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Joe Steinbring

Whitefish Dunes State Park

Waves curling onto a long, curving sand beach below wooded dunes, under a blue sky.
The beach on Lake Michigan, in July 2022.2022 · Photograph by Joe Steinbring
Static offline map showing Whitefish Dunes State Park in Wisconsin with a location pin.

Whitefish Dunes State Park is on the eastern side of the Door County peninsula, along a long, curving Lake Michigan beach backed by wooded sand dunes, and the tallest of them, Old Baldy, rises about 93 feet. The park was established in 1967 to protect the dunes, but people lived here for centuries before that: a large Late Woodland summer village stood in these woods around A.D. 500 to 900, and the park has reconstructed an Oneota family’s living area from around A.D. 1300 to 1400, with a summer lodge. I spent the late morning and early afternoon of July 20, 2022, there, a bright blue summer day, before going on to Potawatomi State Park. It is kind of beautiful. I walked the trails through the woods past the reconstructed lodge and the State Natural Area, and spent a long time walking along the shore.

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  • A reconstructed bark-covered lodge in a shady clearing among tall trees.

    The reconstructed Oneota summer lodge.

    2022 · Photograph by Joe Steinbring

  • A wooden sign reading “Whitefish Dunes State Natural Area” beside a gravel trail.

    The State Natural Area, along the trail.

    2022 · Photograph by Joe Steinbring

  • A wide, empty sand beach running to a wooded point, with waves breaking along it.

    The beach, toward a wooded point.

    2022 · Photograph by Joe Steinbring

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