Mb's Door County Blog

Marybeth Mattson muses on growing up as a visitor to the peninsula, moving back to Door, working and performing in the county, and becoming "of" Door County. Mb works in Baileys Harbor & lives in Jacksonport year-round.

To view full blog entries with photos, simply click on the Title in Red!

Localizing 1.0 - Beach Bums

When I was around ten years old my family lived in Brussels, in the Southern Door area, and my grandparents had a summer cabin in Jacksonport. On sweltering summer days my mom would suggest we head north for a swim. So my brothers and I would suit up, get our sunblock smeared on, and pack anything and everything that we thought would be fun on the beach, which often took upwards of an hour or more. Finally mom would load us into the station wagon and off we'd go. After what seemed like two more …

Localizing 1.1 - Mud Soup

I grew up a tourist; visiting Door County for one solid week of heaven each summer. Two grandparents, two uncles, two aunts, two cousins, two brothers, two parents, two dogs and the occasional visitor, piled into a little cabin out by Cana Island Road, just a mile from the lighthouse. We gathered in the living area upstairs, with a view of the lake, too many bodies and not enough chairs. I couldn't tell you how many rooms there were in that cabin, us kids always stayed in the lower level “family…

Localizing 1.2 - Going Local

The age-old argument of what makes one a Door County local remains alive and well in our current culture. Though I’m sure being a local once meant that you were born here, I would argue that now being born here makes you more native than local. I was not born here, and short of building a time machine to change that fateful day that I was born in Illinois (don’t say it), I will never be indigenous to Door County. But I am a local, and I’ll tell you why – just not yet. Other theories about lo…