Iyopawa Island is an island in Coldwater Lake in

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 ...

, United States. It is the only island in Branch County. Its coordinates are , and the

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...

gave its elevation as in 1980. It is connected to the mainland by a

land bridge In biogeography, a land bridge is an isthmus or wider land connection between otherwise separate areas, over which animals and plants are able to cross and Colonisation (biology), colonize new lands. A land bridge can be created by marine regre ...

, and accessible via Iyopawa Road (off Old 27). The island contains a nine-hole

golf course A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". Th ...

, surrounded by homes and

cottage A cottage, during Feudalism in England, England's feudal period, was the holding by a cottager (known as a Cotter (farmer), cotter or ''bordar'') of a small house with enough garden to feed a family and in return for the cottage, the cottager ...

History

Iyopawa Island was "famous in Indian lore as the battleground of the Pottawatomies". Later, fruit was farmed on the island. By the 1920s, it was owned by Daniel W. Weage, who used it to grow

peonies The peony or paeony is a flowering plant in the genus ''Paeonia'' , the only genus in the family Paeoniaceae . Peonies are native to Asia, Europe and Western North America. Scientists differ on the number of species that can be distinguished, ...

. His "mammoth" farm was one of the largest in the United States; it attracted "thousands of persons from all parts of the country", and was frequently visited by garden clubs from Michigan. It was connected to the mainland by a land bridge constructed in 1929, by which point a 9-hole golf course was already in operation on the island. By 1940, the ''

Battle Creek Enquirer The ''Battle Creek Enquirer'' is a daily newspaper in Battle Creek, Michigan. The newspaper, owned by the Gannett, is the only daily paper serving Calhoun County, Michigan and parts of four neighboring counties. In the late 1950s, the ''Enquirer' ...

'' mentioned that it had as many as 50 summer residents. In 1949, the golf course was purchased by Barbara H. Stukey and her husband, who sold it to an Indiana real estate company in 1966. The course was later operated by Annabelle Davis. In 1987, it was purchased by Mark E. Taylor, who sold it in 1995 to the Iyopawa Island Preservation Association, at which point Dana Tribble and his family began to lease the land. While conditions on the course degraded over the period of Taylor's ownership, the Tribbles' ownership increased its popularity greatly, and by 1996 it was described as having "some of the nicest greens in the area". In 2002, the ''

'' wrongly claimed that the golf course was opened "around 1950". The golf course has nine holes, three sand traps, and has been described as "fairly flat, open and short" in 1996. Despite being on an island, the course has no

water hazard A hazard is an area of a golf course in the sport of golf which provides a difficult obstacle, which may be of two types: (1) water hazards such as lakes and rivers; and (2) man-made hazards such as bunkers. The governing body for the game of ...

s. The course has three sets of tees.

References

{{Reflist, refs= {{cite news , url = https://www.newspapers.com/clip/85559461/joining-of-lakes-and-bridging-of-iyopawa/ , date = 1929-09-20 , page = 7 , title = Channel Joins 5 Branch Lakes , newspaper = The Unionville Crescent , location = Unionville, Michigan {{cite news , url = https://www.newspapers.com/clip/85560036/obituary-of-daniel-w-weage-former-owne/ , date = 1932-11-03 , page = 15 , title = Branch Peony Farm Owner Dead Today , newspaper = Battle Creek Enquirer , location = Battle Creek, Michigan {{cite news , url = https://www.newspapers.com/clip/85560167/coldwater-board-re-elects-county-warden/ , date = 1940-04-12 , page = 11 , title = Coldwater: Board re-elects county warden , newspaper = Battle Creek Enquirer , location = Battle Creek, Michigan {{cite news , url = https://www.newspapers.com/clip/85560450/barbara-h-stukey-coldwater-woman-had-o/ , date = 1989-11-18 , page = 4 , title = Barbara H. Stukey: Coldwater woman had owned golf course, hotel , newspaper = Battle Creek Enquirer , location = Battle Creek, Michigan {{cite news , url = https://www.newspapers.com/clip/85561733/you-wont-find-water-hazards-in-the-midd/ , date = 1996-09-01 , page = 31 , title = You won't find water hazards in the middle of this lake , newspaper = Battle Creek Enquirer , location = Battle Creek, Michigan {{cite news , url = https://www.newspapers.com/clip/85560836/mark-e-taylor-coldwater/ , date = 1998-04-09 , page = 4 , title = Mark E. Taylor, Coldwater , newspaper = Battle Creek Enquirer , location = Battle Creek, Michigan {{cite news , url = https://www.newspapers.com/clip/85561222/iyopawa-island-golf-club/ , date = 2002-04-28 , page = 110 , title = Iyopawa Island Golf Club , newspaper = Battle Creek Enquirer , location = Battle Creek, Michigan {{cite news , url = https://www.newspapers.com/clip/85560747/annabelle-davis-78/ , date = 2004-05-07 , page = 10 , title = Annabelle Davis, 78 , newspaper = Journal and Courier , location = Lafayette, Indiana {{cite web , url = https://www.coldwatercountry.com/member-detail/iyopawa-island-golf-course/ , website = Coldwater Country , title = Iyopawa Island Golf Course , access-date = 2021-09-18 {{cite book , isbn = 0-7385-3325-4 , title = Coldwater , last1 = Hazelbaker , first1 = Randall , year = 2004 {{Gnis, 629152, Iyopawa Island Landforms of Branch County, Michigan