famous folk school founded by America's foremost landscape architect, a gourmet restaurant rivaling the best in New York City, a rare-book seller stocking over 100,000 volumes and an international emporium specializing in ancient Asian artifacts?

Answer: Ellison Bay, Wisconsin

Wisconsin is shaped like a mitten, its thumb poking upward between Green Bay and Lake Michigan. These two great inland bodies of water meet at the top of the thumb, creating cross-currents that have doomed many a vessel and earned this passage the moniker "Porte des Morts," or "Death's Door." Thence the adopted name of the rest of the thumb--"Door County."

Ellison Bay is a mile-wide wrinkle near the top of the thumb on the Green Bay side. Settled by Danish immigrant Johan Eliason in 1866, it is five hours from Chicago, four hours from Milwaukee, and about an hour from the home of the Packers via Highway 42. The village of Ellison Bay is cuddled at the base of the "Big" Ellison Bluff, soaring 267 feet almost straight up from the water. As you crest the Big Bluff plateau, to your right you'll see the white spires of Shepherd of the Bay Lutheran church, harboring one of the finest pipe organs in North America. Then to your left unfurls one of the most breathtaking views in all of Door County--the full expanse of Green Bay sweeping out to the wispy shoreline of western Michigan some 30 miles away. And down the incline sparkling Ellison Bay awaits.

Should you arrive on the last Friday in June, you'll be immersed in "Olde Ellison Bay Days," a weekend affair that marks the beginning of the summer festival season in northern Door County. That evening, you can catch a local talent show at Shepherd of the Bay church. Then, on Saturday, view the Grande Parade down the Ellison Bay hill, stroll the Arts and Crafts Fair at Ellison Bay Park, savor root beer floats and strawberry shortcake "like they used to be," and enjoy activities for the entire family, including an all-comers "water golf" shoot-out over golfdom's biggest, most benign water hazard--Ellison Bay itself.

Okay, maybe that's stretching a "Day Trip." But if you really have only a day, make it a full one because there are pleasant surprises galore here. And pleasant places to stay the night before, including the Hotel Disgarden, a vintage 1902 hostel featuring original pioneer-era stovewood construction.

Next morning, you might kick off your full day with a hearty breakfast at Mink River Basin Supper Club, known for its up-home American food and drink. Next in line, just steps away, are a number of unique artisans' studios and galleries, starting with The Linden Gallery, a treasure trove of Asian artifacts, some over 2,000 years old. And across the way is the Pioneer Store, a "born-again" village market dating back to the early 1900s, still stocking almost every necessity known to sustain life, from BBQ staples and spirits to suntan lotion and curative Door County cherry juice.

Opposite the Pioneer Store is The Viking Grill, where you can enjoy a leisurely luncheon (best cheeseburgers and chocolate shakes in Door County) on your way to Wm. Caxton Ltd., Bookseller & Publisher, where you may browse to your heart's content rare tomes and collectors' editions under the seemingly all-knowing gaze of ebullient founder and curator, Kubet Luchterhand.

From "Kubie's" turn left on Highway 42 and stay left onto Garrett Bay Road about a quarter mile to a private drive marked The Clearing. This woodland byway meanders another quarter mile or so through sun-dappled cedar and birch to a world-famous folk school founded in 1935 by Jens Jensen. A protégé of Frank Lloyd Wright, Jensen is remembered as Wright's peer in landscape architecture, and little wonder. You will be captivated by the symbiotic spell The Clearing casts.

Finally, your empirical pallet "cleansed" by Ellison Bay's most famous retreat, prepare your taste buds for the finest gourmet cuisine this side of, well, almost anywhere. Idle back down Garrett Bay Road, after the stop sign cross Highway 42, turn left onto Mink River Road and then into nearby T. Ashwell's Restaurant. Or, if your taste buds insist on traditional Great Lakes fare, you can return to The Viking Grill for Door County's original "Fish Boil."

And that’s just one day! For many other edifying and enjoyable things to see and do in Ellison Bay, go to www.ellisonbayarts.wordpress.com, scroll down the list and click on "Ellison Bay Arts."