Horseshoe Island Adventure

At a Glance

Horseshoe Island Paddle and Hike

Notable: No camping is allowed on Horseshoe Island.

Paddle: One-mile round trip, moderate di culty. (Wear a life vest and bright colors because there’s a lot of boat tra c in the area.)

Hike: One mile, easy hiking.

Highlights: Rocky outcroppings are a great spot for a snack with a view; a historical marker stands in the spot where early settlers may be buried; see remnants of the Engelmar estate; and get a great view of the Peninsula State Park shore.

by MYLES DANNHAUSEN

Even when standing on the thin spit of this peninsula, an island in the distance begs us to come, to explore, to wonder, “What’s out there?”

So it is when you’re standing on the shore of Nicolet Bay, looking out toward Horseshoe Island.

“How far is that? Can I swim there?”

For almost all of us, the answer is a resounding no, but we can still go there.

The 38.2-acre island is part of Peninsula State Park and easily accessible by a moderately capable kayaker. (You can rent a kayak from the Nicolet Beach Camp Store.) Just keep your eyes peeled for boaters during the one-half-mile paddle through the busy corridor – and wear a life vest.

Paddle into the horseshoe-shaped cove that gives the island its name; pull your kayak ashore; and embark on a one-mile hike around the circumference of the island. It’s not di cult – last summer I reached the island by boat and hiked it with my 2-year-old son and 80-year-old dad, and both completed it without issue.

The trail itself is a beautiful nature walk, with some rocky outcroppings where you can stop to take in the views to the north and west. There’s also history to discover here.

Along the trail near the cove, you’ll nd a faded wooden sign pointing to a historical marker. A short hike brings you to a rock, where in 1975, the Ephraim Men’s Club installed a plaque that reads, “A special tribute to the hardy group who as part of the early Moravian Settlers of Ephraim in 1853 died and were buried in this location.”

It is believed to mark the spot where seven people were buried a er a cholera outbreak devastated a small group of families that had settled on the island.

You’ll also nd old stone steps, which may be remnants of the island estate of Engelmar. In 1888, the wealthy Omaha banker Frank Folda bought the island, and when he died, he le it to his son, Engelbert; and his daughter, Martha.

They eventually built a summer estate called Engelmar (a combination of their rst names). By 1912, the lodge and dock were completed, and later, a caretaker’s cottage, ice house and pump house were added.

When the state of Wisconsin established Peninsula State Park in 1909, E.F. (Engelbert) Folda negotiated a selling price of $5,000 and a life estate for himself, his wife and his sister.

But Engelbert’s fortune was one of many lost during the Great Depression, and when he died in 1944, his widow, Alma, relinquished the estate to the park. Remnants of a root cellar, foundation and steps are about all that visitors will nd of Engelmar today.

Digging Deeper

For a deep dive into the history of Horseshoe Island, find a copy of Stanford H. Sholem’s Horseshoe Island: The Folda Years. This exhaustive history of Frank Folda and his Engelmar estate presents not only a glimpse into one man’s dream, but also how the Depression changed the future of a small island in Peninsula State Park.

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The Pioneer Ecological Reserve

Door County is rich with opportunities to explore the environment, from its many parks to Door County Land Trust preserves, with their abundance of natural spaces and trails. Some are well traveled, but others are more obscure and less traveled, such as the Pioneer Ecological Reserve on East Dunn Road in Sevastopol.

The 72-acre property was acquired under the leadership of former Sevastopol School District administrator Carl Scholz in 1962 at a price of $5,000 using grant money from the state. Located just a short trek from Sevastopol School, the reserve is a place where students can learn about and interact with nature, and members of the public can hike the trails.

It’s also one of 9,000 properties in the National Wildlife Federation’s Certified Schoolyard Habitat Program, which was created to “restore native habitat, provide access to nature, and create outdoor classrooms for learning across the curriculum.”

At the trailhead, near the sign painted by Sevastopol alumni Cody and Ashley Leist, visitors will find maps in the Little Free Library to guide their exploration of two miles of trails. Along the way, they’ll find a human-made pond and island, as well as a bridge across Geisel Creek.

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As for the name, the property was coined the Pioneer Ecological Reserve by former Sevastopol student Warren Fischer, who submitted the winning name in a school contest.

- Grace Johnson

Who's Fred?

It’s Jerry’s Flowers, but the sign says, “Fred Says.” So who says it: Jerry or Fred?

Jerry Reinhard started the Sister Bay flower shop in 1960 – a time when there wasn’t much other than open fields in “uptown” Sister Bay. For years, he put not just sale information on the sign out front, but also goofy phrases and jokes. When Fred and Joy Lang took over the business in 1988, they kept that tradition going with “Fred Says.”

Sometimes it’s about legitimate business – a sale or new hours. Sometimes it’s just goofy, such as during one unusually warm winter week when a warning to people not to plant tomatoes yet earned the store a nod from Milwaukee TV news.

When Gibraltar High School sports teams need a boost, they get a shout-out on the sign.

When the Sister Bay Bays Door County League baseball team was among the worst in the league during the late 1990s and 2000s, the team members frequently found encouragement on the sign in hopes of a “Bay Day!” at the old field right around the corner from the flower shop.

“They don’t need the support as much anymore,” said Fred’s son Nate, who now runs the shop with his fiancée, Stephanie; brother Josh; and mother, Joy. Since 2010, the Bays have won five titles and finished near the top of the league every year.

“Mostly, it’s just boredom,” Nate Lang said. “It’s sort of our version of social media. Dad is always the most clever with it.”

Not surprisingly, some of Nate’s friends have had fun through the years rearranging the letters of “Big Sale on Little Perennials” and other phrases in ways we’ll leave you to imagine.

My favorites tend to come in the form of helping Sister Bay cope with our annual Packers disappointments. In 2007, there was a dig at the Chicago Bears the morning of Super Bowl XLI, when the Bears got set to square o against the Indianapolis Colts. The sign read, “Who Cares about the Bears? Favre 4 Life!” Or after the Packers were bounced from the playo s in 2012, but local graduate Kimberly Sawyer was competing to wear the Miss America crown: “Hey, Cheer Up. We Still Have Miss America.” Then there was Nov. 29, 2011, and a simple message in support of a local child fighting cancer: “Fred Says Go Bo.”

- Myles Dannhausen Jr

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