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Peninsula of Wisconsin in Lake Michigan

The Door Peninsula is a peninsula in eastern Wisconsin, separating the southern part of the Green Bay from Lake Michigan. The peninsula includes northern Kewaunee County, northeastern Brown County, and the mainland portion of Door County. It is on the western side of the Niagara Escarpment. Well known for its cherry and apple orchards, the Door Peninsula is a popular tourism destination. With the 1881 completion of the Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal, the northern half of the peninsula became an island. Limestone outcroppings of the Niagara Escarpment are visible on both shores of the peninsula, but are larger and more prominent on the Green Bay side as seen at the Bayshore Blufflands. Progressions of dunes have created much of the rest of the shoreline, especially on the east side. Flora along the shore demonstrate plant succession during periods of low lake levels. The middle of the peninsula is mostly flat. Beyond the peninsula's northern tip is a series of islands, the largest of which is Washington Island. The partially submerged ridge extends farther north, becoming the Garden Peninsula in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

Paleo Indian artifacts have been found at two sites in the town of Union and two sites in the city of Sturgeon Bay. The Cardy and Salisbury Steak sites are located about a mile from each other in the south side of the city, and the Heyrman I and Boss Tavern (or Fabry Creek) sites are a quarter mile from each other along Highway 57 in the town of Union. It is thought that the Boss Tavern site was used as a base camp, while the Heyrman I site was used as a workshop area for producing stone tools and possibly also as a very brief campsite. Both sites were occupied multiple times by Paleo Indians. A layer of sand was found at the Boss Tavern site, indicating it was a beach when lake levels were higher than they are today. The tools and waste chips at the Heyrman I site suggest that the Paleo Indians there may have been less mobile than those who resided at the Boss Tavern site. from Illinois, and four Gainey points were found at the Cardy Site. The relationship between Gainey points and the more ubiquitous Clovis points is being researched, but there are some similarities. Careful study of certain Paleo Indian artifacts from western Wisconsin suggests that they were made in the Door Peninsula and carried across the state. Paleo Indian stone tools from made from stone sourced from the Door Peninsula or its immediate vicinity have been found as far west as in Trempealeau, La Crosse, Jackson, and Jackson, and Monroe counties and as far south as Dane County. In 246 B. C (±25 years), a dog was buried in a Native American burial site on Washington Island.

The name of the peninsula and the county comes from the name of a route between Green Bay and Lake Michigan. Humans, whether Native Americans, early explorers, or American ship captains, have been well aware of the dangerous water passage that lies between the Door Peninsula and Washington Island, connecting the bay to the rest of Lake Michigan. It was named by the Native Americans and translated into French as Porte des Morts: in English, "Death's Door". The earliest known written reference to this comes from a 1728 mention of "Cap a la Mort" ("Cape of Death") in French. The Menominee name for the peninsula was "Kenatao", meaning "cape".

In 1818, Michilimackinac and Brown counties were formed by the Michigan territorial legislature. The border between the two ran through the peninsula at Sturgeon Bay. What is now the southern part of Door County was in Brown County, while the northern part was in Michilimackinac County. In 1836, the northern part of Door County was taken from Michilimackinac County and added to Brown County as part of an overall border adjustment limiting Michilimackinac to areas within the soon to be reduced Michigan Territory. When Door County was separated off from Brown County in 1851, it included what is now Kewaunee County. Kewaunee County was separated off of Door County in 1852. Although the Door–Marinette county lines within the Wisconsin part of Green Bay were assigned to the "center of the main channel of Green Bay," not all maps drew the positions of the islands and the main channel of Green Bay correctly. In particular, some once incorrectly considered Green Island in what is now the town of Peshtigo in Marinette County to be in the town of Egg Harbor in Door County. In 1923, Michigan claimed ownership of Plum, Detroit, Washington, Hog, and Rock islands in Door County, although it did not take possession of them. In 1926, the Supreme Court dismissed Michigan's claim. In doing so, the court mistakenly appeared to award islands north of Rock Island in Delta County to Wisconsin (and by extension to Door County). Door County never assumed jurisdiction over these Michigan islands, and the matter was fixed again before the Supreme Court in the 1936 Wisconsin v. Michigan decision, which left governance of the islands in Door and Delta counties as they had been before the litigation. The more tourism dominated northern part of the peninsula was acculturated from the professional and business classes of the tourists, while the more agriculture dominated southern remained more rural in character. Due to economic, ethnic, and cultural differences between the northern and southern parts of the present day Door County, arguments are sometimes started about the most appropriate place to draw the Door–Kewaunee line.

Dry valleys are in the western and central areas of the peninsula. Some carry water during the spring snow melt to a larger drainage or stream, but several have been found which appear unrelated to current drainage patterns. They may have been formed from melting glaciers or drainage patterns prior to the glaciers.

Spawning areas and other fish habitat areas adjacent to the islands north of the Door Peninsula were mapped in 1978. Lake whitefish spawn in Moonlight Bay. From 1962 to 1965, 39 smallmouth bass nests were observed in a variety of county waters. Water depth varied from 17 inches to at least five feet and possibly deeper. 27 of the nests were made on gravel or rubble, 8 were made on sand, and 4 were made on bedrock with overlaying gravel. Adult fish were observed on 14 of the nests and eggs were seen in 19 of the nests. During part of the study carp were seen stirring up the water in Little Sturgeon Bay. This kept the water extremely turbid during the entire smallmouth bass spawning period which prevented any smallmouth eggs from hatching. Brown trout were first planted in the Wisconsin side of Lake Michigan in 1966. They now spawn in Lake Michigan tributaries on the Door Peninsula. Fall runs are often limited by tributary flow. When low flow prevents runs into streams, spawning occurs along rocky lakeshores. Adults often lay eggs around docks and harbors along the peninsula, and most bays in the area have populations of brown trout.

Remains of sturgeon, catfish, sucker, smallmouth bass, white bass, walleye, and drum left behind by Native Americans were found near North Bay in the 1960s. In 1965, strong restrictions from the Wisconsin DNR forced some commercial fishermen to change careers. Prior to that, fish were flown out to Midwestern metro areas the same day they were caught. Today, lake whitefish and yellow perch are caught commercially, and lake whitefish are also caught commercially by ice fishing. In 2019, anglers spent an estimated 181,342 hours fishing off the eastern shore of Door County, 222,088 hours fishing off the eastern shore of Kewaunee County, and 1,113,129 hours fishing in the entirety of Green Bay. The figures document a decrease from 1990, when anglers spent an estimated 406,998 hours fishing off the eastern shore of Door County, 279,385 hours fishing off the eastern shore of Kewaunee County, and 1,245,291 hours fishing in the entirety of Green Bay.

Lake Michigan shoreline is used for lake surfing. One guidebook names the shore off Cave Point County Park as the best surfing area.

From 1996 to 2001, researchers identified 69 species of snails in Door County, the most out of the 22 counties in the study. Most of these were found on rock outcrop habitats. Ranking second was Brown County with 62 species. 48 species were found in Kewaunee County, ranking eighth. Slugs were found in all three counties. Peninsula State Park is home to the northernmost known population of Strobilops aenea. The species Vertigo hubrichti and Vertigo morsei are endemic to the upper Midwest. These two species had the highest occurrence frequencies along the Door and Garden Peninsulas. Door County is also home to several uncommon species from the genus Oxychilus, which is non native and introduced from Europe. One was found near a vacation home and may have been introduced by landscape plantings. Within Door County, Brussels Hill, North Kangaroo Lake, Rock Island and the scarp face with its cool algific habitat supports populations of rare snails.