DOOR PENINSULA

body of land, northeastern Wisconsin, U.S., between Green Bay and Lake Michigan. About 80 miles (130 km) long and 25 miles (40 km) wide at its base and tapering northward to a point, it is crossed eastwest by a waterway at Sturgeon Bay. The peninsula includes Door county (formed 1851), comprising the northern area, Kewaunee (1852), and parts of Brown (1818) and Manitowoc (1836) counties at the base. Communities on the peninsula include Egg Harbor, Ellison Bay, Jacksonport, Baileys Harbor (oldest village in Door county, founded 1851), Ephraim, Fish Creek, Sister Bay, Sturgeon Bay, and Washington (on Washington Island, off the tip of the peninsula). Door Peninsula, which was visited in the 17th century by French traders and missionaries, now is a year-round vacation area. Cherry-growing and tourism are the major industries. At the tip of the peninsula between Washington Island and the peninsula is a hazardous strait known as La Porte des Mortes (French: Death's Door), whence the name of Door county and Door Peninsula.