Lake Leelanau ( ) lies in the

Leelanau Peninsula The Leelanau Peninsula ( ) is a peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan that extends about from the western side of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan into Lake Michigan. Leelanau County encompasses the entire peninsula. It is often referred to as ...

of 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 ...

. The entire lake—which includes two bodies of water, usually referred to as ''North Lake Leelanau'' and ''South Lake Leelanau''—covers about and lies within

Leelanau County Leelanau may refer to a number of articles relating to the region of the northwestern Lower Peninsula of Michigan: Geography Settlements * Leelanau County, Michigan * Leelanau Township, Michigan * Lake Leelanau, Michigan Landforms * Lak ...

. The lake is also sometimes known as Carp Lake.

Location

Lake Leelanau connects on the northwest to the

Leland River The Leland River is a short river in the U.S. state of Michigan. Located in the unincorporated community of Leland, the river is longU.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed Nov ...

, which runs for one mile (1.6 km) to

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 ...

. Between North Lake Leelanau and South Lake Leelanau the water narrows for about a mile near the unincorporated community of

Lake Leelanau Lake Leelanau ( ) lies in the Leelanau Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. The entire lake—which includes two bodies of water, usually referred to as ''North Lake Leelanau'' and ''South Lake Leelanau''—covers about and lies within ...

. A bridge crosses the narrows on M-204. Just south of the bridge is Fountain Point, a historic and scenic landmark as well as a popular summer resort. On the southern end, South Lake Leelanau ends in a marshy area fed by several small creeks, and the waters access the community of

Cedar Cedar may refer to: Trees and plants *''Cedrus'', common English name cedar, an Old-World genus of coniferous trees in the plant family Pinaceae *Cedar (plant), a list of trees and plants known as cedar Places United States * Cedar, Arizona * ...

in Solon Township. Lake Leelanau runs through the middle of the Leelanau Peninsula; it is about at its widest. The south lake includes , the north lake includes , and the lakes have a total shoreline of about . The south lake has an average depth of , and a maximum depth of ; the north lake has an average depth of and a maximum depth of .

History

Indigenous people who first inhabited the area called this land "ke-ski-bi-ag," which means "narrow body of water,".

Henry Rowe Schoolcraft Henry Rowe Schoolcraft (March 28, 1793 – December 10, 1864) was an American geographer, geologist, and ethnologist, noted for his early studies of Native American cultures, as well as for his 1832 expedition to the source of the Mississippi R ...

, an Indigenous agent for the territory, was credited with formally naming the county, and was said to use ''Leelinau'' as a character in his writing. See

for a more complete discussion of the etymology of the name. Scholars have established, however, that ''Leelinau'' was first used as a pen name by Schoolcraft's wife Jane Johnston Schoolcraft in writings for

The Literary Voyager The ''Literary Voyager'', also known as The ''Muzzeniegun'' (Ojibwe for ‘book’, also spelled ''Muzzinyegun'') was a manuscript magazine produced by Henry Rowe Schoolcraft between December 1826 and April 1827, for a total of 16 issues. It is r ...

, a family magazine which she and her husband wrote together in the 1820s. Jane Johnston was of Ojibwa and Scots-Irish descent, and wrote in Ojibwe and English. While her writing was not published formally in her lifetime (except as Schoolcraft appropriated it under his own name), Jane Johnston Schoolcraft has been recognized as "the first Native American literary writer, the first known Indian woman writer, the first known Indian poet, the first known poet to write poems in a Native American language, and the first known American Indian to write out traditional Indian stories." In 2008 Jane Johnston Schoolcraft was inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame.Robert Dale Parker, ''Jane Johnston Schoolcraft''
, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, accessed 11 Dec 2008

References

External links

Fountain Point Resort website

Lake Leelanau Lake Association
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leelanau Lakes of Leelanau County, Michigan Lakes of Michigan

Location

History

See also

References

External links