Rock Island State Park is a state park of Wisconsin, United States, located on Rock Island in Lake Michigan off the tip of the Door Peninsula. The only public transportation to the island is by the passenger ferry Karfi from Washington Island. However, there is mooring/dock space for people with their own boats, and during winter the island is accessible via snowmobile and foot traffic. No "wheeled vehicles" (cars, all-terrain vehicles, bicycles, etc.) are allowed to be brought onto the island by visitors (although park staff use them routinely).
Attractions include the stone Viking boathouse and other structures built by inventor Chester H. Thordarson, Native American artifacts, as well as Potawatomi Lighthouse (Wisconsin's oldest lighthouse). The island is a popular destination in the fall for deer hunters and in the winter for snowmobilers from nearby Washington Island. The park has campsites available and is a destination for daytrippers.
In July 2010 the Midsummer's Music Festival became the first performing organization to present a professional chamber music concert on Rock Island in the Viking Boathouse. The ensemble will be returning in July 2011.
Famous quotes containing the words rock, island, state and/or park:
“Nobody dast blame this man.... For a salesman, there is no rock bottom to the life. He don’t put a bolt to a nut, he don’t tell you the law or give you medicine. He’s a man way out there in the blue, riding on a smile and a shoeshine. And when they start not smiling back—that’s an earthquake. And then you get yourself a couple of spots on your hat, and you’re finished. Nobody dast blame this man. A salesman is got to dream, boy. It comes with the territory.”
—Arthur Miller (b. 1915)
“This island is made mainly of coal and surrounded by fish. Only an organizing genius could produce a shortage of coal and fish at the same time.”
—Aneurin Bevan (1897–1960)
“I ask especially that no state shall, by law or otherwise, authorize the return of the saloon, either in its old form or in some modern guise.”
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)
“Therefore awake! make haste, I say,
And let us, without staying,
All in our gowns of green so gay
Into the Park a-maying!”
—Unknown. Sister, Awake! (L. 9–12)