- Date
- 1983-07-04
- Kind
- Disaster
- Where
- Barney’s Lake
- Carried out by
- Beaver Island Volunteer Fire Department
- Eras
- Modern era
- Concepts
- fireheritageenvironmentcommunitycommunication
- Within
- Beaver Island
Summary
The abandoned O’Donnell House at Barney’s Lake, described by the August 1983 Beaver Beacon as a longtime island landmark and wildlife shelter, burned on July 4. The Fire Department prevented the fire from spreading into the surrounding field and orchard, but the house was lost.
Evidence limits
The source is a newspaper account and local recollection; it does not establish the fire’s cause, the structure’s ownership, or a complete architectural history.
Sources
- Reports that the abandoned O'Donnell House at Barney's Lake, a longtime landmark and wildlife shelter, caught fire on July 4; the Fire Department could not save it but kept the fire from spreading to the field and orchard. The report says the fire appeared to begin on the second floor and spread quickly, but provides no investigation, cause, damage assessment, deed, or complete history of the building. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1983-08_Beaver-Beacon
- The held eleven-page August issue PDF is paired with the canonical OCR source and confirms the landmark-fire report.data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1983-08_Beaver-Beacon
Added 4 August 2026. Recent changes
Cite this article
Beaver Island Archive, “Fire destroys the abandoned O'Donnell House at Barney's Lake, 1983”, https://beaverislandarchive.org/events/beaver-island-odonnell-house-fire-1983/, accessed [date], citing “Death of a Landmark,” Beaver Beacon, August 1983. (and 1 further source listed on the page).
Last revised 2026-08-04. Fill in [date] with the date you read it — this page is static and cannot know that.
BibTeX for “Fire destroys the abandoned O'Donnell House at Barney's Lake, 1983”RIS for “Fire destroys the abandoned O'Donnell House at Barney's Lake, 1983”