Qualla: Beaver Island

Beaver Island: Introduction

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Citynoise (talk), Public domain. On June 16, 1856, James Jesse Strang walked along the dock at St. James harbor on Beaver Island and was shot from behind by two of his own followers. The self-crowned King of Beaver Island, who had established the only monarchy ever to exist on American soil, died of his wounds three weeks later. Within weeks, mobs of dispossessed Irish fishermen arrived from Mackinac Island and expelled every one of the roughly 2,600 Strangites from their claims. The largest island in Lake Michigan had passed from one extraordinary chapter to another, and the layers have only grown deeper since.

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Image: Citynoise (talk) | Public domain

Beaver Island: Ancient Circles in the Sand

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Age234, Public domain. Long before European settlers or Mormon colonists arrived, the Odawa people called this island home for at least 300 years. The Ojibwe named it for the beavers that thrived here. On the island's northwestern side, a 397-foot-diameter stone circle consisting of approximately 39 st...

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Image: Age234 | Public domain

Beaver Island: The Kingdom That Shouldn't Have Been

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Phizzy (talk), CC BY-SA 3.0. After the death of Joseph Smith in 1844, James Strang challenged Brigham Young for leadership of the Mormon movement, claiming a letter from Smith designated him as successor. When mainstream Mormons headed west, Strang led his splinter group, the Strangites, to Beaver Island in ...

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Image: Phizzy (talk) | CC BY-SA 3.0

Beaver Island: America's Emerald Isle

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Phizzy (talk), CC BY-SA 3.0. Irish Catholic fishermen from County Donegal, Gull Island, and Mackinac Island swiftly filled the vacuum the Strangites left behind. Their community, nourished by continued immigration from the Gaeltacht, developed a distinct identity that the island's isolation preserved. Cathol...

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Image: Phizzy (talk) | CC BY-SA 3.0

Beaver Island: Island of Dark Skies and Deep Water

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jhflanagan, CC BY-SA 3.0. Today Beaver Island is home to roughly 616 year-round residents spread across two townships. The island stretches roughly 13 miles long and 6 miles wide, mostly flat and sandy with dense forest covering much of the interior. In April 2024, the Beaver Island State Wildlife Researc...

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Image: Jhflanagan | CC BY-SA 3.0

Beaver Island: Layers Upon Layers

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jhflanagan, CC BY-SA 3.0. Beaver Island resists simple description. It is an archipelago of fourteen named islands. It is the place where Baroque orchestral music fills a remote Great Lakes island each summer, where an Irish Feile celebrates the Donegal heritage that reshaped the community, and where a bi...

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Image: Jhflanagan | CC BY-SA 3.0