Michigan: St. Ignace to Beaver Island

Day: 52

Travel Time: 5 hours

NM Today: 40

NM Total: 1114

Locks Total: 70

Clark had been told by a Michigan local that Beaver Island is on the “must see” list, so we headed here for the next stop on the trip.  We left at 9:00 with gray skies and fair seas.  

Goodbye St. Ignace Marina Slip D94

As we passed under the Mackinac Bridge, we said farewell to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and hello to Lake Michigan. 

Goodbye Michigan Upper Peninsula

Clark and I switched off on driving periodically so he could check the engine.  No exhaust fumes filled the cabin thankfully, but the smell of burnt detergent continued to permeate the air for the duration of the trip.  

We arrived at Beaver Island at just after 2:00 with plenty of time to scope out the island.  Clark’s resource said that Beaver Island was the opposite of Mackinac Island.  As we pulled up to the docks we got a better understanding of what that meant.   Mackinac Island is a commercialized tourist mecca and a resort-type setting.  Beaver Island is rustic and has the feel of an old fishing village.  As quickly as we could we grabbed our bikes and set out to see the town and visit the free museums.

Antique Toys cover the ceiling and walls at
Beaver Island Toy Museum

 The Toy Museum was set back from the road and well hidden among numerous trees, and we rode right on by on our bikes trying to find it.  We ended up at the end of the island and had to turn around and try again.  We should have looked for the place with all the bicycles parked out front as the place was a "kid magnet".  I went into the store twice, but each time I couldn't wait to get back out again. For some reason the small, crowded space with numerous people milling around made me anxious to leave the premises.  I waited outside with the bikes.  Clark took lots of pictures, so I don't think I missed the important stuff.

Old outboard at the Beaver Island Marine Museum

On the way back into town, we stopped at the Marine Museum.  Once again, as we had done at the Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Point, we read story after story of men who lost their lives on boats in the Great Lakes - this time focused on Lake Michigan and the waters surrounding Beaver Island in particular.  One interesting story told of a tanker carrying gasoline that wrecked near Beaver Island in the 1940s during WWII and how the various boaters on the island scavenged the gasoline at great peril to themselves.  In a hurry to collect the gasoline for themselves before the waters froze and "anyone with a vehicle could drive out to collect the gas", some not-so-careful boaters lost their lives as a result of explosions from gas fumes.  

Once the lake froze people did drive out to the boat to scavenge remaining gasoline.  The story told of one such person who underestimated the increased weight of his vehicle carrying gallons of gasoline.  He and his vehicle fell through the ice and were found later with him frozen stiff as a board with both feet pushing hard on the brake pedal.  The story continued on from there but if we had stayed to read every paragraph of every story posted at the museum, we would be there for a few days I expect.  I read online before going that one person posted in a review that they took pictures of all the stories so they could read them later.  After seeing the museum, that seemed like a good idea.

After the Marine Museum we rode through town and saw various placards pointing out what I found to be fascinating historical facts about the island.  the Mormons led by James Strang  moved to Beaver Island in 1848 to avoid persecution elsewhere.  James Strang named himself king of the Strangites and was crowned in 1850 with much pomp and circumstance. The Strangites named the town St. James in his honor and named one of the roads here King's Highway.  By 1856 Strang was imposing his power on non-Strangites and paid the price when he was shot and killed by two men he had flogged because their wives refused to wear the clothing mandated by Strang.  After Strang's death the Strangites had no leader, and mobs came from Mackinac Island and drove the Strangites off Beaver Island.

Mormon Print Shop Museum

Label on Phone reads:
Do not attemp to make long distance calls on this phone
Do not attempt to make local calls on this phone
For that matter do not even touch this phone

Note on metal tub says:
Washing clothes was made significantly easier with the invention
of the plunger (the wooden pole sticking up from the tub).
Really ... I should not complain about having to go to a laundromat.

Upstairs, over the Print Museum, displayed many artifacts from the past

With the Strangites gone, the Irish soon moved in and populated the island.  They came from other places in Michigan and sent for their relatives in Ireland.  They conveniently moved into the abandoned homes of the Strangites and focused their energy on fresh-water fishing.  As we rode our bikes through town we saw the Irish influence in the names of such places as the Emerald Island Hotel and Innisfree Street.   I don't recall all the details, but at some point hundreds of the Irish were driven off the island with instructions to be gone the same day they were given notice to leave the island.  They were packed onto two ships and told to set sail.  Many died as a result of one of the boats being not seaworthy and sinking on route to Ireland.

At 13 miles long and only 3 to 6 miles wide, Beaver Island is a rather small place but apparently in much demand in the past.  In more recent years the population dwindled down to just 200 people until the town turned to tourism to help the economy.  Wikipedia lists the population in 2010 as 657.  

Since it happened to be raining today, and since we are not fishermen, it would appear that we saw all that Beaver Island had to offer us in a total of three hours.  After our tour of the island, we stopped at a local ice cream shop to sample their wares.  I had the Peanut Butter Fudge offering.  Mmmm Mmmmm Good!  I do so love peanut butter.  I  definitely found the visit to Beaver Island to be worthwhile to get a taste for island life here and to learn the island's fascinating history, and  I loved riding my bike on the relatively quiet streets of the town.