I am fortunate to live in a place like the Door County Peninsula in Wisconsin, well known for its long coastline and spectacular natural beauty in all seasons. There are many islands off the coast of the peninsula and one, Rock Island is a well known Wisconsin State Park and has an interesting history. There is evidence of Native American culture and it also was part of the transportation network for the French fur trapping industry.

In the late 1800’s Chester Thordarson emmigrated to Chicago from Iceland and became a prolific and wealthy inventor. He purchased Rock Island in the early 1900’s and began to build structures on his very private island with about 30 craftsmen he brought over from Iceland.

Their crowning achievement was a huge Viking Boathouse built over several years which held his extensive rare book library in a great hall above the boat level. That didn’t turn out so well as fragile books didn’t do well in the permanent high humid conditions above water so they were moved to archival conditions at the University of Wisconsin. The majestic building is built entirely from beach stone and it is a favorite place of mine to find unusual photographs. The entire goal of this composition was to see how many arch forms I could fit into the image. There are quite a few.