A Day In Port Washington

In the last two weeks I've shared about our fall weekend trip in the Port Washington, Wisconsin area.  We started our adventure with a visit to Holy Hill, and then a fun hike in Lion's Den Nature Preserve.  This post will be all about the town of Port Washington itself...and what a town it is!

Port Washington has a beautiful Main Street filled with stores you actually want to spend time in.  But what makes this street extra special is the view of St. Mary's Church which sits on top of a hill overlooking the town of Port Washington and Lake Michigan.

The weekend we were in Port Washington the streets were filled with activity. The night before we enjoyed a celebration of the anniversary of a sporting goods store and we were treated to a free concert. The next morning, there was a Farmer's Market!   Both were held right out the front door of our hotel and were unexpected sweet surprises!

We are early risers, and most of the stores were still closed when we were up and ready to explore the town.  So the first thing we did while waiting for the stores to open was go to Rotary Park.

We were so surprised to see so many fishermen out and about!  They were fishing everywhere in the park.  We gathered around to see what all the excitement was about and we couldn't believe it!  There were salmon everywhere! Apparently we were there at just the time of the right time of the year when the salmon were spawning. 

Just look at all the silouhettes of the fishermen on the pier!

Look at the size of that fish! And would you believe that man threw the fish back in the water after taking the photo.  I asked him why and he replied "The freezer is full".  I said "I would have taken it!" Oh my goodness!  I can't even imagine having a freezer full of salmon!  It is so expensive in the grocery store.

I have lived in Wisconsin all my life and I had no idea Port Washington was #1 in Trout and Salmon Catch.  Here are some other fish available in Lake Michigan.

The beautiful Rotary Park Marina. 

After we watched the fishermen for a while, we decided to take a short walk through nearby Coal Dock Park and came across this gazebo.  It had a viewing deck which you could go up in and get a higher elevated view of Lake Michigan.

Near the park is a large power station.  The salmon love the warm water from the station, so they come over there in droves.  You're not supposed to fish in this area, but we did see one fisherman.  There is a bridge that you can cross over to get to a trail that leads to South Beach Park.

Here is a view from the other side of the bridge.  The trail looked interesting, but we were watching our steps and didn't want to overdue it so early in the morning when we knew we'd be walking all day.  We also had plans to hike over to the North Beach later in the day, so we decided to skip the trail and head back.

I got a gorgeous photo of the Port Washington Breakwater Light on the way back.

The paved sidewalk of Coal Dock Park is a comfortable and gorgeous morning stroll.  The views of Lake Michigan and the town of Port Washington are incredible.

It was about time for the stores to open, so we headed back to the shopping district.  I loved this painted staircase. I've never seen a mural on a staircase before.  It's amazing!

Port Washington used to be an old shipping town.  This canal is where the ships would enter to load/unload.  We saw old black and white photos of what this spot use to look like, and it was incredible!  Today this canal is surrounded by apartments and businesses.  The building on the left is original to the canal; when they remodeled it into apartments, they repainted the "Fish" advertisement on the walls.

The first shop I wanted to go to was "The Chocolate Chisel".  After all, what is a trip to a small town without a visit to the local candy store?  We loved this mural painted on the side of the building that showed all the highlights of the town of Port Washington.

And aren't these cow benches just the cutest?

Our next stop was Bernie's Fine Meats.  Here we picked up some smoked salmon and string cheese to munch on during the day.  Oh, if you could only smell this shop!  The minute you opened the door the smell of smoked meat wafted out.  

The old Post Office.

I just loved all the interesting architecture in this town!

The Main Street is built on a gradual slope.  We are almost to the church at this point.  You can see the power plant below.

Port Washington is the place for foodies.  There are so many fabulous restaurants it was hard to decide where to eat.  We normally don't eat lunch when we travel, so we only had the opportunity to eat dinner twice.  The first night we had a Fish Fry at The Steerage which was incredible.  I talked about that in last week's post.    Below are pictured two other restaurants which I'd love to try someday.

The Judge Eghart House is open for tours during the tourist season, but unfortunately it was not open when we there because it was after Labor Day.  The home illustrates and educates about life in the late 19th century in Port Washington, Wisconsin.

This is the Port Washington Courthouse, which I could see from my hotel room!  What an amazing building this is! Love the architecture. 

This is what remains of another old hotel in Port Washington:  The Wilson.  It is no longer used as a hotel but obviously by the lights on in the building, it is still inhabited.  I believe there is a restaurant on the lower level.

An old bank turned sporting goods store.

The Duluth Trading Co. store.  We spent quite a bit of time shopping here.  I bought a work apron big enough to hold all my garden tools.  I love the fish shanty sign in the background.

When we reached the end of Main Street, it was time to climb up all these stairs and check out the church and the lighthouse.

There was actually a wedding going on this day, so we couldn't see the inside.  We did catch a glimpse of the bride as she exited this white van.  That was fun to see!

The next two photos feature some cute old homes I liked.

I love the garden in this one!

I was disappointed that the Port Washington Light Station was also closed for the season.  That's the problem with the traveling during the off-season I guess... a lot of sites are closed.

Well, what goes up, must go down.  Now we needed to take this city staircase back down so we could get to North Beach.

The walk to the beach was beautiful; with one amazing view after another.

Picture time! You couldn't find a better spot to take photos than this one right here.  Hubby had to lift me up so I could sit on the rocks, but when it was his turn he climbed up effortlessly.

A short video of the amazing waves of Lake Michigan.

Well, guess what? It was time to climb back again. 😀 We could have gone back the way we came, but that's no fun, so up the stairs we went to get back to the Main Street level and Upper Lake and Overlook Parks.  The views from the deck were amazing and a great stop to catch our breath!

After a long walk home it was time to freshen up and grab some dinner.  I was really in the mood for a good juicy burger after all that hiking, so we went to "Inventor's Brewpub"; one of the most popular restaurants in town with great views of the lake!

I hope you enjoyed my three-day travel posts of Port Washington.  I'm gonna take the next two weeks off for Christmas, but I will be back to sharing more fall travel posts on January 7th.

Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!