That changed, however, when the canal linking Green Bay and Lake Michigan opened to shipping in 1882. Today, Sturgeon Bay has a charming downtown area that is home to unique shops, galleries, fine restaurants, and meticulously restored bed and breakfast inns. Greater Sturgeon Bay includes a fully staffed hospital, two excellent golf courses and a regional airport. Sturgeon Bay's waterfront is in the process of a major face-lift. A spectacular new Door County Maritime Museum, DJ's on the Bay restaurant and other developments have revitalized the waterfront.
More improvements are under way.
Potawatomi State Park, located on the waters of Sturgeon Bay, offers vacationers biking and hiking trails and groomed cross-country ski and snowmobile trails. Be sure to stop at the observation tower for a view of Sawyer Harbor that will take your breath away. If your idea of a vacation includes fishing, you'll love the waters of Sturgeon Bay. Trophy-size catches of walleye, northern pike, lake trout and salmon are the rule, not the exception. Area guides can put you right over a shipwreck to fish for cantankerous smallmouth bass.