Joe & Jane bought this lamp at Beaver Island, Michigan
Inscribed around wood base of lamp
Beaver Gem's Jan '68
Sister hooks from logging camp, Beaver Island Michigan
White Oak Plank From Schooner Sunk 1880
By Joe -
Jane, the kids and I went to Beaver Island, MI 2 or 3 times in the mid 1960s. I had read about it in a book about out of the way places. Beaver Island was out of the way at that time. You had to take a car ferry boat from Charlevoix, MI (which is toward the top of the lower peninsula) It is a 32 mile and 2 hour ride to Beaver Island. I remember the first year when the ferry blew its whistle very loudly, David just about jumped out of his skin and it took some while to recover.
Jane, the kids and I went to Beaver Island, MI 2 or 3 times in the mid 1960s. I had read about it in a book about out of the way places. Beaver Island was out of the way at that time. You had to take a car ferry boat from Charlevoix, MI (which is toward the top of the lower peninsula) It is a 32 mile and 2 hour ride to Beaver Island. I remember the first year when the ferry blew its whistle very loudly, David just about jumped out of his skin and it took some while to recover.
We stayed in a small village where the ferry landed one year and in a cabin on the beach on the other side of the island the next year. Other than the village where the ferry landed I don’t recall any other actual settlements on the island. I do remember that some historical building and houses were totally unlocked and you could just walk in and look around. I remember a Roman Catholic retreat area where priests who needed to” rehabilitate” (whatever that meant?) or rest up could come to for awhile. I also remember a small inland lake which David and I explored and went fishing. David caught a small sunfish that we released. I only remember David and a very small Jennie coming with us. As I recall Jane and I really liked the place and its remoteness. I also remember coming back across the island on the 4th of July evening to watch the fireworks by the ferry dock – all 4 or 5 of them.
The few school children from the island spent the week in Charlevoix coming home by the ferry on the weekends. By the mid 1960s there was evidence of someone becoming involved in the tourist industry as a very small airstrip was constructed in the middle of the island and a private plane was flying prospective vacation homeowners over. Up until this time the few local residents were quite isolated – they even spoke with a slight but noticeable Irish accent carried over from their ancestors.
We found the history fascinating from Native Americans at first, to Irish fishermen which were run out by the Strangites and King Jessie Strang, a splinter Mormon group formed after Joseph Smith was assassinated in June 27th 1844 in Carthage, Ill. Strang had himself proclaimed King of the kingdom of Beaver Island. It was the only kingdom ever formed in the United States. Strang got himself elected to the Michigan house of representatives.
Finally after about 8 years on the island, King Jessie was killed by two of his followers in a controversy over plural wives. The Strangites were run off the island by Irish fishermen led by a Catholic priest. Coincidentally, this group was on a steamer in the Beaver Island port when Strang was killed.
I really recommend reading the following version of Beaver Island history
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