Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume and depth after Lake Superior and the third-largest by surface area, after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that of Lake Huron through the wide and deep Straits of Mackinac, giving it the same surface elevation as its easterly counterpart; hydrologically, the two bodies are a single lake that is, by area, the largest freshwater lake in the world.
Charlevoix County is a county in the U.S. state of Michigan. The county seat is Charlevoix, and the largest city is Boyne City. Located in the Northern Lower Peninsula, Charlevoix County is bisected by Lake Charlevoix, Michigan's third largest inland lake. As of the 2020 census, the county's population was 26,054.
Boyne City is a city in Charlevoix County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 3,816 at the 2020 census, making it the largest city in Charlevoix County. Boyne City is located at the eastern end of Lake Charlevoix, Michigan's third largest inland lake. The city is also the site of the mouth of the Boyne River, named for the River Boyne in Leinster, Ireland.
Boyne Valley Township is a civil township of Charlevoix County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 1,425 at the 2020 census.
Charlevoix is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Charlevoix County. Part of Northern Michigan, Charlevoix is located on an isthmus between Lake Michigan and Lake Charlevoix, bisected by the short Pine River. Charlevoix serves as the main access point for Beaver Island, the largest island in Lake Michigan, which can be accessed by Island Airways or carferry. The population of Charlevoix was 2,348 at the 2020 census. Charlevoix is mostly surrounded by Charlevoix Township, but the two are administered autonomously.
South Manitou Island is located in Lake Michigan, approximately 16 miles (26 km) west of Leland, Michigan. It is part of Leelanau County and the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. The uninhabited island is 8.277 sq mi (21.44 km2) in land area and can be accessed by a ferry service from Leland. Guided tours on open-air vehicles are available to visitors, but most traffic is on foot. Larger North Manitou Island lies to its north.
Northern Michigan is a region of the U.S. state of Michigan. The region, which is distinct from the more northerly Upper Peninsula and Isle Royale, which are also located in the north of the state, is bounded to the west by Lake Michigan, and to the east by Lake Huron. The Upper Peninsula is accessible from the region via the Mackinac Bridge. While the region's southern boundary is not precisely defined, most definitions include the northernmost 21 counties of the Lower Peninsula, which had a population of 506,658 people at the 2020 census. Its largest cities are Traverse City, Cadillac, Alpena, Ludington, Manistee, and Petoskey.
The USCGC Acacia (WAGL-406/WLB-406) is an Iris-class 180-foot seagoing buoy tender operated by the United States Coast Guard. Acacia was a multi-purpose vessel, nominally a buoy tender, but with equipment and capabilities for ice breaking, search and rescue, fire fighting, logistics, oil spill response, and other tasks as well. She spent almost all of her 62-year Coast Guard career on the Great Lakes. After decommissioning she became a museum ship in Manistee, Michigan.
The Boyne City Railroad was a railway based at Boyne City, Michigan, U.S., during 1893–1978.
The United States Lighthouse Tender Warrington was a lighthouse tender which served on the Great Lakes. She was built in 1868, and began life as the freighter Henry Warrington. Rechristened Warrington, she began government service in 1870. She participated in the construction and maintenance of a number of significant lighthouses and other aids to navigation over a 40-year career with the U.S. Lighthouse Service. At the end of her government service, she was sold to a commercial shipping company and wrecked in 1911.
The history of commercial passenger shipping on the Great Lakes is long but uneven. It reached its zenith between the mid-19th century and the 1950s. As early as 1844, palace steamers carried passengers and cargo around the Great Lakes. By 1900, fleets of relatively luxurious passenger steamers plied the waters of the lower lakes, especially the major industrial centres of Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit, Cleveland, Buffalo, and Toronto.
South Manitou Island Lighthouse is located on South Manitou Island in Lake Michigan, 16 miles (26 km) west of Leland, Michigan. It is in Leelanau County in western Northern Michigan.
SS Myron was a wooden steamship built in 1888. She spent her 31-year career as lumber hooker, towing schooner barges on the Great Lakes. She sank in 1919, in a Lake Superior November gale. All of her 17 crew members were killed but her captain survived. He was found drifting on wreckage near Ile Parisienne. Her tow, the Miztec, survived. Myron defied the adage that Lake Superior "seldom gives up her dead" when all 17 crewmembers were found frozen to death wearing their life jackets. Local residents chopped eight of Myron's sailors from the ice on the shore of Whitefish Bay and buried them at the Mission Hill Cemetery in Bay Mills Township, Michigan.
The SS Francis Hinton was a wooden-hulled steam barge that sank in a gale off the coast of Manitowoc, Wisconsin, on Lake Michigan in 1909 while heavily laden with a cargo of lumber. On December 16, 1996, the wreck of the Francis Hinton was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
SS S.C. Baldwin was a wooden-hulled steam barge built in 1871, that capsized in a storm on August 26, 1908, on Lake Michigan, off Two Rivers, Wisconsin, United States, with the loss of one life. On August 22, 2016 the remnants of S.C. Baldwin were listed in the National Register of Historic Places as reference number 16000565.
The SS J.M. Allmendinger was a wooden-hulled steam barge built in 1883, that ran aground during a storm on November 26, 1895, on Lake Michigan, off the coast of Mequon, Ozaukee County, Wisconsin, United States. On October 11, 2018, the remains of J.M. Allmendinger were listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Robert C. Pringle, originally named Chequamegon, was a wooden-hulled American tugboat that sank without loss of life on Lake Michigan, near Sheboygan, Wisconsin, on June 19, 1922, after striking an obstruction.
SS John Mitchell was a steel-hulled, American lake freighter in service between 1907 and 1911. She was built in 1906 by the Great Lakes Engineering Works in St. Clair, Michigan, for the Cornell Steamship Company of Chicago, Illinois, which was managed by C.W. Elphicke. She entered service in 1907, and had a sister ship named William B. Davock. Throughout her career, John Mitchell carried iron ore and coal. On October 4, 1908, she ran aground at Indiana Harbor, Indiana, while loaded with iron ore.
SS Milwaukee was a wooden-hulled American steam barge in service between 1866 and 1886. Originally a canaller, she was built in 1868 in Ogdensburg, New York, by A.C. Keating, for the Northern Transportation Company of Cleveland, Ohio. Designed with the explicit purpose to traverse the locks of the Welland Canal, Milwaukee spent her early career shuttling cargo between Ogdensburg, and Chicago, Illinois, while routinely making several stops in between. She was sold several times, and was involved in multiple accidents between 1868 and 1883. In early 1883, she was sold to lumberman Lyman G. Mason of Muskegon, Michigan, who had her reconstructed as a steam barge for the transport of lumber to Chicago.
Walter L. Frost was a wooden steamer ship that operated on the Great Lakes in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Constructed in 1883 by the Detroit Dry Dock Company, the ship met its end in 1903 after running aground on South Manitou Island in Lake Michigan during dense fog. The wreck is a popular dive site within the Manitou Passage Underwater Preserve.
