Sturgeon Bay, Wis. (December 31, 2021) – Your Door County Maritime Museum experienced a year like no other in 2021, including welcoming more than 100,000 guests between our three museum locations for the first time in our history!
The year ahead looks even more exciting, as we complete the work to fill the Jim Kress Maritime Lighthouse Tower with engaging, state of the art interactive exhibits. Mark your calendars for our Grand Opening on Sunday, May 22nd (National Maritime Day)!
We continue to be humbled by the generous support that our maritime community shares with our organization. Our year-end Anchor Appeal has raised more than $80,000! That far exceeds the $50,000 matching goal we had from DCMM Board Member Pete Horton and his wife Jelaine – THANK YOU!!
These general operating funds keep our doors open year-round at the Museum in Sturgeon Bay, and help our staff operate three seasonal museum properties: the historic tugboat John Purves docked on the working waterfront at the Museum in Sturgeon Bay; the iconic Cana Island Lighthouse in Baileys Harbor; and the Death’s Door Maritime Museum in Gills Rock.
We thank you all for the time, talent and treasure you contribute to YOUR Door County Maritime Museum, as we share and celebrate the rich maritime history of Door County and the Great Lakes with an ever-growing audience!
Maritime Speaker Series: The Legend of Death’s Door
The DCMM Maritime Speaker Series is proud to welcome DCMM Collections Coordinator Brennan Christianson for an in-person presentation on Thursday, January 6 at 7pm. The Maritime Speaker Series is graciously sponsored by the Door County Medical Center.
Brennan will discuss the origins of the naming of Death’s Door, the treacherous passage found on the northern tip of the Door Peninsula. The presentation will discuss his research on the history of the passage, the time period in which the naming may have occurred, and the numerous attempts by historians to explain the name of the passage. Come find out about the early history of the Door Peninsula and the possible origins of the fearsome name of Death’s Door.
Brennan Christianson is the Collections Coordinator for the Door County Maritime Museum and Site Manager of the Death’s Door Maritime Museum. He attended undergrad at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay for History with minors in German and Humanities. He recently graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee with a Master’s degree in Public History and a certificate in Museum Studies.
We invite everyone to attend in-person at the Museum in Sturgeon Bay. Museum doors will open at 6:45pm. If you wish to watch online, please click the red button to register.
No registration or RSVP necessary to watch in person.
New Exhibits Opening
DCMM is so excited to begin sharing the new exhibits in the Jim Kress Maritime Lighthouse Tower as they are completed this winter and spring! The next two floors that will open to the public are Shipbuilding (2) and Navigation (7). We’ll hold a small ribbon-cutting event for those floors in late January.
The next floors to be completed will be Life Underwater (3) and Commerce (6), followed by Shipbuilding (5) and People of the Water (8). The final floors will be Our Rocky Peninsula (9) and Recreational Boating (4), all leading up to our Grand Opening event on National Maritime Day, Sunday, May 22.
We will retain our current admission price of $12 for adults and $5 for children ages 5-17 throughout the exhibit construction process. DCMM admission will rise to $15 for adults and $7 for kids once all the new exhibits are complete.
Keep your eyes on local media and follow DCMM on Facebook for announcements on new exhibit opening dates.
Hours of Operation
- Door County Maritime Museum in Sturgeon Bay: Open seven days a week, 10am-4pm.
- Museum CLOSED New Year’s Day.
- Closing at 2pm on December 31.
- Tug John Purves, docked at the Sturgeon Bay Museum, Cana Island Lighthouse in Baileys Harbor, and Death’s Door Maritime Museum in Gills Rock are CLOSED for the 2021 season.
Our seasonal locations will re-open May 1, 2022.
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