About the town » Washington, Door County, Wisconsin, United States

Washington is a town in northern Door County, Wisconsin, United States, with a population of 660 at the 2000 census. The unincorporated communities of Detroit Harbor and Washington are located in the town. The town of Washington is made up of a group of small islands that includes Plum Island, Detroit Island, Hog Island, Rock Island, Pilot Island, and the largest, Washington Island. The majority of the population of the town lives on Washington Island and many of the other smaller islands are partly or entirely State Parks or National Wildlife Refuges, with small population, if any. As a result the area is rarely if ever referred to as the town of Washington or just Washington; more commonly the names of the individual islands are used as a reference. Most of the people who settled in Washington were Scandinavian immigrants, especially Icelanders. Today, Washington Island is one of the oldest Icelandic communities in the United States and among the largest outside of Iceland itself.