Summary
Holy Island is a small island in the South Arm/Pine Lake system, the mainland waterway that Strang’s followers called Lake Mormon. A contemporary 1856 announcement places a special church conference there; later local histories connect the island’s name to a Strang-era celebration by people who traveled from Beaver Island. The 1936 local alias is Isle of Pines.
History and identity
The held evidence supports the island’s identity and continued local use, but not every story attached to it. The May 1856 Daily Northern Islander announces a special conference for July 12 at Holy Island, Lake Mormon. A 1968 local-history serialization remembers an earlier celebration or “feast of first fruits” by about fifty Beaver Island Mormons, with Strang among them, and says the name was given during that visit. The sources do not establish whether the announced 1856 conference actually met or whether the celebration account’s date is 1853, 1855, or another year.
The 1912 Charlevoix County Herald reports old arches, a stone fort, excavations, and buried treasure, but presents these through first-settler tradition and a resort-development story. Its hostile account of Strang’s followers as pirates and its treasure narrative are evidence of later local memory, not verified archaeology or a settled history of the Strang settlement. The article’s geographic statement that Holy Island is an island in Pine Lake is treated separately from those claims.
Evidence and limits
No GNIS feature identifier, coordinates, historical plat, or archaeological survey is held in this project for the island. The alias Isle of Pines is directly attested by the 1936 notice. The article is kept distinct from Beaver Island, Garden Island, and the several islands in the Beaver archipelago; it belongs to Pine Lake on the mainland side of the Strang-era network.
Open questions
- What modern parcel, survey, or GNIS feature corresponds to Holy Island?
- Did the announced July 12, 1856 conference actually occur, and are its attendees recorded?
- Can the claimed fort, arches, or excavations be matched to a documented archaeological or plat record?
- When and why did the name Isle of Pines enter local use?
See also
- Pine Lake
- Pine River
- Announced Special Conference at Holy Island
- Kingdom of Saint James
- James Jesse Strang
Sources
- *Daily Northern Islander*, Saint James, May 27, 1856, announcement of a special conference at Holy Island, Lake Mormon.Contemporary Strangite newspaper announcement: a special conference was to be held at Holy Island, Lake Mormon, on July 12. The compilation preserves the announcement but not a later attendance report.
- "Treasure on Holy Island," *Charlevoix County Herald*, August 10, 1912.Local report identifies Holy Island as the only island in Pine Lake, describes its resort development, and attributes the name and buried-treasure story to first-settler tradition. The treasure, pirate, fort, and excavation claims are retained as reported tradition rather than verified facts.
- "Cottage Furniture Sale," *Charlevoix County Herald*, July 17, 1936, advertisement for Isle of Pines (Holy Island).Contemporary local notice gives the alias Isle of Pines, identifies it as Holy Island, and places it just off trunk line 68 south of Ferry and north of the Ironton ferry; it also documents a bridge connection.
- Charlevoix Courier, 1968, local-history serial "First town election...1857," section "Holy Island."Later local-history account says roughly fifty Beaver Island Mormons, with Strang, traveled by boat to a small island about two miles beyond the Pine River entrance for a first celebration and gave it the name Holy Island. It is retrospective and preserves local memory, not a contemporary attendance record.