Carlsville
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Clustered along Highway 42 halfway between Sturgeon Bay and Egg Harbor, the tiny community of Carlsville has been small in size but big in spirit throughout the past century and a half.
When Door County was being settled, it was unusual for a community to develop inland, away from the lake or the bay, but that's just what this unincorporated community did.
A nameless crossroads' community, it consisted in the late 1860s of a cheese factory, a school, and a general store. A blacksmith shop and a combination saloon and dance hall were added to the business mix later.
The first settlers in the community were of Irish descent, but they were soon outnumbered by people of German heritage. It was these new settlers who gave the town its moniker. Karlsville was named for the relatively high number of men in the community with the first name Karl - as many as six at one point, according to historian M. Marvin Lotz. The name was later Anglicized to Carlsville.
Today, the ten businesses that make up the Carlsville community band together in the summer to bolster business and pride in Carlsville. Carlsville Days, which is held in mid to late July, features tours of both the local winery and the dairy farm/ice cream parlor, as well as food, live music, games for kids, parade, doggie contest, and more than 40 vendors displaying arts and crafts. Carlsville may be small in size, but it's large in pride and spirit.