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Research dossier · Places & Architecture

Spider Island (Wisconsin)

island in Ellison Bay, Door County, Wisconsin, USA

Architectural plans, a scale model, maps and brass measuring instruments
Places and architectureInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 20, 2026
Entity authorityQ43276137 ↗
Source-derived summary

Spider Island is an uninhabited island in Lake Michigan. It is located in Ellison Bay, in the town of Liberty Grove, Wisconsin. The Gravel Island National Wildlife Refuge is made up of Spider Island, and nearby Gravel Island. At 23 acres (9.3 ha) it is the larger of the two islands.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Spider Island (Wisconsin)” as island in Ellison Bay, Door County, Wisconsin, USA. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Spider, Island and Wisconsin.

Editorial reviewMost useful as a place-based finding aid connecting the present description to earlier jurisdictions, maps and built evidence. The current 51-word lead offers orientation but no explicit four-digit date, so chronology should not be assumed. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Spider, Island and Wisconsin providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Spider Island (Wisconsin)”, the useful work is to connect “island in Ellison Bay, Door County, Wisconsin, USA” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q43276137. Authority coordinates are 45.209, -86.976. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.

Critical limits

Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.

Best used for
  • Historic place names
  • Jurisdictional context
  • Routes into maps and plans
Verify next

Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Spider Island (Wisconsin)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Spider Island (Wisconsin) primary sources, Spider Island (Wisconsin) archive and Spider research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Spider Island (Wisconsin)”?
  2. What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
  3. Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
Subject index

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Spider Island (Wisconsin)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.