- Intersects
- South French Bay Road · West Side Drive · West Side Road
- Coordinates
- 45.6061° N, 85.6021° WGoogle Maps: North French Bay RoadDownload KML
- Eras
- Modern era
- Concepts
- transportationtoponymy
- Within
- Beaver Island archipelago
Summary
North French Bay Road is a named road on Beaver Island’s current OpenStreetMap
map. The four held ways carrying that name are merged here into one route
geometry of about 2.5 km. It meets three other named roads, listed under
intersects_road.
Evidence and limits
The name and the alignment are what mappers last entered, and OpenStreetMap is
volunteered work rather than a survey: it settles neither the right-of-way nor
who maintains the road. Where the name came from is a separate question. Plats,
road-commission minutes, and island memory answer that one. Put an older
spelling from any of them into alt_names or former_names, with the source
that attests it.
Documented associations
These source-backed records provide context for the mapped route:
- Central Michigan University Biological Station — Central Michigan University’s Beaver Island Biological Station is a field station of the university’s Biology Department, first attested under that name in a February 1967 grant notice and continuously documented in the Beaver Beacon into the 2000s. It grew out of the university’s 1959-1960 Sand Bay building program…
Research status
The local newspaper and website corpus contains exact-name mentions in 0 file(s). Those files are research leads; the relation layer is added only when the surrounding source text establishes that the record involves this road.
Map status
The displayed line is current OSM road geometry retrieved 2026-08-01. The 2015 trail map confirms the route’s role as trail access but does not add a separate footpath line. Pending update: add any distinct hiking alignment when a current official or field track is available.
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
- The legend lists North French Bay Rd as a road/trail access route; the OSM geometry below is the current road map, not a hiking-trail boundary.
- Current mapped road name 'North French Bay Road'; grouped OSM way ids: 1205118549, 1205118561, 17756703, 265424699. This is a volunteered map record, not a surveyed right-of-way or proof of historical naming.osm · roads
Added 2 August 2026. Recent changes
Cite this article
Beaver Island Archive, “North French Bay Road”, https://beaverislandarchive.org/places/north-french-bay-road/, accessed [date], citing Beaver Island trails map, revised October 2015. (and 1 further source listed on the page).
Last revised 2026-08-02. Fill in [date] with the date you read it — this page is static and cannot know that.
BibTeX for “North French Bay Road”RIS for “North French Bay Road”