Canal Exploration

Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal

Take Hwy. 42/57 across the Bay View Bridge. Follow the signs to the Coast Guard Station.

No trip to Sturgeon Bay is complete without seeing the seven-mile Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal. This historic shipping canal, which opened to small vessels in 1880, connects Sturgeon Bay on Green Bay with Lake Michigan across the Door Peninsula. The canal consists of two parts: a dredged portion of Sturgeon Bay and a 1.3-mile canal dug through the eastern side of the Door Peninsula.

Be sure to stop at the small wayside park maintained by the Corps of Engineers along the narrow portion of the canal to check out the reader-boards highlighting the history of the shipping canal.

Boat Rentals

Fishing boat, jet ski and sailboat rentals, Snug Harbor Inn, Sturgeon Bay, 920-743-2337

A great way to see Sturgeon Bay and the Ship Canal is to take a cruise on the yacht Harbor Lady or the historic Chicago fireboat Fred A. Busse.

Harbor Lady

Sturgeon Bay, 920-707-LADY (5239)

Harbor Lady is a 95-foot Skipperliner built in Wisconsin. She has three open air decks to enjoy the spectacular views of the Sturgeon Bay Ship canal along with Lake Michigan and the Bay of Green Bay.

The Fireboat

Sturgeon Bay, 920-495-6454

Originally designed as a City of Chicago fireboat, the Fred A. Busse was built in Bay City, Michigan in 1937 and is similar to two other fire fighting vessels, the Victor Schlaeger and the Joseph Medill, constructed in Sturgeon Bay shortly after World War II. It served the Chicago Fire Department for many years and now houses a small museum dedicated to Chicago’s firefighting efforts. The Fireboat operates from a pier behind the Door County Maritime Museum.

Added in 2026

The Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal from the air, 2020. Photo: USDA Aerial Photography Field Office, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

At the Lake Michigan end of the canal, beside the Coast Guard station, stand two lighthouses. The tall Sturgeon Bay Canal Light, first lit in 1899 and braced with steel in 1903 after it proved unstable, is 98 feet high and on the National Register (1984). The short red North Pierhead Light on the north pier dates from 1903 and sits on a square fog-signal house.

The boat operators named above were current in 2015. Some of their websites no longer resolve, and the fireboat Fred A. Busse's old domain has expired, so treat the list as history and look up tours locally before you go.

Sources: Wikipedia articles on the Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal, Sturgeon Bay Canal Light and Sturgeon Bay Canal North Pierhead Light (read November 2026).

Questions visitors ask

Can I walk to the Sturgeon Bay canal lighthouses?

The lights stand at the Coast Guard station at the Lake Michigan entrance. The North Pierhead Light on the pier is the easier one to approach; the station grounds themselves may be restricted, so follow posted signs.

Do big ships still use the canal?

Yes. Freighters bound for the Bay Shipbuilding yard in Sturgeon Bay and boats crossing between Lake Michigan and Green Bay use it, along with plenty of pleasure craft.

Original text restored from the Wayback Machine capture of June 26, 2015. Typos and dead links were tidied; nothing else in the original section was rewritten. How this archive works.