STURGEON BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – An attraction which highlights nautical history in Northeast Wisconsin is opening some new exhibits.
They’re inside the 10-story tower at the Door County Maritime Museum in Sturgeon Bay.
A black and white rendering from 1872, reveals plans to build a ship canal connecting Sturgeon Bay with Lake Michigan. Door County Maritime Museum leaders say the sixth floor’s exhibit highlights the commercial contributions to the region.
“Once you have navigation, then you have commerce around the Great Lakes. And all of these industries that came about because of the prominence of the shipping canal and of commerce around the Great Lakes and in Sturgeon Bay,” said Sam Perlman, Door County Maritime Museum Deputy Director.
Perlman tells FOX 11 exhibits on each floor of the Jim Kress Maritime Lighthouse Tower are designed to highlight local history, and the people behind it.
“Each of the images in these industries are represented by a historical photograph.”
But the exhibit on the third floor offers something unique.
“This one’s so cool. Aquarium screen is everyone’s favorite, including mine,” said Kay Dragan, Door County Maritime Museum Curator.
Dragan says from the Lake Trout, to the Lake Sturgeon, the touch-screen virtual aquarium provides a high-tech look below the surface.
“The story of the peninsula is just so vast, and it encompasses so much. And sometimes people forget that there’s an entire world underneath the waves that moves on without us.”
Meanwhile, Sam Perlman says the Sturgeon Bay view from the top of the tower, puts things in perspective, in more ways than one.
“Water is the key, and that’s the maritime connection to all of these industries. In all of these goods, all of these services are created by, and because of the water that surrounds the Door Peninsula.”
Museum leaders say as of Tuesday, six floors are fully-open, and two other floors have partially-completed exhibits. Two floors remain closed to visitors.
They hope to have all 10 floors of the maritime tower completed and open to the public, by the end of the year.
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