Who's Jane?
By Debby Sycamore
My wife Nancy, our dog Jed and I enjoyed visiting Bjorklunden in mid September of this year. After visiting the Chapel and Lodge buildings, we caught the Lake Trail and headed south on a meandering path surrounded by woods, the calico colors of fall and the sound of Lake Michigan carving the shoreline. Bjorklunden has over a mile of undeveloped pristine shoreline - truly remarkable. We were rounding a bend along the Lake Trail when we saw the sign - 'Jane's Grotto'. Nancy looked at me and asked 'Who’s Jane?' Good question. A few phone calls led to a few emails led to a phone call with Jane herself. What a remarkable person!
Debby, Nancy, and Jed in the wild.
Jane Whitney is a self-taught naturalist who conducts hikes in the 'less traveled' preserves and parks of Door County - Toft Point, Ridges Sanctuary, various Door County Land Trust properties, and yes, our very own Bjorklunden, to name a few. She has been leading these hikes in nature for about 12-15 years. During the Bjorklunden Seminar season, she leads an interpretive natural history hike on most Monday afternoons. Jane has a real passion for sharing her hands-on knowledge of the geology and flora of this unique region.
A grotto is basically a small cave or covered recess. The ledges that form Jane’s Grotto are an ancient shoreline cut into the dolostone bedrock about 4-5000 years ago during the Lake Nipissing phase of Lake Michigan. The ledges are easily visible from the Lake trail and, as Jane observed during our call, provide a unique opportunity to touch time. Four hundred twenty million years (420,000,000) of time to be exact.
I learned from her that Bjorklunden has 3 shorelines. The current Lake Michigan shoreline, the ancient Lake Nipissing shoreline ledge, and, above where the wind turbine is located, there is the ancient Lake Algonquin shoreline ledge. The Lake Algonquin shoreline ledge is less visible due to more vegetation, but it is there. All three shorelines are evidence of the dynamic cycle of the rise and fall of water levels, the advance and retreat of glaciers and ever-present process of erosion. The Niagara Escarpment also plays a significant role but we’ll save that discussion for another newsletter! The underlying bedrock of Door County is Silurian dolomite. Dolomite is also known as dolostone and is a sedimentary rock made of calcium carbonate and magnesium. There is very little soil – less than a meter on average – overlying the bedrock which means these ancient rocks are exposed almost everywhere you look or walk. The Ledges forming the Grotto have maybe a few inches of soil covering them. Tree roots get established in the cracks in the rock and weaken the ledges by creating pathways for water to eat at the rock. Jane has identified some Silurian age fossils after winter ice and wave action have ‘scoured’ the shoreline. Crinoids, corals (horn, honeycomb & chain), and ancient cone-shaped cephalopods have been revealed when the shoreline is clear of vegetation.
Chain Coral on the shore
Yet another good reason to walk this living shoreline!
A long-time Seminar participant, Tom Gill, approached Mark Breseman in 2019 with the idea of honoring Jane Whitney for her tireless commitment to educating people about the ground beneath them. On a subsequent family reunion hike, Tom suggested a different approach to the ledges in order to surprise Jane with the newly installed sign. The photo of Jane and her sign were taken on the day of the big reveal. So next time you are visiting Bjorklunden, grab a trail map from the Lodge, head in any direction you like, but be sure to take the opportunity to touch time at Jane’s Grotto.
