Chambers Island

Chambers Island, named in honor of Col. Talbot Chambers, is a 2,834 acre (4.428 sq. mi.) island in Green Bay, about 7 miles (11 km) off the coast of the Door Peninsula, near Gibraltar, Wisconsin. It is part of the Town of Gibraltar in Door County.[2]

Chambers Island

Chambers Island from Fish Creek
Chambers Island
Etymology	Talbot Chambers
Geography
Location	Green Bay
Coordinates	45°10′56″N 087°21′19″W
Area	10.04 km^2 (3.88 sq mi)land area
Highest elevation	600 ft (180 m), 55 ft above lake level (approx)[1]
Administration
United States
State	Wisconsin
County	Door
Town	Gibraltar

Land description

Approximately 1/8 (12.3%) of the island's area is taken up by shallow 348.73-acre (1.4113 km²) Mackaysee Lake, in the northeastern part of the island. There rests a smaller lake to the west of Mackaysee Lake called Mud Lake. There are two islands in Mackaysee Lake. The islands are classified as third order recursive islands due to being in a lake on an island in a lake. The land area is 10.04 km² (3.8765 sq mi, or 2,481 acres). Since 1867, the island has been home to the Chambers Island lighthouse, which has been deactivated since 1961. The lighthouse has been the maintained at the 40-acre (160,000 m²) Chambers Island County Park since its commissioning in 1976.

The highest elevation on the island is approximately 55' above the lakeshore. In the southeast, Chambers Island narrows to a spit, called Hanover Shoal, which extends toward the shoreline of the Door Peninsula, from which it is approximately 5-mile (8.0 km) distant. The island has a small number of cabins.

On the island

Other than the Chambers Island Lighthouse Park and two dirt roads, the entire island is privately owned by a number of different persons and corporations, and landing at any other area is considered trespassing under Wisconsin law. No permanent population was reported in the 2000 census.

For more than sixty years, through 2013, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Green Bay maintained a seasonal retreat house on Chambers Island, called the Holy Name Retreat House, on a 70-acre former resort property located on the isthmus between Green Bay and Mackaysee Lake on the east shore of the island. The house opened in the middle of 1951 after being gifted to the diocese by George Baudhuin.[3] The retreat house typically attracted thousands of people per year to reflect for several days or a week between the months of May and September.[3] On January 15, 2014, the Diocese announced that it would cease to offer retreats at the property.[4] The diocese cited that 758 retreatants had visited the island in 2013, a number that made maintaining the island unsustainable.[3] Guests were charged $210 to attend a retreat and it cost the diocese $409 per person for transportation, food, and administration.[3] Another concern cited was potential medical emergencies on the isolated island.[3] Over 62,000 people had attended a retreat in sixty two years.[3]

Chambers Island Airport is located on the island. It is a private use airport owned by Chambers Island Flying Corp. with a single 1,200 by 40 feet (366 by 12 m) gravel runway.[5]

Electricity is not commercially available on the island, it is provided by individual generators or solar / wind power. Cellular telephone service is provided to the island and the Door county coastline by Cellcom which has a tower on the island. In 2012 the company installed a wind turbine to augment the solar panels that charge the batteries that power the site.[6]

Climate

Chambers Island Climate chart (explanation) J F M A M J J A S O N D     63     −8 −11     52     −15 −16     49     −3 −7     97     2 −1     86     7 3     91     14 11     105     18 17     96     17 16     96     17 15     107     10 9     80     8 6     57     4 3 Average max. and min. temperatures in °C Precipitation totals in mm Source: [7] Imperial conversion J F M A M J J A S O N D     2.5     18 12     2     5 3     1.9     27 19     3.8     36 30     3.4     45 37     3.6     57 52     4.1     64 63     3.8     63 61     3.8     63 59     4.2     50 48     3.1     46 43     2.2     39 37 Average max. and min. temperatures in °F Precipitation totals in inches Mackaysee Lake Climate chart (explanation) J F M A M J J A S O N D     63     −7 −13     52     −13 −18     49     0 −6     97     5 0     86     10 4     91     17 11     105     19 17     96     18 16     96     17 14     107     9 6     80     9 3     57     4 −1 Average max. and min. temperatures in °C Precipitation totals in mm Source: [7] Imperial conversion J F M A M J J A S O N D     2.5     19 9     2     9 0     1.9     32 21     3.8     41 32     3.4     50 39     3.6     63 52     4.1     66 63     3.8     64 61     3.8     63 57     4.2     48 43     3.1     48 37     2.2     39 30 Average max. and min. temperatures in °F Precipitation totals in inches

Gallery

• 
  Chambers Island across frozen Green Bay
• 
  Chambers Island and lighthouse
• 
  Map of northeastern coast of the Door peninsula with Chambers Island on the left.

References

1. "Feature Detail Report for: Chambers Island". USGNIS. U.S. Department of the Interior. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
2. Map of Chambers Island and Fish Creek, Door County Land Use Services Dept, August 16, 2017
3. Lucero, Sam (January 24, 2014). "Holy Name Retreat House closes". The Compass.
4. Catholic Diocese of Green Bay (15 January 2014). "Press release" (PDF). Retrieved January 19, 2014.
5. "30WI - Chambers Island Airport". gcr1.com/5010web. Retrieved 11 April 2015.
6. "Cellcom Further Invests in Chambers Island Green Cell Site". Cellcom press release. November 27, 2012.
7. "NASA Earth Observations Data Set Index". NASA. Retrieved 30 January 2016.

• Chamber Island: Blocks 1136 thru 1161 and Block 1997, Census Tract 9803, Door County, Wisconsin United States Census Bureau. Andrew

External links

• Chambers Island Light page
• Inventory of Historic Lighthouses' Chambers Island Light page
• History of the Chambers Island Lighthouse
• Chambers Island Nature Preserve
• Judziewicz, Emmet (May 2004). "Adventures on Forty-one Islands: Number 41: Chambers Island" (PDF). Wisconsin Flora: 3. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2004-10-26.
• Judziewicz, Emmet (May 2004). "Adventures on Forty-one Islands: Number 41: Chambers Island" (PDF). Wisconsin Flora: 4. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2004-10-26.