Summary
South Fox Island is a 14.04 km² member of the Beaver Island archipelago in Leelanau County and the southernmost large island in the project’s cultural-historical frame. Strang-era sources call it Patmos and document an agricultural Mormon settlement connected by vessel and winter travel to Saint James.
History
John Farmer’s 1853 Michigan map equates “South Fox I.” with “Patmos I.” Strang’s 1854 gazetteer describes farms, a Mormon settlement, a planned cross-island road, good landings and an agricultural subdivision scheme. The Northern Islander likewise reports a South Fox colony of men, women and children and routine movement between the Foxes and Beaver Island. In 1855 Michigan placed the Beaver group and both Fox islands together in Manitou County.
The 2023 Beaver Island Master Plan retains South Fox within the archipelago while noting Leelanau County jurisdiction. It records mixed Michigan DNR and private ownership, Mirada Ranch staff, a paved runway, a private residence and two lighthouses.
Geography
South Fox lies southwest of North Fox and south of the immediate Beaver group. Its OSM shoreline has an area of 14.04 km² in Michigan GeoRef. GNIS records it as feature 1623085 in Leelanau County.
Names
“South Fox Island” is the current GNIS name. “Patmos” is the Strang-era variant, explicitly joined to the modern feature on Farmer’s 1853 map.
Significance
South Fox preserves one of the clearest reasons not to confine Beaver Island history to the modern Charlevoix County line: it held a Strang-era family settlement, participated in the Saint James transport economy, shared Manitou County government and remains inside the modern local master plan’s archipelago.
Open questions
- The South Fox settlement’s household and land chronology should be reconstructed from the Northern Islander, GLO records, tract books and Leelanau County deeds.
- Current private ownership claims should be connected only after Leelanau County records are collected; the Master Plan’s summary is not a parcel lineage.
See also
The name, as attested
- 1853
Patmosvariant
John Farmer's 1853 Map of the State of Michigan labels South Fox Island “or Patmos I.”
Sources
- OpenStreetMap contributors, island polygons via Overpass API, retrieved 2026-08-01 (ODbL 1.0).OSM way 157474017; area 14.04 km² computed in EPSG:3078.osm · islands
- U.S. Geological Survey, Geographic Names Information System, Domestic Names (Michigan), refreshed 2026-08-01.GNIS feature 1623085, South Fox Island, feature class Island, Leelanau County.federal · gnis · gnis_names
- John Farmer, Map of the State of Michigan and the Surrounding Country (1853).Labels the feature “South Fox I. or Patmos I.” and places it in the same mapped island network as Strang's Beaver Island toponyms.maps · rumsey · farmer_1853_michigan · full
- James Jesse Strang, Ancient and Modern Michilimackinac (1854), pp. 46-47.Describes the Mormon settlement, opened farms, road and agricultural plans on Patmos.
- Land Information Access Association, Beaver Island Master Plan 2023 (adopted 13 November 2023), pp. 8-9.Includes South Fox in the Beaver Island archipelago, identifies Leelanau County jurisdiction, mixed state/private ownership, staff at Mirada Ranch, a paved runway, private residence and two lighthouses.