Beaver Island ArchiveA primary-source archive & encyclopedia45°40′N 85°33′W · Lake Michigan
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Road

Back Highway

Draft — sources verified, prose evolving

Locator map: Back Highway highlighted within the Beaver Island archipelago
Locator plate © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL 1.0); depths NOAA; names USGS GNIS. How the plates are drawn.
TypeRoad
Coordinates45.7488° N, 85.5185° WGoogle MapsDownload KML
WithinBeaver Island archipelago
ErasModern era
On this page
Locator map: Back Highway highlighted within the Beaver Island archipelago
Locator plate © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL 1.0); depths NOAA; names USGS GNIS. How the plates are drawn.
Road
Intersects
Donegal Bay Road · Forest Avenue · Frankie Lane · Gallagher Street · Kenwabakisie Lane · King's Highway
Coordinates
45.7488° N, 85.5185° WGoogle MapsDownload KML
Eras
Modern era
Concepts
transportationtoponymy
Within
Beaver Island archipelago

Summary

Back Highway is a named road on Beaver Island’s current OpenStreetMap map. One held way carries that name, and its geometry is the whole route: about 721 m. It meets six other named roads, listed under intersects_road.

Evidence and limits

The name and the alignment are what mappers last entered, and OpenStreetMap is volunteered work rather than a survey: it settles neither the right-of-way nor who maintains the road. Where the name came from is a separate question. Plats, road-commission minutes, and island memory answer that one. Put an older spelling from any of them into alt_names or former_names, with the source that attests it.

Documented associations

These source-backed records provide context for the mapped route:

  • St. James Township names the church street Haynes Street, 1983 — In December 1983, St. James Township unanimously named the unnamed street in front of Beaver Island Christian Church, running from Back Highway to Pine Street, Haynes Street. The church board requested the honor for the late Dr. Harley Haynes, citing his contributions to founding the church. The minutes establish the naming decision and endpoints, but not…
  • Mary Blocksma — Mary Blocksma was described by Beaver Island Net as an author who ran the island’s only bookstore at the Episcopal Church end of Back Highway. The profile says she sold books, art, posters, and cards, and describes earlier education, Peace Corps service, work directing the Laramie, Wyoming library system, and a later full-time writing career. The link to…

Research status

The local newspaper and website corpus contains exact-name mentions in 203 file(s). Those files are research leads; the relation layer is added only when the surrounding source text establishes that the record involves this road.

Maps for this place

These Atlas plates provide regional context. They do not establish a precise boundary, current ownership, access right, operating status, or field condition.

  • EnvironmentSoils, wetlands, hydrography, and terrain
  • GeologyGeneralized geology and landforms
  • HydrologyMapped water and wetland context
  • AccessMapped routes, facilities, and protected areas
  • Land surveyPLSS geometry and historic GLO patent-location context

Sources

  1. Current mapped road name 'Back Highway'; grouped OSM way ids: 265412086. This is a volunteered map record, not a surveyed right-of-way or proof of historical naming.
    osm · roads

Added 2 August 2026. Recent changes

Cite this article

Beaver Island Archive, “Back Highway”, https://beaverislandarchive.org/places/back-highway/, accessed [date], citing OpenStreetMap contributors, roads via Overpass API, retrieved 2026-08-01 (ODbL 1.0)..

Last revised 2026-08-02. Fill in [date] with the date you read it — this page is static and cannot know that.

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