I have run into quite a few websites all over the internet claiming that Door County, Wisconsin has more lighthouses than any other county in the United States - the sites mention 9 or 10 locations. Here is a site showing a map with 9 lighthouse locations in this county. http://dcmm.org/lighthouses.html
The thing is, I live in a county that has at least 15 lighthouses standing right now, and there were closer to 20 total in existence at one time or another. Does Door County have more than this?
Here's a link to a map I made showing the locations of Long Island Lighthouses. Suffolk County is a large county located on the eastern portion of Long Island. http://www.scroope.net/lighthouses/longisland.htm
The list below the map on my website shows that Suffolk County, Long Island, New York has at least 15 standing lighthouses, among others that are no longer standing. Here are the fifteen:
1.Cold Spring Harbor [1890]
2.Huntington Harbor [1912]
3.Eatons Neck [1798]
4.Fire Island [1826-1857,1858]
5.Old Field Point [1824]
6.Horton Point [1857]
7.Long Beach Bar (Bug Light)[1870-1963,1990]
8.Cedar Island (Cedar Point) [1839]
9.Orient Point (Coffee Pot) [1899]
10.Plum Island (Plum Gut) [1827]
11.Little Gull Island [1806]
12.Race Rock [1878]
13.North Dumpling [1849]
14.Latimer Reef [1884]
15.Montauk Point [1796]
Does anyone know the official count of lighthouses in Door County? Is the claim for the most lighthouses based on lights that are still standing just as much as the Suffolk County, Long Island ones are?

[This message has been edited by kscroope (edited 04-24-2001).]

I believe this is the statement you are thinking of:
"Door County boasts more lighthouses (10), more miles of shoreline (250), and more state parks (5), than any county in the contiguous United States."

This is the count of lighthouses I know of:
1)Sherwood Point
2)Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal
3)Sturgeon Bay North Pierhead Light
4)Sturgeon Bay Dunlap Reef - light gone (house converted to a dwelling)
5)Old Baileys Harbor
6)Baileys Harbor Rear Range Light
7)Baileys Harbor Front Range Light
8)Cana Island
9)Chambers Island
10)Eagle Bluff
11)Pottawatomie Light on Rock Island
12)Pilot Island
13)Plum Island Front Range Light
14)Plum Island Rear Range Light

There are even more lighthouses if you count the entire Door peninsula.

Thanks for your reply Suzanne. I'll have to look up later what the exact statements were of claiming the most lighthouses of any county. I have seen yours, but also some closer to what I had written. I'll look that up later and let you know exactly what sites I got each from.
I'll also be sure to look up all the lighthouses you listed so I can become more familiar with them. The lights listed on the site I had given above with the map (The Door County Maritime Museum website)
were as follows:
1.Cana Island
2.Canal Station
3.Chambers Island
4.Eagle Bluff
5.Potawattomie
6.Pilot Island
7.Plum Island
8&9.Range Lights, Baileys Harbor (2 range lights grouped together as one in their listing)
10.Sherwood Point
My other question would be...you mentioned that there are more lighthouses than what you listed in your reply on the Door Peninsula? Is that peninsula actually a part of Door County?...or is it officially outside of the county.

[This message has been edited by kscroope (edited 04-24-2001).]

Remember Pottawatomie Lighthouse is the Harbour Lights Collectors Club - Great Lakes District adopted Lighthouse. I hope that Harbour Lights will one day make it part of their "Restoration Series" (still hinting around for a future piece)

The Door County web site you mention lists the places where there are lighthouses available to visit during the annual Door County Lighthouse Walk. As with the range lights there is more than one light at a general location. The Old Bailey's Harbor light is not open to the pubic so its not listed.

Door County is only part of the Door Peninsula which extends all the way to Green Bay. As Suzanne points out there are a several more lighthouses on the peninsula. A map of Wisconsin will display the exact County boundaries - check mapquest.com.

For definitive info, I'd suggest contacting Dr. Steve Karges at the University of Wisconsin at Whitewater. He's the state's resident expert on all things lighthousey. Do a search Steve Karges and you'll find his e-mail address. Let us know what he says.

The Door County area is a naturally beautiful area bounded by Green Bay and Lake Michigan. Also famous for its artist colonies, maritime, and cherry orchards.

Your reference to your own web site is nice - its sounds like your point is some sort of a territorial claim. We Badgers enjoy our lighthouses wherever they are and have no bone to pick with Long island. :-)


[This message has been edited by JTimothyA (edited 04-24-2001).]

Thanks for the info. This has been a great opportunity to learn about lighthouses I didn't otherwise know very much at all about. I figured if there was any way to find out what I wanted to know, someone here would probably have some answers.
I discovered earlier what you said about the range lights being grouped together for one location.
I will definitely try to contact Dr. Steve Karges. It should be interesting for me, as well as you, to see what he says.
I only referenced my own website because it is the only one that I know of with a map of Long Island showing the lighthouse locations - It was the kind of thing I was looking for when I first started really learning about the lighthouses in my area and couldn't find - so I made my own so that there would be one out there.
Also, my point is not meant to be territorial. I just happen to know how many lighthouses there are in Suffolk County because I live there and have seen most of them. I think it's pretty cool that Door County can claim to have the most, and if it's a valid claim, that's great for Door County...but when you see something like that advertised, you can't help but want to know exactly how many makes up "the most."

I found that at many of the lighthouses I have visited that they all try and find something the can state that they are the oldest of, biggest of, first of, etc.

I've also found that many of these claims are somewhat stretched, or given the benefit of the doubt, open to individual interpretation.

It's all in good fun usually. Just recently there was a site referenced here that had several misstatements. Several people wrote to the site and the person in charge of the site responded and both thanked our members for their assistance and immediately corrected the mistakes.

Quite often it's a combination of poor research methods along with writers over time adding things by speculation and someone else coming along and using the different bits of information to make a new statement that is based in both fact and speculation and presenting it as total fact.

It's fun trying to figure out the fact, the fiction and the material inbetween.

Dennis

FYI: Here's another site with a map showing the Door County Lighthouse locations: http://doorcountyvacations.com/TRAVEL%7E1.HTM
If you click on any of the lighthouses in the map it sends you to this page with a list of nine lighthouse locations (small paragraph w/ info on each): http://doorcountyvacations.com/LIGHTH%7E1.HTM
1.Cana Island
2.Canal Lighthouse
3.Chambers Island
4.Eagle Bluff Lighthouse
5.Pilot Lighthouse
6.Plum Lighthouse
7.Pottawatomie Lighthouse
8.Range Lighthouse (titled singular...but then described as more than one.)
9.Sherwood Lighthouse

Statements about Websites about Door County:

"Door County is reputed to have more lighthouses per mile than any other area of the U.S." http://www.doorcountyadvocate.com/about.html

"Door County, Wisconsin, one of the most famous peninsulas in the Great Lakes, has more boating opportunities than many other areas and is best known for its cruising. It has 250 miles of coastline, nine lighthouses, five state parks, and is a common destination for trailerable boats." http://www.wisconsinboating.net/articles/063000.htm

"Door County has 10 lighthouses, more than any other county in the United States." http://www.bbdirectory.com/inn/2743.html

This site lists Wisconsin lighthouses and gives their location as far as county: http://www.wisconline.com/attractions/lighthouses.html
Looks like a count of 11 (range lights again listed together but count as 2 not 1).

Hello Wisconsin!(70's Show) and Kristin.
15-10
15-11
15-14
and if we add Strafford Shoals(Middle Ground)which is listed in NY in many of the "Lists of the Lights and Fog Signals of the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts"that makes 16
Now you can add 4 lost lighthouses Pt Jefferson Breakwater,Lloyds Harbor, Gardiners Island, and Shinnecock Lighthouses.
Looks like Suffolk County has more lighthouses than Door County. So then if Door County's claim is now Suffolk County's unless someone else has better information.
Suffolk County - Long Island NY has more lighthouses than any other county in the United States.
Now with all the lighthouses in Michigan, I would expect a voice from there?

Beware Michigan - Suffolk County's On The March!

From what I read on the Internet there are also more West Nile virus infested mosquito pools, buildings lacking complete plumbing facilities, police helicopter pilots, billiard tournaments, and foreclosed properties in Suffolk County New York than there are Door County lighthouses. Heck there may even be more Chidesters from Suffolk County New York than there are Door County lighthouses.

http://www.health.state.ny.us/nysdoh/westnile/update/today.htm
http://www.hotelbiz.com/clients/scpd/Aviation/personnel.shtml
http://www.nyhud.com/?goto=suffolk+county
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~mooreorless/Chidester.htm
http://www.liunet.edu/cwis/cwp/library/suffolk.htm#26

Other historical tidbits which may further and forever tie the regions together. The bicycles ridden by the Suffolk County Police Department Mountain Bike Unit (!) are made in the very same state where Door County is located. And contrary to rumors being spread on the Internet, early Door County settlers were never involved in a Naval engagement to take allegiance to the Dutch government. How's that for coincidence!

:^)

[This message has been edited by JTimothyA (edited 05-12-2001).]

JTimothyA - I have read your response a few times now...I don't even know what it is I'm am supposed to say to this...All I could do is laugh.
Where did you find the time (or the reason) to look up all of this? Was it all an accidental find by the right combination of keys words plugged into your search engine?
LOL!

Search on google.com with keywords "most lighthouses" county "united states"
to get more quotes on the web. Only found one:
"Bordered by Lake Michigan on the east and Green Bay on the west, Door County has 250 miles of picturesque shoreline, more than any other county in the United States. It also has the most lighthouses, with 10—many over a century old—spread throughout the county." from http://www.gorp.com/gorp/location/wi/fall/wi_fall.htm


[This message has been edited by kscroope (edited 05-27-2001).]

Then see this search...changing "most" to "more"...lots of sights making the lighthouse claim for Door County. http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&s...nited+states%22

Funny...Wisconsin has another county making the claim as follows:
Bayfield County's most precious asset is the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, with 21 islands and 12 miles of pristine shoreline with soft sand beaches, rocky cliffs and mystical sea caves - magically transformed to crystalline halls in winter - and more lighthouses than any other coastline in the United States - from http://www.explorewisconsin.com/countypages/bayfield.html

And Barnstable County, MA (Cape Cod) makes a claim: Cape Cod [Barnstable County, MA] has more lighthouses than any county in America." http://www.history.rootsweb.com/~lighthouses/nobska.htm


[This message has been edited by kscroope (edited 05-27-2001).]

Kristin, just check Tim's location fot the answer to your Question. LOL
And he ie is a Timothy... 100@LOL