Telling Your Untold Stories

Steven Rice, Door County Historical Museum

Iremember when I first learned about my biological grandfather. My mother and I were having dinner and talking about family. I was about thirteen, cocky and full of confidence, and I told mom that nothing she could say would shock me.

“Okay,” she said. “What if I told you that Grandpa Jim wasn’t really your grandfather?”

I nearly fell out of my chair. That night I heard an untold story, one my mother herself had only learned in her late teens from her grandmother. I saw a new face in a carefully preserved wedding album, a debonair man with a pencil mustache who I had never seen. My family was not what I had imagined. My origins were more complicated, more difficult.

I understood my mother and myself in a new and more honest way.

At Door County History Days this year, historical organizations throughout the county will share untold stories on a grand scale. From the experiences of Wisconsin First Nations told in their own words, to forgotten political campaigns and sagas of preservation gone awry; to hidden foodways and pioneering artists; Door County history will shine through in all its extraordinary diversity. History, however, is not made up of only these broad brushstrokes.

As you attend History Days Events and enjoy the Door County Summer with friends and family, think about your own untold stories and how to share them. Just as diverse perspectives and hidden histories enrich our understanding of our county’s past, so too do the unexpected corners of our own lives enrich our relationships. History lives within us and moves through us every day. Every life experience is a piece of us, and however meaningless it might seem in the moment, it grows and blooms through the act of sharing.

Talk about the people who matter to you most. Share both the happy memories and the times of struggle. Remember those who have passed on and tell the stories they shared with you. Think of the places in Door County that matter most to you, and invite others to savor them and learn their history. Connect generations through remembering – the bedrock on which all history is built. Find your untold story and give it to the world.

Mom passed away in April of 2022. In May of this year, I met her half-brother, my uncle, for the first time. He had last seen mom as a baby, coming home from the hospital in his father’s arms. For years afterward, he wondered what had become of his sister. She was his untold story, and it was my privilege to be able to tell it.

Horseshoe Bay Farms

7212 Horseshoe Bay Rd, Egg Harbor, WI 54209 horseshoebayfarms.org

920-868-3968

Jackson Harbor Maritime Museum Jackson Harbor Road Washington Island, WI 54246 (920) 847-2522

Jacksonport Historical Society 6144 Hwy 57, Sturgeon Bay, WI 54235 Jacksonporthistoricalsociety.org

920-743-6415

Liberty Grove Historical Society 11831 Hwy 42, Ellison Bay, WI 54210 libertygrovehistorical.org

920-680-1942

Miller Art Museum 107 S. 4th Ave, Sturgeon Bay, WI 54235 millerartmuseum.org

920.746.0707

Northeastern Wisconsin Antique Power Association 5005 Country View Rd, Sturgeon Bay, WI 54235 valmythresheree.org

Sevastopol Historical Society 4528 Hwy 57, Sturgeon Bay WI 54235 920-493-4522

Sister Bay Historical Society 10310 Fieldcrest Rd, Sister Bay, WI 54234 sisterbayhistory.org

920-854-7680

Sturgeon Bay Historical Society Foundation P.O. Box 827, Sturgeon Bay, WI 54235 sturgeonbayhistoricalsociety.org doorcountygranary.org

920-278-2301

Washington Island Archives 910 Main Road, Washington Island, WI 54246 washingtonisland-wi.gov/ archives-committee

920-847-3072

Write On, Door County 4210 Juddville Road, Fish Creek, WI 54212 Writeondoorcounty.org 920-868-1457