Peninsula State Park

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Peninsula State Park is a 3,776 acre Wisconsin state park featuring nearly 7 miles of Lake Michigan shoreline in Door County. This area has often been referred to as the "Cape Cod of the Midwest."

Peninsula State Park was established in 1909. The state of Wisconsin purchased this land for less than $20 an acre. In 1910 the state legislature officially established it as a state park. By 1914 towers were being built at Svens Bluff as well as Eagle Bluff. In 1921 Albert E. Doolittle, the parks manager, laid out a 9-hole golf course; in 1927 a memorial pole was built on the course; and in 1931 Potawatomi Chief Simon Kahquados was buried at the pole. In 1947 park officials removed the tower on Sven's Bluff, due to dry-rot.

By 1964, flush toilets and running water were added. The winter warming house on Bluff Road was converted into the White Cedar Nature Center that same year. In 1982 Sunset Bike Trail was surfaced, computers began to be used for reservations, and an irrigation system was installed on the golf course (now 18 holes). In 1992 the first deer hunt was held on the park grounds. In 2001, tree thinning was started in Tennison Bay. Peninsula State Park now includes four campgrounds (Tennison Bay, Nicolet Bay, Welckers Point, and Weborg Point). The tower at Eagle Bluff still stands and has since been refurbished twice. Two cemetaries (one public, one private) are within the park grounds, as well as an outdoor ampitheatre (American Folklore Theatre) which holds plays every few nights. [1]