Washington Island, Wisconsin

July 22nd. We arrived in Northport at 9:30 am. Later than we planned, but then again...family trips never stick to schedule. We had hit Lavender Fest traffic. 80 minutes...maybe 90 minutes passed as we inched our way up in the line for the car ferry.

The ferries leave Northport starting at 7:30 am, and leave every 30-40 minutes after that. The last ferry to leave Washington Island is usually between 6:00 pm and 8:00 pm. I would suggest leaving the island before 4:00 pm, the line is already typically long then, and it is first come first serve. There is no way to purchase a ticket for a certain ferry...I wish they would add this, I feel like a lot of people would use it. The times are dependent on the day, and of course the Wisconsin weather. (That means don’t try in winter)

Ferry Schedule: http://www.wisferry.com/washington-island-ferry

We brought our car - with 4 bikes - over to the island for the day. You can also bring bikes, or just go over yourself, but it is a little harder to get around. The island is about 35 square miles, so it was helpful to have our car. We packed a cooler to bring with us, it was nice to have food and water on hand. The charge for a car is $26, separate from each passenger. We paid the $13.50 per adult fare in addition to the car fare - our total ended up being $80, but hey we weren’t charged for the bikes too.

Once on the island you can rent bikes, but I’m not sure of any of the pricing since we brought our own...they also have a Cherry Train that does tours of the island. The fare for the train includes the ferry too, $28.50 per adult, and $14 per child (6-11). Some good news...if you have a child under 5, they’re free!

So back to the Lavender Festival. We had no idea it was going on that weekend until we got up to Northport. I had looked up a few things beforehand, a couple shops, Schoolhouse beach, and yes the lavender farm at the old dairy...but I didn’t know there was an entire festival dedicated to lavender...much less on the one weekend we planned to visit.

As we drove past where the festival was being held - a secondary field and barn created after the original dairy - we saw it was clearly packed. The admission wasn’t bad, only $5, but we wanted something a little less crowded. We headed up the road instead to the original field, complete with the old dairy building. It’s no longer a fully functioning dairy, but still serves lavender flavored treats inside. I tried the lavender honey gelato, would personally recommend it. They also make chocolate truffles in many different flavors, I didn’t get the chance to try any of those, but they looked delicious. In addition to the edible treats, they also have soaps, perfume, towels, coffee mugs, all things lavender themed. We purchased some lavender seeds so we can plant our own!

Outside the dairy are the primary lavender fields, they weren’t as full as the fields at the festival, but still beautiful…unfortunately my iPhone pictures don’t do them justice.

Display building where lavender is dried

After the dairy we headed out to Mountain Tower. This is lookout tower located in the middle of the island, it is definitely worth the climb to the top…it does take a little bit though, we were all out of breath by the time we reached the top. Left my phone in the car for the climb, another Steemian will have to check it out and post…or there’s google…

Next we drove out to the North edge of the island, to Schoolhouse Beach. If you hate sand getting everywhere this is definitely the place for you. The entire beach is made up of smooth flat stones, making it 1 of only 5 sand-less beaches worldwide. The water is a little cold, but nothing you can’t get used to.

After spending an hour or so at the beach we drove over to Little Lake and toured the Jacobsen Museum. The museum is nothing more than a hallway, but it’s full of history. I recommend going in. We learned about the history of the island and even discovered some modern facts…only around 700 people live on the island year-round and this year, the 2017 graduating class of the Washington Island school had 1 person - someone fought hard for valedictorian.

Last sight we toured was the Stavkirke - a beautiful replica of a Norwegian church. The wood craftsmanship is amazing, you need to see it. It is not an actual historic building, but it was replicated very well. I highly suggest stopping by to gaze at the old Scandinavian architecture.

A local had warned us the ferry line gets rather long early on, especially on festival weekends, so we headed back to the dock around 4:00 and still had to wait almost an hour.

When we visit next we plan to camp on the island, so we can avoid rushing around to be back in time for the ferry. It is a beautiful island and deserves more than just a day to be explored.

Thank you for reading!

-Jenna