Beaver Island ArchiveA primary-source archive & encyclopedia45°40′N 85°33′W · Lake Michigan
Search

Place

Cross's Landing

Draft — sources verified, prose evolving

TypePlace
WithinBeaver Island
ErasModern era
On this page
Place
Eras
Modern era
Concepts
maritimetoponymyheritagegeography
Within
Beaver Island
Media
Beaver Island History Map, 1978 revision

Summary

Cross’s Landing is a locally named place on Beaver Island’s northwest Lake Michigan shore, between Indian Point and Donegal Bay. The 1978 Historical Map labels it, and a February 2003 Beaver Beacon aerial-photo spread independently repeats the name over 1999 USGS imagery. A 2025 property advertisement still uses Cross’s Landing as a local locator.

The sources establish continuity of the place name, not a surviving dock, formal harbor, parcel, or precisely surveyed point. No person named Cross has yet been tied to its origin.

Evidence limits

The 1978 and 2003 sources are retrospective local cartography. Their similar placement makes the northwest-shore identification probable, but one may have drawn on the same community tradition as the other. The modern advertisement confirms intelligible current usage while adding no historical construction or ownership evidence. Coordinates remain unset rather than being estimated from an illustrated map.

Open questions

  • Which Cross family or individual gave the landing its name?
  • Was it a built dock, a beach landing, a fishing station, or a neighborhood name?
  • Do deeds, plats, navigation charts, photographs, or oral histories identify its point and operating period?
  • Are any physical remains present, and if so have they been documented with landowner and cultural-resource safeguards?

See also

Maps for this place

These Atlas plates provide regional context. They do not establish a precise boundary, current ownership, access right, operating status, or field condition.

  • EnvironmentSoils, wetlands, hydrography, and terrain
  • GeologyGeneralized geology and landforms
  • HydrologyMapped water and wetland context
  • AccessMapped routes, facilities, and protected areas
  • Land surveyPLSS geometry and historic GLO patent-location context

Sources

  1. Described in this archive: Beaver Island History Map, 1978 revision.
    Labels Cross’s Landing on the island’s northwest Lake Michigan shore, south of Indian Point and north of Donegal Bay. It provides no date, owner, function, boundary, or source citation.
  2. Labels Cross’s Landing on the northwest coast in a local annotation layer over 1999 USGS aerial photography. This independently supports continued local use of the name, but the label has no surveyed point or historical explanation.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 2003-02_Beaver-Beacon
  3. Northern Light, March 2025, west-shore real-estate advertisement.
    Describes a northwest-island Lake Michigan property as “right at Cross’s Landing,” with views toward High and Trout Islands. This supports modern place-name continuity, not the location or survival of a historic landing structure. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
    charlevoix · northern_light_2025.03

Added 7 August 2026. Recent changes

Cite this article

Beaver Island Archive, “Cross's Landing”, https://beaverislandarchive.org/places/cross-s-landing/, accessed [date], citing Beaver Island Historical Society, Beaver Island History Map, 1978 revision. (and 2 further sources listed on the page).

Last revised 2026-08-07. Fill in [date] with the date you read it — this page is static and cannot know that.

BibTeXRIS