The following is alist of islands of Michigan.Michigan has the second longest coastline of any state afterAlaska. Being bordered by four of the fiveGreat Lakes—Erie,Huron,Michigan, andSuperior—Michigan also has 64,980 inland lakes and ponds, as well as innumerable rivers, that may contain their own islands included in this list. The majority of the islands are within the Great Lakes. Other islands can also be found within other waterways of the Great Lake system, includingLake St. Clair,St. Clair River,Detroit River, andSt. Marys River.
The largest of all the islands isIsle Royale in Lake Superior, which, in addition to its waters and other surrounding islands, is organized asIsle Royale National Park. Isle Royale itself is 206 square miles (530 km2). The most populated island isGrosse Ile with approximately 10,000 residents, located in the Detroit River about 10 miles (16 kilometres) south ofDetroit. The majority of Michigan's islands are uninhabited and very small. Some of these otherwise unusable islands have been used for the large number ofMichigan's lighthouses to aid in shipping throughout the Great Lakes, while others have been set aside asnature reserves. Many islands in Michigan have the same name, even some that are in the same municipality and body of water, such as Gull, Long, or Round islands.
Lake Huron is the second largest of theGreat Lakes (afterLake Superior) with a surface area of 23,010 square miles (59,600 km2).Michigan is the only state to border Lake Huron, while the portion of the lake on the other side of theinternational border belongs to the province ofOntario. The vast majority of Michigan's islands in Lake Huron are centered aroundDrummond Island in the northernmost portion of the state's lake territory. Another large group of islands is theLes Cheneaux Islands archipelago, which itself contains dozens of small islands. Many of the lake's islands are very small and uninhabited.
As the most popular tourist destination in the state,Mackinac Island is the most well known of Lake Huron's islands. Drummond Island is the state's second-largest island (afterIsle Royale) and is the most populous of Michigan's islands in Lake Huron, with a population of 1,058 at the2010 census. While Mackinac Island had a population of 492, there are thousands more seasonal workers and tourists during the summer months.
Map this section's coordinates usingOpenStreetMapDownload coordinates asKML
Michigan only has islands inLake Michigan in the northern portion of the lake. There are no islands in the southern half of Lake Michigan. The largest and most populated of Michigan's islands in Lake Michigan isBeaver Island at 55.8 square miles (145 km2) and 551 residents. Some of the smaller islands surrounding Beaver Island are part of the largerMichigan Islands National Wildlife Refuge.
Map this section's coordinates usingOpenStreetMapDownload coordinates asKML
Lake Superior is the largest of the Great Lakes, and the coastline is sparsely populated. At 206 square miles (530 km2),Isle Royale is the largest Michigan island and is the center ofIsle Royale National Park, which itself contains over 450 islands. The following is a list of islands in Lake Superior that arenot part of Isle Royale National Park. For those islands, see thelist of islands in Isle Royale National Park.
Map this section's coordinates usingOpenStreetMapDownload coordinates asKML
Lake St. Clair connectsLake Huron andLake Erie through theSt. Clair River in the north and theDetroit River in the south. At 430 square miles (1,100 km2), it is one of the largest non-Great Lakes in the United States, but it only contains a small number of islands near the mouth of the St. Clair River, where all of the following islands are located. The largest of these islands isHarsens Island, and all the islands are inClay Township inSt. Clair County.
TheDetroit River runs for 24nautical miles (44 km; 28 mi) and connectsLake St. Clair toLake Erie. For its entire length, it carries theinternational border between the United States and Canada. Some islands belong toOntario in Canada and are not included in the list below. All islands on the American side belong toWayne County. Portions of the southern portion of the river serve as wildlife refuges as part of theDetroit River International Wildlife Refuge. The largest and most populous island isGrosse Ile. Most of the islands are around and closely connected to Grosse Ile.
Map this section's coordinates usingOpenStreetMapDownload coordinates asKML
Michigan has numerous inland lakes and rivers that also contain their own islands. The following also lists the body of water in which these islands are located. Five islands below (* and highlighted in green) are actually islands within an island; they are contained within inland lakes inIsle Royale.
Map this section's coordinates usingOpenStreetMapDownload coordinates asKML
Grand Lake is a large 8.8 square miles (23 km2) lake inPresque Isle County. While it is not the largest inland lake in Michigan, it does contain the most inland islands that are officially named. At its shortest distance, it is located less than one mile (1.6 kilometres) fromLake Huron, but the two are not connected. Grand Lake contains 14 islands, of which Grand Island is by far the largest.
Michigan
