Gills Rock is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

located on Highway 42 at the northern tip of the

Door Peninsula The Door Peninsula is a peninsula in eastern Wisconsin, separating the southern part of the Green Bay from Lake Michigan. The peninsula includes northern Kewaunee County, northeastern Brown County, and the mainland portion of Door Count ...

Door County Door County is the easternmost county in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census, its population was 30,066. Its seat of government is Sturgeon Bay. It is named after the strait between the Door Peninsula and Washington Island. T ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

, United States. It is within the

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

of Liberty Grove and was formerly known as Hedgehog Harbor.

History

This area is known to the Potawatomi as Wah-ya-qua-kah-me-kong, for "head of the land" or "land's end". Today the area is named for Elias Gill, a local 19th century landowner. Gills Rock has a strong history and tradition of commercial fishing, which continues to this day. Death's Door Maritime Museum is located there. The area is also popular with

scuba divers Scuba diving is a mode of underwater diving whereby divers use breathing equipment that is completely independent of a surface breathing gas supply, and therefore has a limited but variable endurance. The word ''scuba'' is an acronym for ...

who explore the many shipwrecks in and around ''Death's Door'', the narrow strait connecting

Lake Michigan Lake Michigan ( ) is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and depth () after Lake Superior and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the ...

to Green Bay, also known as

Porte des Morts Porte des Morts, also known as Porte des Mortes, the Door of Death, and Death's Door is a strait linking Lake Michigan and Green Bay between the northern tip of the Door Peninsula and the southernmost of the Potawatomi Islands. At its narro ...

. The

Pilot Island Light The Pilot Island Light is a lighthouse located near Gills Rock, Wisconsin, Gills Rock, on Pilot Island at the east end of Porte des Morts, Death's Door passage, in Door County, Wisconsin, Door County, Wisconsin. The building's design is similar ...

is located on

Pilot Island Pilot Island is an island in Lake Michigan in the Town of Washington, in Door County, Wisconsin; it is part of Green Bay National Wildlife Refuge Green Bay National Wildlife Refuge is a National Wildlife Refuge of the United States located ...

near Gills Rock. Gills Rock is also the departure point of a passenger ferry to Washington Island. The vehicle ferry to Washington Island departs 2.25 miles (3.5 km) to the East, in Northport, Wisconsin

In popular culture

The town is the birthplace of fictional character

Gwen Raiden This article features minor fictional characters who appear as guest stars on the television program ''Angel'', ordered alphabetically. For the show's main characters, please see the article list of ''Angel'' characters. A Alonna Gunn Alonna ...

from the TV series ''

Angel An angel is a spiritual (without a physical body), heavenly, or supernatural being, usually humanoid with bird-like wings, often depicted as a messenger or intermediary between God (the transcendent) and humanity (the profane) in variou ...

.''

Education

Gibraltar Area Schools serves the community. Gibraltar Elementary School and Gibraltar Secondary School are the two schools.Gibraltar Area Schools
''Gibraltar Area School District'', (Archived July 14, 2014)

Climate

Images

References

*Bogue, Margaret Beattie. ''Around the Shores of Lake Michigan A Guide to Historic Sites'' (1985,

University of Wisconsin Press The University of Wisconsin Press (sometimes abbreviated as UW Press) is a Non-profit organization, non-profit university press publishing Peer review, peer-reviewed books and journals. It publishes work by scholars from the global academic comm ...

)

External links

Google Maps
- Aerial View
Door County Chamber of Commerce
- General Information {{authority control Unincorporated communities in Wisconsin Unincorporated communities in Door County, Wisconsin