Erik Lucia leads visitors up the steep steps to the lantern room at Pottawatomie Lighthouse. He and his wife, Cyndi, have volunteered their time for the past 13 summers. (Jay Jones / Chicago Tribune)
From lighthouses to lavender, adventure and surprises await on Door County’s islands.
A large bible sits on the small lectern inside the Stavkirke on Washington Island. It’s a reflection of the island’s strong Scandinavian heritage. (Jay Jones / Chicago Tribune)
Visitors to Rock Island are greeted by an impressive stone boathouse built for Chester Thordarson, an Icelandic-born Chicago industrialist who used the island as his summer estate in the early 1900s. (Jay Jones / Chicago Tribune)
Capt. Matt Olson often takes passengers by surprise as he pushes the throttle fully forward to race toward the several islands that dot Green Bay near Fish Creek, Wis. (Jay Jones / Chicago Tribune)
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The dinner table at the lighthouse on Rock Island is set with antique stoneware bearing the seal of the U.S. Light House Service. Free tours are offered during the warmer months. (Jay Jones / Chicago Tribune)
A modern navigational light sits atop a tower near the historic Pottawatomie lighthouse on the rocky northern shore of Rock Island, Wis. (Jay Jones / Chicago Tribune)
An antique, wax cylinder record player sits in the parlor of the Pottawatomie Lighthouse on Rock Island. The oldest lighthouse in the state of Wisconsin, Pottawatomie has been decorated to appear as it would have in the early 1900s. (Jay Jones / Chicago Tribune)
A modern replica of the traditional churches found across Scandinavia, Washington Island’s Stavkirke provides a peaceful place in which to meditate or pray. (Jay Jones / Chicago Tribune)
