I’m sipping a lavender-infused coffee while my wife, Tip, enjoys a cool lavender lemonade. We lean back in our Adirondack chairs and the world before us is the color of ... well, lavender. The breeze rolls through it like a purple wave, and the air hums with the pure delight of hundreds of bees. I suppose the nectar is lavender-infused as well.
A Touch of France
Martine Anderson was born and raised in France, and her husband, Edgar, hailed from Honduras. Their paths crossed in Miami Beach. Each had a successful and busy career—she in couture management for Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue, he with his own ad agency and a corporate executive job with McDonald’s that took him all over the world for the better part of 21 years.When they moved to Chicago, they discovered Door County, Wisconsin, the peninsula that creates a thumbs-up shape in Lake Michigan. Here, they fell in love again, but with Washington Island, a short ferry ride from the tip of the mainland.
Their creation is an expression of Martine’s longtime dream of owning a lavender farm. The more than 20,000 plants of a dozen varieties are primarily English. The blooms, which span weeks, create a vista that draws travelers, especially in mid-summer. The diverse varieties follow their own innate calendars. The purple flowers contrast nicely with the bright red barn and white fence. A red pole barn houses the distillery where the tranquility-inducing scent is harvested and bottled.
Visitors who wander through the gift shop can take home fragrant oils, candles, and lotions. Others stop only for the floral display and photo ops, lingering in the open-air café for a sandwich or the signature lavender desserts and drinks, such as a lavender-rosé slushie.
More to the Island
The blooms at Fragrant Isle and events such as the Washington Island Literary Festival bring a bustle to the island. Most summer travelers are day trippers, popping over on the morning ferry and returning to the mainland before sunset.
The speed limit in the sparsely populated areas is 35 miles per hour. The short drive from the ferry to the first major crossroads is forested to the edge of the asphalt and lined with a bike lane. But there’s no rush anywhere here—unless you’re late for a ferry.
The island is just under 24 square miles and easy to explore in a day, but staying after 6 p.m., when the last ferry leaves, gives visitors a feel for what it’s like to live here.
Tradition
Back during Prohibition, locals found loopholes to get their booze. Tom Nelsen, a Danish immigrant, owned a hall and had the idea to apply for a pharmacist license. He learned that Angostura bitters were considered medicinal, a proven digestive with a bit of alcohol in it—47.7 percent to be exact. He even prevailed in court when challenged on his practice of serving it by the shot. Today, the popular tavern Nelsen’s Hall has a Bitters Club and serves thousands of shots each year. Buy a shot and you get a membership card on which you place a thumbprint using a bit of bitters as ink.Down the road, you’ll see a restaurant sign that reads “Fresh Lawyers,” perhaps a bit intimidating for those in the legal profession. But in this neck of the lake, this is an alternative name for burbot, a fish that keeps to deeper cold water. They call it poor man’s lobster, and it isn’t always on the menu. Lawyers weren’t considered desirable fish, but when longtime commercial fisherman Ken Koyen ate some fried lawyer, he became a fish evangelist.
Island Beauty
Popular with picnickers and swimmers, Schoolhouse Beach lies on a protected north bay that was once the island’s port. Now, folks come to see the exceptionally clear waters and the beach of smoothed palm-sized cobble, perfect for rock skipping.
An Island off the Island
For a day hike or some rustic camping, Rock Island lies off the northeastern corner of the island. Chester Thordarson, a successful Icelandic immigrant and wealthy inventor, began buying the land in 1910 until he owned the whole place. Now the island is a state park. A lighthouse at the north end is under the care of a couple of docents, and a 10-mile trail encircles the island. The small people-only ferry (not even bikes are allowed) arrives at a magnificent stone boathouse built by Thordarson. This is a birding hotspot during fall migration. Unless you’re camping, the ferry takes you back to Washington at Jackson Harbor.
A Change of Attitude
After two nights, we are gradually lulled into a slower, more thoughtful pace. We mail postcards from the tiniest post office you’ll ever find. We browse the shelves at a charming little bookstore in town and eat dinner and ice cream at The Albatross, a popular burger drive-in. Our final island meal is steak and seafood at Sailors Pub over the water for one last sunset. Afterward, we stop at nearby Sand Dunes Park to stick our feet in the sand and then turn in for the night. Come and go if you must, but stay if you want some pure peace.As we drive off the ferry the next day, we follow Door County’s “wavy highway,” the 15-curve stretch of road through the forest at the northern terminus of Highway 42. The road’s serpentine design is meant to make visitors slow down and admire the beauty. A few days on Washington Island has the same effect.
If You Go:
The Washington Island Ferry pier is at Northport, at the end of the “curvy highway,” which is part of the Door County Coastal National Scenic Byway.The closest airport is Green Bay’s Austin Straubel International, about a two-hour drive from the ferry port.
