The French called it Porte des Morts — Death's Door — and the name was earned before it was written down. The earliest documented reference dates to 1728, but the passage between the tip of the Door Peninsula and Washington Island was already collecting wrecks: strong currents, rock-bound shores, winds that could pin a sailing vessel in place. A legend passed down here holds that a Native American war party was destroyed in a sudden storm crossing it, though the record has never fully separated that story from documented fact. The canal dug between 1872 and 1881 — 1.3 miles across the peninsula — was the eventual answer, letting ships reach Lake Michigan without the gamble. But for the roughly 700 people on Washington Island, the gamble never ended. The ferry still runs year-round from Northport Pier. For them, it's not a scenic crossing. It's the road.
