Fish Creek ยท Fish Creek
The White Gull Inn
Dr. Herman Welcker's 1896 Henriette, the first lodge of his Fish Creek resort, still run by the Coulson family and known for its fish boils.
- Built
- 1896Main lodge built 1896 as the 'Henriette,' the first lodging building of Dr. Herman Welcker's resort; dining rooms added c. 1941 and later.
- Type
- Inn
- Area
- Fish Creek
- Credentials
- Inside a National Register historic district
The story
In 1896 Dr. Herman Welcker bought 200 acres of Fish Creek shoreline from Asa Thorp and built the “Henriette,” named for his wife, as the first lodging building of a German-style health resort; sleeping cottages named for the women in his family followed. After Welcker’s death in 1924 the resort was split up, and the Henriette passed through several owners and names, including Sunset Beach Guest Home and Lakewood Lodge, before becoming the White Gull Inn. Andy Coulson bought it with partners in 1972, and the Coulson family still runs it, known for its traditional Door County fish boils.
The ghost story
The story belongs to the Lundberg House, a separate historic house the White Gull Inn rents a block from its 1896 lodge, not to the lodge itself: Travel Wisconsin reports that locals say Ruth Lundberg, a grocer's daughter who died of tuberculosis on Christmas morning in 1901, sometimes appears in its parlor and in her second-floor bedroom, and the Door County Trolley's 'Trolley of the Doomed' ghost tour stops there.
Source: www.travelwisconsin.com
Good to know
- Breakfast: included
- No pets
- Address: 4225 Main Street, Fish Creek, WI 54212
Things to do
Tours in Door County
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Sources (2)
Last verified October 2026. Details change; confirm with the inn before you book.