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Known around the globe and envied for its natural beauty, Door County, Wisconsin, offers endless variety in ways to enjoy its scenic outdoors. The total area is 79.63% water and the county has more miles of shoreline than any county in the United States. Named after a local channel with a notoriously swift and dangerous current called "Death's Door" by natives and early explorers, Door County covers the majority of the Door Peninsula.

Originally inhabited by Potawatomies and, probably, other native Americans tribes migrating back and forth to Canada, the Door Peninsula greeted French Catholic explorers in the 1600's, led by Jean Nicolet in 1643. The great Jesuit explorer, Jacques Marquette, visited the Door peninsula in 1673, as did Robert LaSalle (1697) and Antoine Cadillac (1718). Used primarily for fish, lumber, fur and trading by those early adventurers as they discovered what would become the Wisconsin Territory, the area remained largely unsettled until the mid-1800s when Norwegian immigrants found the shipping access, beauty, abundant resources and relative calm too compelling to ignore. With the completion of the Sturgeon Bay shipping canal in 1882, carving a channel across from Lake Michigan on the south to the Green Bay on the north, the peninsula actually became an island.

Limestone outcroppings, part of the Niagara Escarpment, are visible on both shores of the peninsula, but are larger and more prominent on the Green Bay side. Progressions of dunes have created much of the rest of the shoreline, especially on the easterly side. Flora along the shore provides clear evidence of plant succession. The middle of the peninsula is mostly flat, cultivated land. Soils overlaying the dolestone bedrock are very thin in the northern half of the county.

Just a short drive from pro football's legendary "Titletown," home of the Green Bay Packers, Door County's over 300 miles of shoreline, five state parks, seventeen county parks, conservation areas and year-round activities offer residents the chance to relax and unwind. Throughout the changing seasons, each of the towns and villages offers something for everyone. Activities are endless - art galleries, cherry and apple orchards, golfing, boating, fishing, hiking, snowmobiling, cross country skiing, and the list goes on. The changing seasons add to the beauty of the peninsula.