Door County Tales by Gayle Soucek

Author:Gayle Soucek
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing Inc.
Published: 2012-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

No trip to Door County is complete without joining in the fun and feast of a traditional fish boil.

Although Welcker had ceased practicing medicine when he moved to Fish Creek, he would sometimes offer medical advice or assistance when needed. At one point, an outbreak of deadly smallpox virus threatened the region. As a trained virologist, he was aware of the success that English scientist Edward Jenner had experienced nearly one hundred years earlier when searching for a cure for smallpox. Jenner had discovered that milkmaids and farmworkers exposed to the common and nonlethal cowpox virus developed immunity to smallpox, and he used that knowledge to create the world’s first true vaccine. Welcker understood the process but didn’t have access to cowpox or the cattle needed to grow the vaccine.

In a brazen shortcut, the doctor used one of Asa Thorp’s children, eleven-year-old Merle, as a reservoir. He inoculated the boy repeatedly with a weak and controlled dose of smallpox in a risky process known as variolation. This method, if performed successfully, creates only a mild illness but provokes a strong immune response. If not successful, however, the patient can contract a full-blown case of the disease and die or at best never develop a sufficient immune response to prevent later infection. Welcker was lucky (and so was Merle); the rather crude plan worked. Once it was clear that Merle’s immune system was doing its job, Welcker drew his blood and injected it into other children to transfer the antibodies. Fish Creek was spared an epidemic.

Henriette died in 1920, and the doctor followed just four years later. Welcker’s niece, Martha Fahr, continued to run the resort until her death in 1939, at which point the buildings were sold off individually. The Henriette lodge changed hands and names several times over the years, until it was restored and renamed the White Gull Inn in 1959, the name it retains to this day. The current owners, Jan and Andy Coulson, purchased the property in 1972 and have made numerous improvements. Although they’ve updated things such as plumbing and electricity, they’ve meticulously maintained the Old World feel. Rooms are decorated with antiques, and the massive two-sided stone fireplace between the lobby and dining rooms still burns wood. The Coulsons also purchased Welcker’s old casino building and turned it into the charming Whistling Swan Inn, which they sold in 1996 so that they could focus on the White Gull.

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