DIRECTIONS IN DOOR COUNTY

Mary and I have been in Door County for 7 or 8 years and there are a couple of things that we still have not acclimated to. I have been “encouraged”, by other transplanted friends, to talk about one in this blog. The issue is directions in Door County. For someone who grew up on “the main land” directions are pretty straight forward. We go “up North” or “down South”. East and West are left or right of North or South, depending on which way you are facing. We are always “facing” North or South and the land is wide enough to accommodate us.

Then we moved to Door County. Our neighbor stopped to greet us and to get acquainted, it seemed that high on his list of small talk was the fact that our house faced nearly directly North. Well he couldn’t fool me! I know where North is and it wasn’t the direction that our house is facing. Our neighbor simply chuckled, after all he’s a transplant too and he knew that it would take a long while for us to “recalibrate” our internal compass. We checked our Gazetteer and sure enough the old Hwy 57 (now DK) angled just enough to have our house facing North on this beautiful but cockeyed peninsula.

We found out that North was really East-ish and South was really West-ish and anyone who got it right was probably born on this strip of land called Door County. When we go to Washington Island it seems that the world mysteriously rotates back to a “North is North” point of view.

In my struggle to shift my “compass” I looked at our map again. 

I was struck by the fact that most of the roads are set up on the “traditional” North / South and East / West grid. Except for the main highways (57 & 42), I see the familiar grid layout, which admittedly looks out of place against the angle of the peninsula. I guess that I understand the insistence of the “Door born” folks to talk in terms that makes “North to be East” and “South to be West”. I just hope I don’t get lost going to New London.