High Island is an

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

Lake Michigan Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that o ...

and is part of the Beaver Island archipelago. It is in size. The island is owned by the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

and is managed by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources as part of the

Beaver Islands State Wildlife Research Area The Beaver Islands State Wildlife Research Area is a networked set of insular properties of the U.S. state of Michigan. The Research Area is approximately 23,154 acres in size. Properties in the Research Area include much of the southern half ...

. High Island got its name from a large, perched sand dune on the western side of the island. The sand, blown by the lake's

prevailing winds In meteorology, prevailing wind in a region of the Earth's surface is a surface wind that blows predominantly from a particular direction. The dominant winds are the trends in direction of wind with the highest speed over a particular point on ...

, has piled up into a

sand dune A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, fl ...

elevated 780 feet (238 m) above sea level, or 199 feet (61 m) above the level of

. The island is currently uninhabited. It lies approximately four miles (6 km) west of the much larger Beaver Island, and less than two miles from Trout Island.

History

High Island was the home of a

timber Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, wi ...

-cutting and

truck farm A market garden is the relatively small-scale production of fruits, vegetables and flowers as cash crops, frequently sold directly to consumers and restaurants. The diversity of crops grown on a small area of land, typically from under to ...

operation run in 1912-1927 by the House of David, a

millenarian Millenarianism or millenarism (from Latin , "containing a thousand") is the belief by a religious, social, or political group or movement in a coming fundamental transformation of society, after which "all things will be changed". Millenariani ...

sect based in

Benton Harbor, Michigan Benton Harbor is a city in Berrien County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is 46 miles southwest of Kalamazoo and 71 miles southwest of Grand Rapids. According to the 2020 census, its population was 9,103. It is the smaller, by population, of ...

. The High Island farm grew large quantities of

potato The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae. Wild potato species can be found from the southern Unit ...

es and other root crops much valued by the House of David congregation, who were

vegetarians Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. Vegetarianism may ...

. The House of David era created intense interest among gentile neighbors, partly because members of the sect had been required to take a vow of

celibacy Celibacy (from Latin ''caelibatus'') is the state of voluntarily being unmarried, sexually abstinent, or both, usually for religious reasons. It is often in association with the role of a religious official or devotee. In its narrow sense, the ...

prior to admission. The group largely abandoned its High Island operations in 1927 as the result of a sexual scandal involving sect leader Benjamin Purnell. The House of David population of High Island, at its peak, was 120 to 150 persons, who lived in a village near High Island Bay on the east side of the island. Before, during, and after the House of David era, High Island was the home of several extended families of

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

(Odawa) Native Americans, who were

fishermen A fisher or fisherman is someone who captures fish and other animals from a body of water, or gathers shellfish. Worldwide, there are about 38 million commercial and subsistence fishers and fish farmers. Fishers may be professional or recreat ...

. The island supported a public school as late as 1936.Carl A. Norberg, "Lost Treasure of the Beaver Island Mormon Colony", Inland Seas 43:2 (Fall 1987), pages 188-93. However, fish yield in the Beaver Island archipelago began dropping sharply in the 1930s, and after the

Armistice Day Blizzard The Armistice Day Blizzard (or the Armistice Day Storm) took place in the Midwest region of the United States on November 11 (Armistice Day) and November 12, 1940. The intense early-season "''panhandle hook''" winter storm cut a 1,000-mile-wide (1 ...

of 1940, the remaining Odawa moved to Beaver Island. The DNR has a couple of abandoned cabins on the island that have not been used by the agency since at least 2008. The only remaining trail head that is not overgrown starts in close proximity to the cabins. The cabins are named alpha and omega. They are in disrepair. The roofs leak, the windows/doors are not completely intact. Research teams spent time in the cabins years ago and there are some old remnants of that habitation which includes propane lights and appliances, some miscellaneous food and survival items.Beaver Archipelago, Pt. 2: "A Cult Classic"
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Biology

High Island's Great Sand Bay, on the western side of the island, is one of the last suitable

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lakes ...

nesting sites for the Michigan-endangered

piping plover The piping plover (''Charadrius melodus'') is a small sand-colored, sparrow-sized shorebird that nests and feeds along coastal sand and gravel beaches in North America. The adult has yellow-orange-red legs, a black band across the forehead from e ...

. Many

tern Terns are seabirds in the family Laridae that have a worldwide distribution and are normally found near the sea, rivers, or wetlands. Terns are treated as a subgroup of the family Laridae which includes gulls and skimmers and consists of e ...

s breed on a sandspit on the northeast corner of the island.

Folklore

The royal treasury of the ''Kingdom of Beaver Island'', ruled by

James Jesse Strang James Jesse Strang (March 21, 1813 – July 9, 1856) was an American religious leader, politician and self-proclaimed monarch. In 1844 he claimed to have been appointed to be the successor of Joseph Smith as leader of the Church of Jesus Christ ...

from 1850 until he was shot in June 1856, is thought by some to have been secreted on High Island. After Strang was badly wounded by an assassin, he was taken to Wisconsin for medical treatment, and it is thought that one of Strang's followers secreted the treasure at that time. Strang's care was not successful, and the crowned king of Beaver Island died of his wounds. The treasure is said to have been buried 30 paces from a "large tree", easily noticeable in 1856 from its prominent location overlooking the island's northeast harbor. High Island was logged shortly after this 1856 incident, thereby removing a landmark vital to the recovery of the alleged treasure. As of 1987 the treasure had not been recovered.

References

Resources

Ramon Nelson's illustrated history book "Island Life, Island Toil: The House of David on High Island" (Sarah Jennings Press, 1990) provides some insights into House of David life on High Island.

External links

High Island
Michigan DNR {{Authority control Protected areas of Charlevoix County, Michigan Uninhabited islands of Michigan Islands of Lake Michigan in Michigan Islands of Charlevoix County, Michigan