This Michigan Island Has the Largest Native American cemetery in the U.S.
I’ve written about Garden Island before, with its Native American burial ground and remnants of a long-gone town...now a ghost town. This time we’ll just show a few photos of the DNR shack on the island that is also there for anyone seeking shelter from the elements.
BUT FIRST A RE-CAP...
Garden Island is approximately two miles north of Beaver Island; an uninhabited island full of garter and water snakes. Everywhere you go…snakes.
As if watching out for snakes isn’t enough, practically everywhere you go there is poison ivy and plenty of mosquitoes.
The island did actually have a town at one point: a village named “Success” that had its own post office. A sawmill was constructed in Success but it only lasted one year: 1912-1913. Their main source of income was fishing, and once commercial fishing faded, the town folded and residents moved off the island. In fact, the very last person who lived on Garden Island was Peter Monatou who passed away in the 1940s.
Maybe so, but the island graveyard holds people who have been buried here beyond 1940. There are remnants of the old village of Success, with the remains of some structures found in the woods.
Coyotes, deer and rabbits are here but no skunks or porcupines. The Garden Island Indian Cemetery has been called the largest Native American cemetery in the United States – with over 3500 graves dating from 1851-1935. 40 acres of the cemetery is private property and you need to seek permission if you wish to visit.
Now take another look at Garden Island, specifically the DNR shack: a place you may be tempted to visit some summer...
Garden Island: The Secret Trail Head Escape