Summary
Beaver Island Public Beach is a GNIS-named beach on Beaver Island near Saint James. The GNIS record classifies it as a Beach and attributes the official name to Walter Romig’s Michigan Place Names (1986). A current OpenStreetMap snapshot contains a named natural-beach polygon whose GNIS feature identifier matches 2364654, providing a direct geometry for the feature. The held sources do not yet establish when public access began or whether the name refers to a single continuous frontage across changing park boundaries.
Open questions
- Which township or park records establish the beach’s public-access history?
- Can contemporary reporting distinguish this GNIS feature from other public beaches and beach expansions on Beaver Island?
Sources
- U.S. Geological Survey, Geographic Names Information System, Domestic Names (Michigan), retrieved 2026-07-28.GNIS feature 2364654; feature class 'Beach'.federal · gnis · gnis_names
- OpenStreetMap contributors, natural features via Overpass API, retrieved 2026-07-28 (ODbL 1.0).Way 1136857348 matches GNIS feature 2364654 and names the mapped natural=beach polygon at the GNIS point.osm · natural
- USGS GNIS, All Names (national), retrieved 2026-07-28.GNIS records Walter Romig's *Michigan Place Names* (1986) as the source for the official name.federal · gnis · gnis_variant_names