Kewaunee

As of 2015. Hours, prices and phone numbers on this page are kept as the original site listed them (captured May 7, 2015). Check current information with each attraction before you go.

C.D. "Buzz" Besadny Fish & Wildlife Area and Anadromous Fish Facility

N. 3884 Ransom Moore Ln., site open daily dawn-dusk, public viewing window open at all times, Kewaunee

Nestled in the scenic valley of the Kewaunee River, the new Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Fish Collection Facility began operation in 1990. Here anadromous fish - species that swim upstream for reproduction - are directed up a fish ladder into a collection pond for spawning. Two large underwater viewing windows allow visitors to observe large lake trout and salmon thrash and leap up the ladder to the spawning pond. Peak activity is in spring, late summer and fall when spawn is collected to raise fingerlings to stock the Lake Michigan sports fishery. Enjoy the quiet beauty of the river, the frenzied activity in the ladder and the restful walkways around the pond.

Diggins Café & Fine Rocks

N3176 Hwy. 42, Kewaunee, open year-round 10 a.m.-8 p.m. each day, except noon-8 p.m. Sundays, closed Tuesdays

Combine hand-made pizza with semi-precious stones and fossils and you've got Diggins. Sit outside on the deck and enjoy beautiful Lake Michigan views.

Added in 2026

Kewaunee and its harbor at sunrise. Photo: Chris Rand, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Kewaunee is the smallest county seat on the coast and the place where the Schooner Coast is easiest to take in on foot: the harbor, Harbor Park with the tug Ludington, and the pierhead light are a few minutes' walk apart.

Population (2020 census): 2,837
County seat since: 1852
Pierhead light on the NRHP: 2022
Fish facility: Besadny, on the Kewaunee River

Then and now

The town began with a false rumor of gold in the Kewaunee River in 1836. No gold turned up, and the settlers who stayed built a sawmill and a lumber harbor instead. The Besadny facility described above still works the river every autumn: Wisconsin DNR crews collect chinook salmon eggs there in October and hold a public open house during the run. The DNR stocks the Kewaunee River with roughly 72,000 chinook, 132,000 coho, 102,000 steelhead and 54,000 brown trout a year so the fish return to it.

The City of Kewaunee took ownership of the pierhead lighthouse in 2011. Its fifth-order Fresnel lens was replaced by an LED beacon in June 2019 and now sits on display at the Kewaunee County History Center on Ellis Street. The Kewaunee Power Station, a nuclear plant south of town in Carlton, shut down in May 2013.

Sources: Wikipedia articles on Kewaunee, the Kewaunee Pierhead Light, the Kewaunee River and Kewaunee Power Station; Wisconsin DNR, C.D. "Buzz" Besadny Anadromous Fish Facility pages (read November 2026).

Questions visitors ask

When is the best time to watch salmon at the Kewaunee River fish ladder?

Fall. The chinook run peaks in autumn and DNR crews collect eggs in October, when the facility usually holds a public open house. Fish are not always in the ladder, so call the facility before driving out.

Can you go inside the Kewaunee lighthouse?

You can walk the pier to it at any time. The interior is being restored by the Friends of the Kewaunee Pierhead Lighthouse and opens only for occasional tours.

Where did the lighthouse lens go?

To the Kewaunee County History Center at 217 Ellis Street, after the Coast Guard swapped in an LED light in 2019.

Original text restored from the Wayback Machine capture of May 7, 2015. Typos and dead links were tidied; nothing else in the original section was rewritten. How this archive works.