Little Lake Nature Preserve

The centerpiece of Little Lake Nature Preserve is Little Lake itself — Washington Island’s only inland lake, and one of its most quietly remarkable places. Located within 250 feet of Lake Michigan on the island’s northwest side, the 33-acre lake was created thousands of years ago when waves washed cobblestones across a shallow bay of glacial Lake Nipissing. As the waters receded, a narrow ridge formed and sealed off the bay entirely. Fed primarily by underwater springs and surface runoff, Little Lake now sits three feet above Lake Michigan — a landlocked world unto itself.

The preserve encompasses the entire northern half of the lake, protecting over 5,000 feet of shoreline. The lake and its surrounding white cedar and hemlock forest provide habitat for waterfowl, migratory songbirds, bald eagles, white pelicans, osprey, and herons. Little Lake is also a major breeding site for the blue-spotted salamander, along with a host of other amphibians. Wetland-loving plants including buckbean, marsh bellflower, and marsh cinquefoil grow along the water’s edge.

Trails

1.25 miles of trail wind through the preserve on fairly level terrain with some uneven areas, following the lakeshore and moving through cedar and hemlock forest.

History

The Little Lake area was once the site of a large Native American settlement. Numerous artifacts dating to the Late Woodland Period — some 3,000 years ago — have been found here. For those interested in Door County’s Native American past, the nearby Jacobsen Museum on Little Lake Road is well worth a visit.

In the early 20th century, Little Lake became the summer retreat of Thorstein Veblen, one of America’s most influential economists and social critics. Veblen, best known for coining the term “conspicuous consumption” in his landmark work The Theory of the Leisure Class, found in Washington Island the kind of simple, unadorned life he championed in his writing. That a man who spent his career skewering excess chose this spare, spring-fed lake as his refuge feels entirely appropriate.