Door County Maritime Museum Floor 1 Theater Script
TITLE: Our Maritime Heritage: A Journey Defined by Water
VOICES: NARRATOR: Female GEOLOGIST: Roger Kuhns (TBD by DCMM) MARINE ARCHAEOLOGIST: Tamara Thomsen or Joan Forsberg (TBD by DCMM) SHIPBUILDER: Stu Fett (TBD by DCMM)
NOTES: Voice over (VO) will be used for narration Approximate run time: 8-10 minutes
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1.0 Introduction Intro Screen: Intro screen Door County Maritime Museum with logo SOUNDTRACK (options): 26704335 & 25050464 Our Maritime Heritage: A Journey Defined by Water NARRATOR (VO): Defined by rocky bluffs and a weather-worn coastline, the Door Peninsula is a place Footage (options): of extraordinary beauty that remains deeply https://bit.ly/3ptuoTx connected . . . to water. 00:12-00:17 – Aerials of peninsula 00:44-00:55 – Aerials of peninsula From the First People who traversed the Great Lakes 01:14-01:20 – Aerials of peninsula by canoe, to the diverse cultures that arrived to settle this remote peninsula, to the tourists who visit today, https://bit.ly/2WT2VP4 the Door Peninsula continues to inspire exploration, 09:25-09:43 – Aerial of sailboat on provide sustenance, and offer rare opportunities to the water connect with nature, each other, and the region’s rich maritime heritage. https://bit.ly/3mSIJHl 01:22-01:30 and 01:38-01:46 – Fade to black Cherry orchard
https://bit.ly/3mYevTF 00:36-00:40 – Boat portage 00:53-01:00 – Kayak on water
https://bit.ly/2KJPkXM 00:48-00:50 – Fishing
https://bit.ly/2WTq2J7 02:00-02:05 – Family hike
Photography (options): See folder
Approximate run time: 00:00 to 00:35
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2.0 A Landscape Shaped Map of the Door Peninsula (perhaps SOUNDTRACK (option): 26704335 by Water an animation that starts zoomed into the Door Peninsula and backs NARRATOR (VO): The Door Peninsula juts 80 miles to out to show the Great Lakes and the the northeast, separating the waters of Green Bay Niagara Escarpment) from those of Lake Michigan . . . and standing as a geological remnant of a distant past. Animation that shows the Laurentide Ice Sheet’s retreat and The rocky backbone of the peninsula is part of the the carving out of the Great Lakes Niagara Escarpment, an ancient geological formation that spans the Great Lakes region. This escarpment is Footage (option): most visible in the dramatic bluffs on the west side of https://bit.ly/2JuNSrI the peninsula. 01:37-01:43 – Shoreline GEOLOGIST (IN HIS/HER OWN WORDS): 20,000 years Stock footage/ photography of ago, this region was covered by a massive, mile-high glaciers and ice continental glacier. As the ice sheet advanced southward, it moved like a bulldozer, carving out the basins that would eventually become the Great Lakes.
The Door Peninsula stood between two giant lobes of this immense glacier . . . one to the west, carved out Green Bay, and another to the east, carved out Lake Michigan. Their retreat left the narrow ribbon of land that remains today.
Approximate run time: 00:35 to 01:30
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3.0 Native Connections Photography (options): SOUNDTRACK (option): 26704335 & European Contact See folder NARRATOR (VO): Footage (options): As the ice retreated northward, the earliest Stock footage of Menominee River inhabitants of the region foraged, hunted, and fished along the Door Peninsula.
According to their tradition, the Menominee’s ancestral home has always been here . . . in the waters that surround the Door Peninsula, and specifically at the mouth of the Menominee River, located just west across Green Bay.
In 1634, French explorer Jean Nicolet arrived in the region and began trading with the Menominee and Ho-Chunk. By the mid-1600s the Potawatomi, escaping conflict in the east, had settled at the tip of the Door Peninsula, on Washington Island and Rock Island, where French missionary Father Hennepin encountered them in 1679.
For the First People, these encounters with Europeans led to dramatic changes in their way of life and culture, including the loss of their ancestral homes and coastal lands.
Fade to black
Approximate run time: 01:30 to 02:20
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4.0 Early Settlers & Footage (option): SOUNDTRACK (option): 491648 Commerce Stock footage of immigrants on boats and trains NARRATOR (VO): The year is 1848 and Wisconsin has just gained Photography (options): statehood. Settlers and immigrants are flooding See folder westward just as the territory’s abundant natural resources are discovered. Captain Justice Bailey and Map of Door Peninsula his crew take shelter in a natural harbor along the Communities circa 1878 (somehow east coast of the peninsula. It’s there they find highlight main communities) abundant timber and outcroppings of limestone. Within a year, Baileys Harbor grows into the first village on the Door Peninsula.
By the early 1880s, there are more than 60 piers along the peninsula’s 300-mile shoreline. Loaded schooners and steamships sail to ports across the Great Lakes, building the region’s cities and harbors with lumber and stone from Door County.
Approximate run time: 02:20 to 03:05
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5.0 Shipwrecks Map of the Door Peninsula (perhaps SOUNDTRACK (options): 23247942, 13434601, & an animation that zooms into 27577340 Death’s Door) NARRATOR (VO): This highway of ships carried not Map of the Door Peninsula with only goods, but also people. However, not every ship known shipwrecks marked reached its destination. Many foundered in the notoriously treacherous passage between the tip of Footage (options): the peninsula and Washington Island. The French https://bit.ly/3aRz8hT called it Porte des Morts, or Death’s Door . . . 0:35-0:42 – Underwater footage 2:01-2:17 – Underwater footage MARITIME ARCHAEOLOGIST (IN HIS/HER OWN 3:37-3:46 – Underwater stills 4:43-5:09 – Underwater footage and WORDS): The Door Peninsula offered particular drawing of ship challenges to captains, including many miles of rocky shorelines, dozens of islands and shoals, strong https://bit.ly/2JuNSrI currents, unpredictable winds, and rapidly changing 1:40-1:44 – Rocky shoreline footage weather. These were formidable hazards for all ships, but especially for sailing vessels. Lakeland.mp4 (see folder)
Photography (options): Some 24 schooners were lost in Death's Door from See folder 1837 to 1914, and adjacent islands, shoals, and bays claimed hundreds of other vessels during this period. (need to connect with Wisconsin In all, more than 275 shipwrecks happened in the Historical Society regarding waters off the Door Peninsula. additional visual resources to find footage less about archaeology and (if no interview here, swap the last two paragraphs so more about showing ships “some 24 schooners” comes after the first paragraph)
underwater) Approximate run time: 03:05 to 04:00
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6.0 Lighthouses & Life Footage (options): SOUNDTRACK (option): 26704335 Saving https://bit.ly/3ptuoTx 00:00-00:05 and 05:59-06:05 and NARRATOR (VO): Due to the great number of ships 06:58-07:08 – Aerial of Cana Island lost around the Door Peninsula, ship owners Lighthouse petitioned the federal government to construct 03:28-03:37 – Historical map of first lighthouses to help mariners avoid these hazards. lighthouse locations Wisconsin’s first lighthouse—the Pottawatomi 05:22-05:29 – Stills of Cana Lighthouse—was constructed in 1836 on Rock Island. Lighthouse and Baileys Harbor Range Lights Today, the peninsula is home to a magnificent 05:39 – Still of Plum Island Station collection of eleven historic lighthouses—more per Beach Drill mile of shoreline than anywhere else in the United 07:14-07:19 – Stills of lighthouse States. Located on the eastern side of the peninsula, keepers at Cana Island Cana Island Lighthouse is one of the most recognized 09:24-09:42 – Aerial of various landmarks in Wisconsin. First lit in 1870, it still stands lighthouses as a navigational aid and beacon in stormy waters.
https://bit.ly/2JuNSrI In tandem with the construction of lighthouses, the 00:39-01:35 and 01:45-02:05 – Stills Life Saving Service established stations on the Door of life saving stations on peninsula Peninsula. When a distress call went up, the men of the Life Saving Service sprang into action, risking all to (If we use the stills in this footage, save others. we need to identify the repositories to get permission and credit.) The first such life-saving station was built at the entrance of the Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal in 1886. Two Photography (options): more were established at Baileys Harbor and Plum See folder Island. The lighthouse and lifesaving services later merged to become the U.S. Coast Guard.
Approximate run time: 04:00 to 05:05
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7.0 Building of the Canal Footage (options): SOUNDTRACK (option): 26704335 https://bit.ly/3ptuoTx 02:11-02:40 – Historical map of NARRATOR (VO): The menace of Death’s Door, as well peninsula as the long sail required to round the peninsula, led 04:18-04:33 – Historical map of Wisconsin’s political and business leaders to hatch a canal and stills of canal entrance bold plan to dig a canal from the head of Sturgeon Bay to Lake Michigan.
It took nearly 20 years to fund and complete the Photography (options): project, but in 1881 state officials declared the 7,400- See folder foot-long Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal officially opened.
The engineering feat, eventually completed after several delays and hurdles, changed the course of history on the Door Peninsula, paving the way for new industries. In the decades to come, those industries would have far reaching impacts.
Approximate run time: 05:05 to 05:45
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8.0 Rise of Shipbuilding Footage (options): SOUNDTRACK (options): 26704335 & 28349778 https://bit.ly/2WT2VP4 01:21 – Still of ship launch NARRATOR (VO): 01:27 and 01:46 – Stills of Shipbuilding soon became the city of Sturgeon Bay’s shipbuilders most prominent industry. With the start of World War 01:43 – Still of propeller II, it didn’t take long for this industry to attract the 02:02 -2:19 – Stills of warship attention of the U.S. Navy. launches 04:50-05:03 – Aerial of Sturgeon Bay NARRATOR (VO) OR SHIPBUILDER (IN HIS/HER OWN 05:07 – Still of waterfront WORDS): The war brought an influx of military 05:17-05:42, 05:57-06:12, and contracts, and Sturgeon Bay became a boom town 06:17-06:28 – Stills of Sturgeon Bay almost overnight. At the height of the war, Sturgeon Boat Works Bay’s shipyards were churning out a new ship every 06:30-06:36 and 06:45-07:00 – Stills five days. Ships built here fought in every combat of Peterson Builders theater across the globe. 07:11-07:23 and 07:47-08:25 – Stills of Bay Shipbuilding In the decades after the war, Sturgeon Bay’s shipbuilders diversified. Some shifted to building https://bit.ly/2JCRurI smaller boats and yachts. Others continued pursuing 43:24-43:30 – Flyover of Dock military contracts. And one would expand to build
some of the largest freighters on the Great Lakes. (If we use the stills in this footage,
we need to identify the repositories Today, Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding is a 50-acre to get permission and credit.) complex that builds ships and barges and is capable of
serving any vessel on the Great Lakes. Bay Ship is Photography (options): where the latest 1,000-foot Great Lakes freighter— See folder the Edwin H. Gott—was built.
Generations of craftspeople and engineers have built
more than just ships here . . . they’ve built an international reputation for excellence and innovation.
Fade to black
Approximate run time: 05:45 to 06:50
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9.0 Tourism Footage (options): SOUNDTRACK (option): 19908757 https://bit.ly/34Oka8g 00:40-00:48 – Still of steamer NARRATOR (VO): By the early 1900s, Door County had 01:59-02:03 – National Geographic become a destination for relaxation, recreation, and 02:30 – Still of cars parked near inspiration. Steamships brought passengers to the water Door Peninsula from cities like Chicago for only $6.
https://bit.ly/2KJPkXM In 1969, National Geographic magazine ran a lengthy 00:43-01:09 – Montage of tourists article highlighting the outdoor treasures, cuisine, and culture of Door County, giving the peninsula a Photography (options): significant promotional boost. For many families, See folder visiting Door County is a tradition that now spans multiple generations.
Approximate run time: 06:50 to 07:20
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10.0 Habitats Footage (options): SOUNDTRACK (option): 26704335 https://bit.ly/2WTq2J7 02:08-02:10 – Aerial of wetland NARRATOR (VO): Today, the peninsula remains a 02:18-02:31 – Montage of different sanctuary not only for people, but also for wildlife. Its habitats cliffs and beaches, bays and wetlands, forests and fields provide habitat for over 40 threatened and Stock footage and images of Door endangered species . . . some of which are found County’s bluffs (ledges, caves, nowhere else in the world. sinkholes, ancient cedar trees), white fish and lake trout, and As part of the Niagara Escarpment, the peninsula is threatened and endangered species home to rare ferns and flowers . . . and some of the including the land snail, the Hines world’s oldest trees. And the peninsula’s shallow Emerald dragonfly, the bald eagle, reefs and shoals create perfect spawning grounds for the goshawk, the dwarf lake iris, whitefish and lake trout. and the sturgeon Despite the appearance of rocky permanence, the Door Peninsula’s future, like its past, is forever shaped by the water that surrounds it, as well as the choices people make about how to care for the diversity of life found only here.
Approximate run time: 07:20 to 08:05
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11.0 Closing/ Stewardship Footage (options): SOUNDTRACK (option): 26704335 https://bit.ly/2WTq2J7 02:08-02:10 – Aerial of wetland NARRATOR (VO): No matter what brings you to the 02:18-02:31 – Montage of different peninsula, you too are a part of our history and a habitats steward of this beautiful and dynamic place.
Stock footage and images of Door Through the cycle of seasons and the passing of time, County in all seasons (possibly from water has carved out and shaped this land, and it local photographers: defines our connections to each other and the https://bit.ly/38egCP6 broader world.
Explore and enjoy . . . seek out opportunities to learn, and help us preserve this extraordinary place and its rich maritime history for future generations.
Fade to black
Approximate run time: 08:05 to 08:35
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12.0 The Tower Animation of movement through NARRATOR (VO): Please exit the theater via the Experience the tower with call-outs of each elevator behind you. Go to the 10th floor to start floor. your visit with sweeping views from the top of the tower. Please use the stairs, as you are able, to work To be expanded as floors are added your way down the tower. Each floor offers exhibits that further reveal the region’s maritime history and natural beauty.
Approximate run time: 08:35 to 09:00
CREDITS
Archival photographs provided by: (list to be finalized by Digital Design) David Rumsey Map Collection Door County Maritime Museum Door County Archive Minnesota Historical Society National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Historical Map Collection United States Coast Guard University of Wisconsin Libraries Wisconsin Historical Society
Video footage provided by: (list to be finalized by Digital Design) Door County Visitor Bureau Peninsula Filmworks Wisconsin Historical Society
Music by: TBD
Directed by Southern Custom Exhibits Script by Juliet Cutler Art direction by Sloan Bibb Video production by Digital Design