Unpacked, Five Questions: When a British Writer Meets the Cape Cod of the Midwest

In this episode of Unpacked by Afar, host Katherine LaGrave sits down with London-based writer Emma John, author of three books and Afar contributing writer, who recently visited Door County, Wisconsin—her 43rd U.S. state. Nicknamed “the Cape Cod of the Midwest,” this sleepy peninsula surprised Emma with its unique blend of small-town charm and unexpected sophistication.

Emma shares her discoveries about “Midwest Kind"—a cultural commitment to helping others that goes far beyond Southern hospitality—and reveals why Wisconsin wine is having a serious moment thanks to climate-conscious vintners. She also discusses the young entrepreneurs breathing new life into this traditional summer destination while staying true to its authentic character.

Transcript

Katherine: Welcome to Unpacked Five Questions, a podcast that takes you behind the scenes of one great travel story. I’m Katherine LeGrave, deputy editor at Afar. I’m pretty lucky. I get to brainstorm, assign, and edit features for our print magazine, and I get to work with writers who have an ear for incredible travel stories.

Emma John is one of those writers. Based in London, Emma is the author of three books and an Afar contributing writer. She’s also a fiddle player, a ballroom dancer, and co-host of a cricket podcast. Another fun fact about Emma, she’s visited nearly all 50 US states. So when she came to me last winter with an idea to visit Door County, Wisconsin, nicknamed the Cape Cod of the Midwest, I was intrigued. It would be her 43rd state.

In this episode, Emma and I discussed what she thought she’d find in Door County and what she actually found. Hint: Polish food, wineries, pride flags, one of the most biologically diverse habitats in the Midwest, and yes, of course, cheese curds.

All right. Welcome, Emma. I’m so thrilled to be speaking with you today. Let’s jump in. So you’re a Brit who’s traveled all over the world. Why Wisconsin and why Door County?

Emma: Well, Wisconsin, because it’s one of the, it’s one of the states that I haven’t been to in the US and I’m on a bit of a mission to tick them all off. Yeah, I guess I’ve got that completer streak in me and I had got up to around 42 or 43 at the time that I was looking at my next trip. Wisconsin was one of them, one of the either seven or eight I had left.

And then Door County was a place that I heard about through various people. Some of those people were even at Afar, because a colleague of mine had been there too. So I wanted to visit; I just thought, well, look, I don’t know anything about Wisconsin. Where’s a good place to go?

There were various different ways you could kind of approach Wisconsin. You could go full traditional and just go and eat cheese, or you could go to college towns and maybe go to Madison. I always try and do the thing that nobody’s expecting. So I went to a peninsula that is kind of famous as this really sleepy little place that only locals go to on their holiday.

Katherine: And we’ll talk a little bit about that later. In the story you mentioned Midwest kind, which is a thing that’s known in the US. I’m curious in what ways you experienced this in Door County.

Emma: Well, I have to say, yeah, like I say, I’ve traveled a lot in the States. Maybe outside the big cities, maybe outside New York. No diss on New York, but loads of places in the States have some kind of pride in hospitality and culture in it. Again, that really sounds like a diss on New York City — I am so sorry New York City. I don’t mean it. Please let me back. But like, you know, the south, I’ve traveled a lot in the south. Southern hospitality is a big thing and it’s a big part of the cultural identity. So when I heard about this kind of Midwest kind, I was like, okay, sure. Sounds a bit like things I’ve experienced elsewhere.

Oh my word. It is absolutely not. It’s completely different. It’s this commitment that people have to helping each other. That’s the thing that it really came down to. It’s not just inviting people into your home, which has happened to me quite a lot in the States, and it’s not just looking you in the face and saying hello as you pass strangers in the street, although it is that too. But the thing that I really noticed once I started hanging around Wisconsin people and seeing them interact with other people locally is that they really do just show up for each other.

And then everybody I interviewed for this story had an example of this, including the strangers who had come from overseas to live in Wisconsin. There was this young man who had come from Azerbaijan, first to study and then he stayed to open a restaurant, and he said that when he needed to move house — I dunno whether he had a car or whether his car wasn’t big enough — some people he’d known through college said, “Oh, we will show up to help you.” Them showing up to help him meant traveling several hours with their car just to move his stuff. He couldn’t understand this; he couldn’t get his head around it. And to be honest, neither could I, because that is not something that you would see happening in London or in the UK. Not from people who barely know you. But it’s a real thing in Wisconsin and in the Midwest, I guess, that this Midwest kind is: if somebody needs a hand, you offer it, and then you show up and you follow through, and it’s a really beautiful thing.

Katherine: So Midwest kind is a known thing. Now, Wisconsin wine is not necessarily a phrase a lot of people in the US and maybe worldwide would utter, but what did you discover about the wine scene there?

Emma: Well, the first thing I discovered was its reputation, which was not great. Even the locals would say, “Yeah, we do have wine here,” and then their eyebrows would kind of shoot through the roof, which I think was their little way of trying to tell me in a Midwest kind way not to drink it.

But I then discovered that because people are thinking about climate change, they’re thinking about where are going to be good places to grow grapes as the country and the countryside warms. This particular peninsula, because of the weather system around it and because the lake really keeps that peninsula a lot cooler than other places, which doesn’t sound good for wine because with wine you want heat, right? But also with wine you really want somewhere that you can trust — somewhere that’s not gonna get suddenly cold or suddenly hot — ‘cause those are the things that ruin your harvest. And so I met winemakers who have come to the region specifically to try and do new things in the wine industry.

There were a couple I met who had come back home to Wisconsin from Washington State where they had been working in some of the really famous vineyards and with winemakers there. They’d already done the agriculture thing at college and had gone out there and worked for many years to build up their experience and to learn the craft. They’re bringing back their craft home. They’re not just looking at how to make Washington-style wines back here, although they do make some of those things people recognize, like Pinot Noir, but they are also experimenting with very specific local grape varietals that were developed by the University of Minnesota to be hardy grapes that can survive a cooler climate.

And they’re making really interesting wines with them. I can say this honestly: I did sit with them and taste these things, so I promise you I’m not lying. I wouldn’t send you there if it was just stuff that was going to make you wince. It was really good stuff.

Katherine: I love that. What was part of your reporting that didn’t make it into the written story?

Emma: There were towns that I got to on the way to Door County that I adored, and because I was really focused on Door County, I didn’t get to write about these places ‘cause I didn’t want to spend too much time in the piece describing the journey there. People can find these places for themselves. There’s plenty of them: Manitowoc, which I’m trying to pronounce correctly — I learned that the emphasis comes up MAN-i-towoc — and it has an incredible maritime museum. But the tiny little place that I loved most was called Cedarburg. I just feel like Cedarburg is not somewhere that’s particularly gonna be on your route, so that’s why I’m gonna tell you about it. If you are heading north out of Milwaukee, you’re probably gonna get straight onto the freeway and Cedarburg might just feel like a little side journey, but it doesn’t take that long to get there off the freeway — it can only have been an additional 10 to 15 minutes or something — and it was just such a sweet little town. I had such lovely conversations with all the business owners. I found an antique jeweler — well, that makes her sound like she is an old lady who makes jewelry; that’s not what I mean. She is a person who sells antique jewelry. I think she calls it estate jewelry, but she has stuff that goes back over a hundred years, like to the 19th century. I wandered around there with my eyes sparkling with the reflection of all these beautiful things. Her story was incredible; she had an amazing mom who had started the business and she’d worked alongside her and eventually taken it on from her.

And then it was that classic thing — I think they call it red car syndrome — where you spot one thing and then you just keep spotting it. From that point on my eyes were really alert to jewelers all over the place, and I ended up going all the way around Wisconsin where other people kind of see signs for cheese. I just kept seeing signs for jewelry and stopping at every little jeweler I could find and having a conversation with them. So maybe that’s a story for the future.

Katherine: Maybe, but it is a through line, in a way, into your magazine story, which is about the people behind small businesses and the fact that large-scale change and large corporations really haven’t come to Door County. You write that there is a lot of small-town Americana charm there, but that it’s not the only story. For readers who haven’t read the story yet, what would you say that story is?

Emma: Well, the thing that is really interesting — when I started looking into what’s written about Door County, everything I read about it was “Hey, this is a really quaint place.” There are a lot of retirees living here, yeah, there’s some second-home owners maybe, but really it’s this kind of very old-fashioned seaside resort peninsula. By the way, the summer is not long in Wisconsin. They get all their visitors in a three-month window. The place goes from a very small population to a really busy visiting population just for those three months of the year. People come to it because it’s like walking back in time. Some of these businesses on the lakefront still have 1950s signage outside and they’re still going to serve you a malt, or a soda float or whatever it is. I’m not really up on my Americana food and beverage.

Katherine: Taffy — it’s like taffy. Yeah.

Emma: But the reality is that younger people — and I mean younger in the Door County sense (in Door County you’re young if you’re under 45 or 50) — some younger people as in students and young entrepreneurs, but also people in their late thirties and forties who might have moved out because they thought there was nothing for them here, are coming back and creating their own businesses. They’re bringing with them global experience and things that appeal to a more modern audience and a more modern clientele, and they’re creating really cool, but still very Door County–specific businesses.

So there are new restaurants, from Polish pierogi to Azerbaijani and Turkish-influenced Mediterranean dishes. There are people making cool theatre, people making cool clothes, people setting up record stores. You would think that’s a risk because it’s a small population and most custom only comes in those three months a year, but it’s actually so authentic to the place that it really works. It doesn’t feel like anyone is transplanting something in there. It feels like people come to Door County, fall in love with the place, and then ask, “How can I be part of this? What does this place need? What can I bring to it?” It’s really kind of organic.

Katherine: In addition to meeting all these people and the business side of your story, Door County has more state parks than any other county in Wisconsin, and even when I visited in winter I was really impressed by the nature. I found it spectacular. What most impressed you about your experiences or time outdoors there?

Emma: I think the lakeshore is sensational. Obviously because it’s a peninsula and it’s kind of shaped like a thumb, it’s got a lot of lakefront and it faces in both directions on the lake. So you’ve got some that face inwards towards Green Bay and ultimately to Michigan, and on the other side you’ve got the bigger, broader lake that opens out and goes on for miles up toward Canada. Apparently the water temperature is really different on either side of the peninsula. Listeners, I cannot attest to this because I did not jump in — it was just too cold when I was there — but what you do get is beaches, some on cliffs with cliffs towering above them, and almost all of them have rows and rows of trees behind them which in the summer are in full leaf and green and you probably feel like you’re on the Norwegian fjords or something.

That is why quite a lot of Scandinavian people settled there because when they got there it felt like home. But then, of course, in the fall all of those trees — there are lots of maples scattered through them — turn that beautiful russet and yellow and gold and bronze and bright red, and you just think you are not looking at something real; you think you’re looking at a painting.

Katherine: It is very true. It’s funny you say that because quick aside: I was in Scandinavia this summer and I would post photos and my family’s — they live in the Midwest — Scandinavia is where my family’s originally from, and I had this one uncle who would just keep commenting, “Looks like Wisconsin. Looks like Wisconsin.”

Emma: That explains it. Now I understand. There was so much Scandi celebration while I was there and obviously I knew there was heritage there, but it’s everywhere. People paint Swedish, Norwegian, and Icelandic flags and symbols on everything, and there are even quite a few words of Scandi origin which I had a hard time translating.

Katherine: Last question. You did so many things in Door County, from eating cheese curds to taking a ferry to a nearby island — there are more than 30 islands. At this moment in time, what door — in Door County — would you choose to walk through?

Emma: I would love to spend more time on Washington Island. I didn’t even get to overnight there. Everyone says when you get to the peninsula, “Wait till you see the island.” I’d driven all that way from — well, I’d flown in from Britain — and you get to Milwaukee and you drive up to Door County and you think, “Gosh, this is lovely,” and everyone says, “Wait till you see the island.” The island was where the peninsula dwellers go on holiday and it felt like a place you really needed to be still. There’s not a lot happening on the island, and I guess that’s a massive part of the appeal. If you live and work on a peninsula that gets very busy for three months a year, the island becomes an escape in your mind. The people I met there were doing fascinating things in terms of eco-farming and thinking about food supply.

They also have a little music festival — the Washington Island Music Festival — where they jam and play old-time music. I play a bit of bluegrass, so I’m not great at old-time, but I know the tunes enough to sit around a campfire and sing along or play fiddle with them. As soon as they told me about that, I thought, “Ah, yes — this is the rural-south part of me.” I feel there’s a kinship here and I would really like to spend more time with them.

Katherine: Well, I guess that means you’ll just have to go back.

Emma: I guess. That would be very welcome.

Katherine: Amazing. Those were my questions for you. Hopefully it was pretty painless. Nikki, I think we’re good. Good idea. Okay. Hold on now, everyone’s watching me. Why can’t I do it on the spot? I’m just saying.

Emma: I even—

Katherine: Yeah, don’t look. Okay. Emma, thanks for chatting. It was lovely to have you here. Hopefully we’ll talk again soon.

Emma: Thanks.

Katherine: Listener, thank you for tuning into this episode of Unpacked Five Questions. In the show notes you’ll find a link to Emma’s story and to her social media handles. Join me in two weeks for another episode that takes you behind the scenes with our award-winning features writers. I’ll be speaking with Harrison Hill, who’s lived in New York City for 19 years and set out across the five boroughs to visit the oldest bars, bakeries, restaurants, stores, and more in honor of the city’s 400th anniversary.

Ready for more interviews with travel writers? Visit afar.com and be sure to follow us on Instagram and TikTok at @AfarMedia. If you enjoyed today’s exploration, I hope you’ll come back for more great travel stories. Subscribing always makes that easy, and be sure to rate and review the show on your favorite podcast platform — it helps other travelers find it.

This has been Unpacked: Five Questions, a production of Afar Media. The podcast is produced by Aislyn Green, Nikki Galteland, and Katherine LeGrave.

The podcast is part of the AirWave Media podcast network. Visit AirWaveMedia.com to listen and subscribe to their other shows like Culture Kids and The Explorers Podcast.