The Cherry Capital: Door County's Orchards

Door County grows tart cherries the way Napa grows wine grapes, with a combination of soil, climate, and water that is essentially unrepeatable anywhere else in the region. The thin limestone soil drains perfectly, preventing the root rot that kills cherry trees in heavier ground. The surrounding water of Lake Michigan and Green Bay moderates spring temperatures and delays the bud-break until after the last killing frost, a critical advantage that orchards further inland cannot match.

Experimenters in the late nineteenth century tried different varieties on the benchlands and found that the Montmorency tart cherry thrived beyond all others. By the early twentieth century, cherry orchards covered the hillsides of the peninsula in a pink-and-white bloom each May that became as much a part of Door County's identity as its lighthouses. At the peak of the cherry era, in the mid twentieth century, hundreds of growers were producing millions of pounds of cherries annually on the peninsula.

The industry has contracted since then, partly from labor costs, partly from disease, and partly from competition. But cherries remain the agricultural foundation of the county's commercial identity. Dried cherries, cherry wine, cherry jam, cherry pie, and cherry salsa fill the shop shelves from Sturgeon Bay to the northern tip, and the May blossom season still draws visitors before the main tourist season fully opens.