Hours & Admissions

Door County Maritime Museum

Sturgeon Bay, WI

Open year-round, seven days a week.

January – April: 10am – 4pm
CLOSED Easter Sunday (For winter weather conditions, if Sturgeon Bay schools are closed, the Museum will also be closed.)

May – October: 9am – 5pm

November – December: 10am – 5pm
CLOSED Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.
Closing at 2pm on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve.

Door County Maritime Museum

Sturgeon Bay, WI

Adults – $15 ($20 with a guided tour of John Purves)
Youth (5-17) – $7 ($12 with a guided tour of John Purves)
Children 4 & under – Free
Seniors (65+ years) & Retired Military – $12 ($17 with a guided tour of John Purves)
Active Military (and up to five family members) – Free
Members – Free

Highlights

Located along Sturgeon Bay’s working waterfront, the Door County Maritime Museum showcases the area’s rich maritime roots, and includes the 10-story Jim Kress Maritime Lighthouse Tower. The museum features interactive exhibits, and offers tours of the restored tugboat John Purves. Hard-working anglers, brave ship captains and lonely lighthouse keepers are some of the personalities you’ll discover in the galleries of the Museum…Where Great Lakes maritime history comes alive!


Tug John Purves

Sturgeon Bay, WI

The historic, restored tugboat John Purves is open for tours May-October at 10:30am, 11:45am, 1:15pm and 2:30pm. Tug tours are only available as guided tours.

Tug John Purves

Sturgeon Bay, WI

Ages 4 and up – $8
Museum Members – free

Highlights

Enjoy an all-access, 40-minute guided tour of the John Purves, an immaculately restored 1919 Great Lakes tugboat. Explore the entire 149-foot tug, from her engine room to crew cabins, galley and wheelhouse, and get a feel for the daily life of her hard-working 13-man crew. Tours are offered May-October with docent availabilityPlease call 920-743-5958 to confirm a docent is on duty.

There are height and mobility restrictions to safely tour the tugboat. Children must be at least 38 inches tall and able to step over hatchway thresholds. The tugboat is not ADA accessible, and service dogs are not permitted on the tugboat.


Cana Island Lighthouse

Baileys Harbor, WI

Open seasonally seven days a week.

May-October: 10am-5pm The last haywagon ride departs from the parking lot at 4:15pm. The last tower climb starts at 4:30pm

Cana Island Lighthouse

Baileys Harbor, WI

Adults – $12
Youth (5-17) – $10
Children 4 & under – Free (There are age and height restrictions for children to safely climb the tower. They must be at least 5 years old and 42 inches tall.)
Seniors & Retired Military – $1 off admission
Active Military (and up to five family members) – Free
Museum Members – Free

Highlights

Explore Door County’s most iconic lighthouse, which in 2019 celebrated 150 years of standing watch on the shore of Lake Michigan. Ride a hay-wagon over the causeway to explore the island, including the 89-foot-tall light tower, oil storage house and lighthouse keeper’s home. The highlight of any Cana Island visit is climbing the 97 steps of the tower’s spiral staircase to reach the gallery deck, which delivers a sweeping panoramic view of Lake Michigan and the Door County peninsula.


Death’s Door Maritime Museum

Gills Rock, WI

Open seasonally seven days a week.

May – October: 10am – 5pm

Death’s Door Maritime Museum

Gills Rock, WI

Adults – $6
Youth (5-17) – $3
Children 4 & under – Free
Seniors & Retired Military – $1 off admission
Museum Members – Free

Highlights

The Death’s Door Maritime Museum celebrates the area’s commercial fishing tradition. Located in the village of Gills Rock at the tip of the Door County peninsula on the shores of Porte des Mortes (Death’s Door), the museum features a shipwreck and scuba diving exhibit, including artifacts brought up from the bottom of Lake Michigan. It also boasts the wooden fishing tug Hope. Visitors will also see the bronze sculpture unveiled in 2018, a tribute to commercial fishing in Northern Door.


Museums for All is a national program that encourages individuals of all backgrounds to visit museums regularly and build lifelong museum habits. Through Museums for All, those receiving food assistance (SNAP benefits) can gain free or reduced admission to more than 400 museums throughout the United States simply by presenting their SNAP EBT (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Electronic Benefit Transfer) card. DCMM provides a discounted admission of $2 per person for up to four people to our Sturgeon Bay and Gills Rock museum locations.

Museums for All is an initiative of the Institute of Museum and Library Services, a federal agency based in Washington, DC.

DCMM offers free admission to the nation’s active-duty military personnel and their families, including National Guard and Reserve. DCMM provides free admission for those currently serving in the United States Military – Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard – as well as members of the Reserves, National Guard, US Public Health Commissioned Corps, NOAA Commissioned Corps, and up to five family members. This admission policy is available year round, especially honoring the service of the three local US Coast Guard stations in Door County. The City of Sturgeon Bay is one of 30 cities that have been designated by Congress as Coast Guard Cities, and the only one in the state of Wisconsin.

During the summer months, the DCMM military personnel policy is part of Blue Star Museums, a collaboration among the National Endowment for the Arts, Blue Star Families, the Department of Defense, and more than 2,000 museums in all 50 states that offers free admission to active-duty military personnel and their families during from Armed Forces Day through Labor Day.