Wisconsin boasts about 400 miles of Lake Michigan shoreline. But a dispute in the village of Shorewood brings up an age-old question: who has access to that shoreline?

A local man is headed to municipal court in Shorewood Dec. 2 to challenge a claim that he trespassed on a private beach.

The case could serve as a test of just how much access the public has to Lake Michigan’s shoreline. It’s a question that has yet to be definitively decided in Wisconsin.

Shorewood native Paul Florsheim is a professor at UWM’s Zilber School of Public Health.

He says for years, he’s walked the winding path down to Shorewood’s public Atwater Beach, and then headed north, walking the shoreline below homes along Lake Drive.

“I sort of beelined for the shoreline because my understanding has always been that along the shoreline, you can walk,” Florsheim says.

But late last summer, Florsheim’s routine was broken when a homeowner just north of Atwater Beach told Florsheim he was trespassing.