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:
“When we were at school we were taught to sing the songs of the Europeans. How many of us were taught the songs of the Wanyamwezi or of the Wahehe? Many of us have learnt to dance the rumba, or the cha cha, to rock and roll and to twist and even to dance the waltz and foxtrot. But how many of us can dance, or have even heard of the gombe sugu, the mangala, nyang’umumi, kiduo, or lele mama?”
—Julius K. Nyerere (b. 1922)
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—Curtis Siodmak (1902–1988)
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—Samuel Richardson (1689–1761)
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