Everything to Know Before Visiting the Secret Island of Beaver Island, Michigan

Some of my earliest memories are of jumping into an old 1960s rusted out baby blue on the back roads of a place called Beaver Island. We’d spend our days biking the dirt roads two miles to the only town where we’d continuously indulge in ice cream cones and play on the soft sand beaches accented by the Caribbean turquoise-colored bay. It was heaven on Earth.

In the early 1970s, my aunt and her friend purchased a few acres of land along Lake Michigan on an island 27 miles off the coast of Charlevoix. That island was Beaver Island. Set in an archipelago far off the coast of Michigan, it’s still relatively unknown to a majority of the state, even in 2021. There are around 600 year-round residents and a few thousand summer inhabitants. The 13-mile long island is home to some of the quietest, bluest, and translucent beaches on the Great Lakes. Yet even on a picture-perfect summer day, the main street holds a sense of stillness. It’s the complete opposite of Michigan’s most popular island, Mackinac Island, but for all the right reasons. 

Me center-right in "old blue"

Catching garter snakes on Baver Island around 1999.

To this day, I still try to visit Beaver Island every year. My dad works as a seasonal summer custodian at CMU Biological Center, and my aunt still takes residents at her cottage in July and August. In the 25+ years I’ve been going to Beaver Island, it has stayed relatively the same. A sense of instant nostalgia hits every time I step off the boat or plane and officially on what everyone calls “island time.”

Yet before you visit Beaver Island, Michigan, there are a few things you should know. It’s not your typical run-of-the-mill tourist town. But that’s all part of the fun. 

Where is Beaver Island located?

Beaver Island is the biggest island of a small chain archipelago roughly 27 miles off the mainland in northern Lake Michigan. It sits almost directly halfway between the Lower and Upper Peninsula. On clear days, you can see the faint outline of both mainlands from the northern and eastern sides of the island. It is surrounded by a series of smaller islands, such as Garden Island, Hog Island, Whiskey Island, and the High Island. Beaver Island is the only island of the chain that is inhabited by residents year-round. The island is rarely seen from the mainland, which has helped the small slice of paradise in Lake Michigan remain a well-kept secret.

The second photo below I caught from a plane coming back from Iceland in 2019. Mackinac Island is in the bottom right, the Mackinaw Bridge center, and Beaver Island in the distance top left under the wing.

1. Beaver Island is probably one of the least pretentious places you’ll visit. 

Unlike Mackinac Island, with the famed Grand Hotel, rows of historic mansions, and an abundance of upscale restaurants, Beaver Island is, well, different. If both islands were Hawaii, Mackinac Island would be Honolulu and Beaver Island would be the North Shore. It’s rough, off-the-beaten-path, and no one cares who you are or how much money you have. 

When you visit, don’t expect grand resorts or brunch on Sunday. There’s a handful of motels and a few restaurants. It allows cars, but the only paved road is in town. The rest of the 13 mile long and 6 mile wide island is entirely made up of dirt roads. For drinks, you might walk into the Beachcomber to grab one of Michigan’s most affordable cocktails and quickly make friends with Melissa, the bartender. If it’s a nice night, you might take your drink to the porch to overlook Paradise Bay and the St. James Lighthouse. But if you’re Madonna, you might hate it and leave in less than 24 hours (true story). 

2. There’s this thing called the “Beaver Island wave.” 

Newbies often out themselves quickly on Beaver Island by failing to do the ‘Beaver Island wave.’ There’s not really a technique, but the common rule of thumb is to wave at every car you pass on the road. It doesn’t matter if you know who is in the other car or not; you wave. It’s just the way on Beaver Island. 

And if you return to the mainland and accidentally wave at every car when you get back on the road, that’s when you know you’ve done it right. 

3. There are two ways to get to Beaver Island. 

If you decide to visit Beaver Island, the next detail will be how. Because Beaver Island is located 32 miles off the coast of

Photo by Kent Blackmer

Charlevoix, it’s not a leisurely Sunday afternoon drive. The most common way to get to-and-from the island is via the Beaver Island Boat Company. The boat leaves a few select times a day based on the season. You can check the current ferry schedule here. It takes roughly two-and-a-half hours to reach St. James, Beaver Island, from Charlevoix on the boat. The ferry is spacious and often has more than enough room for passengers to spread out and enjoy the ride. If you want to bring your car over, the ferry provides this option as well. 

The cost of the Beaver Island ferry is the biggest perk: 

Adult (ages 13+) Peak $32.50 — Non-Peak $27.50

Adult (book of 20) Peak $630 — Non-Peak $530

Child (ages 5-12) Peak $20 — Non-Peak $15

Child (4 & Under) FREE

The other option to get to Beaver Island is via plane. Island Airways and Fresh Air Aviation are two regional airline companies that charter flights out of Charlevoix. Flying offers an incredible perspective of Beaver Island and its surrounding island siblings and cuts the travel time from 2.5 hours to just under 15 minutes. However, the price tag comes in at $55 each way per person, a bit more expensive than the boat. 

In addition, the planes are tiny and only fit six passengers. If you are not a fan of planes or small spaces, this option may not be for you. 

4. Beaver Island hides some of America’s best beaches. 

I’ve spent a lot of time on Beaver Island and I don’t think I’ve been to half of the beaches. However, when you do stumble up one of these hidden paradises, you will probably be

• The only person there (unless it’s Donegal Bay). 
• In awe of the blue shades and clarity of the water. 
• Scheming ways to never have to leave. 

There are rocky beaches and sandy beaches, and both have a unique appeal. Because it is so distant from the mainland, the waters are some of the clearest and bluest tones I've ever seen. I mean, take a look at some of the pictures! Those are all the real and true colors of the beaches around Beaver Island. If I described to you one of my happy places, it'd be the shorelines here.

There are also a couple of shipwrecks located off the island, but you’ll have to find those yourself.

5. Beaver Island has a pretty unique history. 

photo by Kent Blackmer

Did you know Beaver Island, Michigan, is the only place in the United States that was once run under king rule? That’s right, in 1850, King Strang named himself King, and Beaver Island became a Kingdom. That didn’t last long, however. Strang grew a significant Mormom following on the island but quickly became unfavored due to his controlling rule and, in 1856, was assassinated by one of his followers. 

Once King Strang died, gentiles stormed the island and ran the Mormons off. Shortly thereafter, a large wave of Irish residents took home on the island, and many of the residents today are still of Irish descent.

If there is ever a trivia question asking where the only King in the United States ever ruled, now you know the answer!

6. The Toy Museum is probably one of the coolest stores you’ll ever visit. 

Rare these days is a true ‘toy store.’ One filled with 5 cent gizmos and 25 cent gadgets. There’s been a bucket of invisible ink next to the checkout for as long as I can remember. Mary, the owner, has stood behind the cash-only checkout desk since I was a kid. My parents would give us $20, and we’d bike in town to the Toy Museum and come back with treasures that would entertain us the entire week. That same $20 could probably get you the same amount of treasures 20 years later in 2021; not many places could say that. 

In addition to the trinkets and toys, the Toy Museum is also a museum (go figure!). Mixed in with the beads, dolls, and sticker books are antique toys filling every corner of the store, sometimes even hanging from the ceiling. Even if you don’t have kids, the Toy Museum of Beaver Island is worth a visit. 30+ countries later and I’ve still never seen a store quite like it. 

7. Last but not least, ICE CREAM 

My first love was an ice cream shop named Daddy Franks. As a kid, I would make it my absolute goal to eat ice cream once a day at the little ice cream shack on the hill above town. Even as an adult, I find myself leaving the island a few pounds heavier but with zero regrets dreaming about my last cone of Michigan Pot Hole. If you’ve been a follower of my blog for some time, you know that I have a slight obsession with ice cream and constantly talk about how Michigan has the best ice cream in the world. Out of all my Michigan ice cream cones, these are always my favorite. 

Beaver Island is a secret I want everyone to know about and no one to know about. If you visit, please don’t try to change the island, and please keep it as pristine and extraordinary as it currently is. The island and little harbor town of St. James deserve all the love in the world, but in a way that doesn’t need new shiny cars or anyone's stamp of approval. Beaver Island is Beaver Island; no one can change that. And that’s what makes it so wonderful.