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The Kingdom of Beaver Island
By Linda Tancs
Although Hawaii is the only state to have been a kingdom, there’s an island in Michigan that once claimed its own monarch. That storied past belongs to Beaver island, the largest island in Lake Michigan. The self-proclaimed monarch was James Jesse Strang, a dissident Mormon leader who crowned himself king in 1850 and ruled until 1856. Following the departure of the Mormon colony in 1856, the island became a haven for Irish immigrants, leading the locale to be dubbed “America’s Emerald Isle.” Also, DarkSky International has formally recognized the Michigan State Wildlife Research Area on Beaver Island as an International Dark Sky Sanctuary, offering one of the finest dark skies star gazing locations in the United States thanks to its distance from the light pollution of any large metro areas. The peaceful, remote haven is active largely from spring through fall. The Beaver Island Boat Company ferry runs from mid-April through December; winter travel relies on flights.
