Chambers Island
Chambers Island in 1952
Chambers Island on October 8, 1952
Chambers Island is located in Wisconsin
Chambers Island
Chambers Island
EtymologyTalbot Chambers
Geography
LocationGreen Bay
Coordinates45°10′56″N 087°21′19″W / 45.18222°N 87.35528°W / 45.18222; -87.35528
Area10.04 km2 (3.88 sq mi)land area
Highest elevation600 ft (180 m), 55 ft above lake level (approx)[1]
Administration
United States
StateWisconsin
CountyDoor
TownGibraltar

Chambers Island, named in honor of Col. Talbot Chambers, is a 2,834 acre (4.428 sq. mi.) island in Green Bay, about 7 miles (11 km) off the coast of the Door Peninsula, near Gibraltar, Wisconsin. It is part of the Town of Gibraltar in Door County.[2]

A Native American name for the island is Ke-Che Mab-Ne-Do, which means "The Great Spirit", and the lake is known as Mac-Kay-See.[3]

History

Two or three families of European descent lived on the island as early as 1837.[4] In the 1860s, about 250 people lived on the island.[5] But other frontier communities in Ephraim and Fish Creek lured settlers away and by 1987 Reuben Ridgley, a cook and year-round watchman for a lumber camp, proclaimed his son, Stephen, the first person ever born on the island.[6] Three years later, the only permanent residents on the island were the government lighthouse keeper and his wife.[6] No permanent population was reported in the 2000 census. In 2001 there were over 40 seasonal homes on the island.[7]

Since 1867, the island has been home to the Chambers Island lighthouse, which has been deactivated since 1961. The lighthouse has been the maintained at the 40-acre (160,000 m2) town park since its commissioning in 1976.

For more than sixty years, through 2013, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Green Bay maintained a seasonal retreat house on Chambers Island, called the Holy Name Retreat House, on a 70-acre former resort property located on the isthmus between Green Bay and Mackaysee Lake on the east shore of the island. The house opened in the middle of 1951 after being gifted to the diocese by George Baudhuin.[8] The retreat house typically attracted thousands of people per year to reflect for several days or a week between the months of May and September.[8] On January 15, 2014, the Diocese announced that it would cease to offer retreats at the property.[9] The diocese cited that 758 retreatants had visited the island in 2013, a number that made maintaining the island unsustainable.[8] Guests were charged $210 to attend a retreat and it cost the diocese $409 per person for transportation, food, and administration.[8] Another concern cited was potential medical emergencies on the isolated island.[8] Over 62,000 people had attended a retreat during the sixty-two years that it operated.[8]

In 1959 the island was used as a training target for a simulated nuclear bombing mission.[10]

Geography

The highest elevation on the island is approximately 55' above the lakeshore. Approximately 1/8 (12.3%) of the island's area is taken up by shallow 348.73-acre (1.4113 km2) Mackaysee Lake, in the northeastern part of the island. There rests a smaller lake to the west of Mackaysee Lake called Krause Lake or Mud Lake.[11] There are two islands in Mackaysee Lake. The islands are classified as third order recursive islands due to being in a lake on an island in a lake. The land area is 10.04 km2 (3.8765 sq mi, or 2,481 acres).

The island represents a spur of the Niagara Escarpment rather than part of the Black River or Magnesian escarpments.[12] The topography is flat and similar to that of Marinette County, and bedrock is not exposed anywhere on the island. The soils are sandy-clayey and in general appear to be nutrient-poor and somewhat acidic. The variety of plants on the island are more similar to those Marinette County than to plants on the Door Peninsula. Exceptions to this include the calcicoles Canada buffaloberry and herb-Robert, which grow in deposits of dolomite gravel deposited from the Door Peninsula.[7]

163 species of birds have been recorded on the island.[13]

Hanover Shoal

Hanover Shoal on July 27, 2020; the average lake level for July 2020 was 177.45 meters.[14]

In the southeast, Chambers Island narrows to a spit, called Hanover Shoal, which extends toward the shoreline of the Door Peninsula, from which it is approximately 5-mile (8.0 km) distant. The shoal is located at 45°08′53″N 87°19′01″W / 45.14804°N 87.31705°W / 45.14804; -87.31705 (Hanover Shoal) and is open to the public as long as they "keep their feet wet".[15]

Climate

Chambers Island
Climate chart (explanation)
J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
 
 
63
 
 
−8
−11
 
 
52
 
 
−15
−16
 
 
49
 
 
−3
−7
 
 
97
 
 
2
−1
 
 
86
 
 
7
3
 
 
91
 
 
14
11
 
 
105
 
 
18
17
 
 
96
 
 
17
16
 
 
96
 
 
17
15
 
 
107
 
 
10
9
 
 
80
 
 
8
6
 
 
57
 
 
4
3
█ Average max. and min. temperatures in °C
█ Precipitation totals in mm
Source: [16]
Imperial conversion
JFMAMJJASOND
 
 
2.5
 
 
18
12
 
 
2
 
 
5
3
 
 
1.9
 
 
27
19
 
 
3.8
 
 
36
30
 
 
3.4
 
 
45
37
 
 
3.6
 
 
57
52
 
 
4.1
 
 
64
63
 
 
3.8
 
 
63
61
 
 
3.8
 
 
63
59
 
 
4.2
 
 
50
48
 
 
3.1
 
 
46
43
 
 
2.2
 
 
39
37
█ Average max. and min. temperatures in °F
█ Precipitation totals in inches

Public and private areas

The public dock is at the far right and closer to the top

Chambers Island's exterior shoreline is mostly privately owned with the exception of the Gibraltar town park where the lighthouse is located.[17][18] On the southeast side of the island, the right-of-way of Base Line Road reaches the Green Bay shoreline.[19] In addition, four privately owned exterior shoreline areas are open to public access: The public slip, in the marina, is located a mile and a half in walking distance from the lighthouse.[20] It is owned by the Chambers Island Marina Company LLC, which purchased the marina from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Green Bay. The only public access in the marina is a designated transient slip located in the original section of the marina. In addition, a parcel near the marina is owned by the Door County Land Trust[21] and two segments of the north and south exterior shorelines of the island are located on parcels enrolled for public access under the Wisconsin Managed Forest program.[22] Chambers Island has numerous private residences located near the external shoreline of the island on parcels allowing no public access.

Three areas of interior shoreline along the north, west, and south of Mackaysee Lake are part of the Chambers Island Nature Preserve[23] owned by the Door County Land Trust and are also enrolled in the Wisconsin Managed Forest program allowing public access.[22][24] Although the interior shoreline along Krause Lake (also called Mud Lake)[11] is entirely privately owned, one parcel on the northeast shore of the lake is enrolled in the Wisconsin Managed Forest program to allow public access, which includes access to the lake.[22][24]

888.836 acres (35.8% of the total land area) on the island was enrolled for public access under the Wisconsin Managed Forest Program as of 2021.[22] Additionally, the Chambers Island Lighthouse Park, a public dock,[20] and two dirt roads are open to the public. The remaining portion of the island is privately owned by a number of different persons and corporations and is closed to trespassers.

Services

Chambers Island Airport is located on the island. It is a private use airport owned by Chambers Island Flying Corp. with a single 1,200 by 40 feet (366 by 12 m) gravel runway.[25] It was originally constructed as part of an attempt in the 1920s to turn much of the island into a golf course and upscale residential area.[26] This project failed following bad economic times beginning in the fall of 1929. Lots which were originally advertised for up to $15,000 were sold for as little as $22.50 to satisfy tax claims.[27]

Electricity is not commercially available on the island, it is provided by individual generators or solar / wind power. Cellular telephone service is provided to the island and the Door County coastline by Cellcom which has a tower on the island. In 2012 the company installed a wind turbine to augment the solar panels that charge the batteries that power the site.[28]

References

  1. ↑ "Feature Detail Report for: Chambers Island". USGNIS. U.S. Department of the Interior. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
  2. ↑ Map of Chambers Island and Fish Creek, Door County Land Use Services Dept, August 16, 2017 (Archived April 9, 2019)
  3. ↑ Door County's Emerald Treasure: A History of Peninsula State Park by William H. Tishler, Madison, Wisconsin: The University of Wisconsin Press, 2006, page 17
  4. ↑ Claflin Powder Keg Bluff Recounted in 1894 Letter by A. G. Warren, Door County Advocate, Volume 101, Number 1, March 22, 1962, page 5
  5. ↑ Door County's Islands by Sally Slattery, Door County Living, July 1, 2014
  6. 1 2 Long, Mary E. (July 23, 1976). "Historical view of Chambers Island". The Spirit. The Catholic Diocese of Green Bay, Wisconsin.
  7. 1 2 Flora and Vegetation of the Grand Traverse Islands (Lake Michigan), Wisconsin and Michigan by Emmet J. Judziewicz, The Michigan Botanist, Volume 40, Number 4, October 2001, pages 120–121
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Lucero, Sam (January 24, 2014). "Holy Name Retreat House closes". The Compass.
  9. ↑ Catholic Diocese of Green Bay (15 January 2014). "Press release" (PDF). Retrieved January 19, 2014.
  10. ↑ Thunderstreak Jets 'Bomb' Chambers Island in Mission, Door County Advocate, Volume 98, Issue 44, August 20, 1959, page 1
  11. 1 2 Wisconsin DNR (November 27, 2009). "Door County Comprehensive Plan 2030: Chapter 4, Agricultural and Natural Resources; p. 20 of the pdf, Tables 4.15 and 4.16" (PDF). map.co.door.wi.us. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 13, 2020. Retrieved January 22, 2019.
  12. ↑ The Physical Geography of Wisconsin by Lawrence Martin, Bulletin Number XXXVI, Educational Series Number 4, Madison Wisconsin: Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey, 1916 Chapter IX: The Eastern Ridges and Lowlands, page 214
  13. ↑ Project 181: Door County Land Preservation, Fox River Natural Resource Trustee Council of the Lower Fox River & Green Bay, page 2
  14. ↑ Lake Michigan-Huron: Monthly Lake-Wide Average Water Levels (1918 - Present), Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, accessed November 30, 2021
  15. ↑ Door County Web Map for Parcel 0140315312612C; the parcel is just inland from Hanover Shoal; for a delineation of the ordinary high water mark, see Survey of 0140315312612C by Lee E. Telfer for David V. Uihlein, June 8, 1976
  16. ↑ "NASA EarthData Search". NASA. Retrieved 30 January 2016.
  17. ↑ E911 Addressing Maps, Chambers Island and Fish Creek, Door County Land Use Services Department, August 16, 2017, page 12; the park is shaded on the north side of the island
  18. ↑ Web-Map of Door County, Wisconsin ... For All Seasons!, Door County Land Information Office, Accessed September 7, 2019
  19. ↑ Parcel Report for 0140315312611A from the GIS Map of Door County, Wisconsin and Survey document for 0140315312611A by Lee E. Telfer for Chambers Island Co, June 1, 1983
  20. 1 2 Town Parks, Town of Gibraltar, Wisconsin
  21. ↑ Chambers Island Nature Preserve Grows with a Key Addition Near Marina by Mary Vandyke, Door County Land Trust, September 22, 2021
  22. 1 2 3 4 Lands enrolled in the program are shown on the DNR Private Forest Lands Open for Public Recreation interactive map. See also Chambers Island expands to largest Door County Land Trust nature preserve, FOX 11 News, December 18, 2019
  23. ↑ "Islands within Chambers Island's Lake Mackaysee Now Protected by Door County Land Trust". Door County Land Trust. Retrieved 25 October 2020.
  24. 1 2 Wisconsin Statewide Parcel Map, Statewide Parcel Map Initiative Wisconsin Department of Administration and the Wisconsin State Cartographer's Office
  25. ↑ "30WI - Chambers Island Airport". gcr1.com/5010web. Retrieved 11 April 2015.
  26. ↑ Vanished Links by Craig Sterrett, Peninsula Pulse, October 29, 2021 and Land Trust Preserves Land Near Chambers Island Marina by Craig Sterrett, Peninsula Pulse, October 21, 2021
  27. ↑ Big Chambers Island Plans Dashed by Great Depression by Harry Schuyler, Door County Advocate March 22, 1962, Volume 101, Number 1, page 6
  28. ↑ "Cellcom Further Invests in Chambers Island Green Cell Site". Cellcom press release. November 27, 2012.
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