Belgian Heritage Center opens for the summer

DOOR PENINSULA – The Belgian Heritage Center (BHC) offers educational programs for both children and adults to learn about the history of Belgian immigrants in the Door Peninsula, one of the largest Belgian settlements in the United States. As summer begins, the center will offer a host of events to help community members engage with the culture and past of the Belgian diaspora.

The BHC campus includes St. Mary’s Parish, which was almost torn down in 2010.

“It was closed as a church, and it sat for almost 10 years. Then the Green Bay Diocese came in, and they said they were going to tear it down. So there was a group of local people, most of them Belgians, but not all of them that got involved, and they stopped them,” BHC President Joe Alexander said.

Alexander said St. Mary’s Parish holds history not just for the Belgian immigrants of times past, but also for locals today.

“I have a lot of history in that church,” Alexander said. “I was baptized there, my first communion, I was an altar boy. My parents were probably one of the two main characters stopping them from tearing it down. Both of my parents are both of Belgian descent, and they were both raised right next door to the church, so they had a lot of history with that church too.”

The preservation of historical buildings can be a difficult fight, and unfortunately, the people fighting to leave the area up were not able to save all the buildings.

“There was a rectory next door, right next to the church that they did tear down before we could stop them from doing that, which is too bad, because it was a nice building,” Alexander said.

According to Alexander, BHC has recently begun collecting family stories and genealogies, with a focus on photos and written accounts, diversifying its library of information and artifacts.

“We want to get as many pictures as we can of Belgians working, doing things. So if a family comes in looking for information about somebody, it’s really nice to be able to show them that we have pictures of their great-great-grandparents or great-great-grandfather or them working on the farm,” Alexander said.

Summer events

Door County History Days will officially commence with a media kickoff event at the Belgian Heritage Center in Brussels on Monday, June 16. This year’s theme is historical preservation. The event will showcase member historical societies through displays and exhibits.

From June 16-22, participating organizations will also present special programs at various museums and locations throughout the county.

The Belgian Heritage Center will also present “Preserving the Roadside Chapel Tradition” on Thursday, June 19 at 1 p.m., presented by Barb (Englebert) Chisholm. Attendees will have an opportunity to learn about the history of unique buildings in Belgian settlements, focusing on roadside chapels and how a Belgian tradition adapted by some of the early settlers is preserved to this day. A guided campus tour will follow, but attendees can also explore independently. Docents will also be available at nearby chapels to view both old and new examples of these landmarks.

BHC will host a Waffle Breakfast on Sunday, June 29 at its campus in Brussels. Serving from 9 a.m. to noon, the breakfast will feature homemade Belgian waffles, traditional Belgian trippe (a spiced sausage), eggs and beverages. Proceeds from the breakfast support the preservation and education efforts of the Belgian Heritage Center.