A little Beaver Island history...The Island's first inhabitants, referred to by the Odawa Indians as the "Ancient Ones", are known to have lived here as far back as between 2000 - 3000 B.C. The Odawa were followed by the French , English, Mormon "King" James Jesse Strang (and followers), and the Irish immigrants of the mid 1800's. "King" Strang booted the Irish off the island if they didn't join the Mormons. Eventually "King" Strang was assassinated (June 16, 1856) and an armed mob of 60 rounded up every Mormon man, woman, and child and herded them onto ships that lay waiting in the St. James Harbor. This ended the Mormon chapter of Beaver Island history and the beginning of a long, proud Irish heritage that exists today. Particularly noteworthy, the island also has a strong MSU fan base!
We had a magical extended stay on Beaver Island. We needed the rest, so we decided to indulge ourselves in some R&R at this beautiful Northern Lake Michigan island. We took a slip for 5 nights and anchored for 3. On anchor we experienced blissful, heavenly days of warm weather and swimming. We had some excitement with a nasty storm about 0400 on July 2, with winds up to 40 kts and a 2 foot chop in the very protected St. James Harbor. Winds clocked us 180 degrees on anchor, and as Terry expected by watching other sailors anchoring earlier that day, one of them dragged and headed right for us, missing "Chasseur" by 10 yards. Terry blew 5 short warning blasts on the horn alerting other anchored boats which brought other sailors out with lights. The "loose" boat successfully avoided collision and re anchored. The next morning, the loose boat skipper took a slip!
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| Beaver Island Lighthouse 1856 |
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| Suzanne resting on swim platform |
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| Parade float: Band on top of lift |
There is no better place to spend the 4th of July than on Beaver Island. People come here from everywhere for it's quaint and funky parade and fireworks. We barbecued at anchor with dear friend, fellow sailor and summer island resident Bill Schneider. We enjoyed fireworks on our port.
A midnight swim was followed by a great sleep and dreams of sailing under the Mackinaw Bridge the next morning.
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