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- Beaver Island History Map, 1978 revision
Summary
Peiffer’s Orchard was a Beaver Island fruit farm associated in contemporary newspapers with J. J. or John Peffer/Peiffer of Lake Linden. The first located notice dates to July 1914, followed by references in 1915, 1918, and 1923. Those reports independently establish the orchard well before the 1978 Historical Map’s claim that production began in 1919.1
The name’s spelling is unstable across the evidence. The map uses Peiffer, the newspapers use Peffer and Peiffer, and a later BeaverIsland.Net account uses Pfeiffer and Pfieffer. This article uses the map’s form in the title while retaining the variants rather than treating one as a proven legal spelling.
Later orchard tradition
BeaverIsland.Net places an extensive orchard about a mile east of East Side Drive near Kilty Point. It recalls Sybil Larsen riding with her husband “Big Art” to collect apples at the Nomad dock, and says the orchard’s owner followed Michigan Agricultural College advice that killed many trees and reduced the rest’s yield.2 That is a valuable local-history account, but it gives no date, correspondence, spray formula, experimental report, or orchard ledger.
The Historical Map goes further, calling the property a $55,000 apple farm that produced from 1919 until “ruined by a spray.”3 No independent source located in this audit supports the valuation or that compressed causal chronology. The contemporary 1914 notice directly contradicts 1919 as the farm’s beginning.
Open questions
- What legal spelling appears in John Peiffer’s deeds, census, probate, and tax records?
- Was $55,000 a purchase price, investment, assessed value, or later estimate?
- Do Michigan Agricultural College extension files preserve the advice, chemical, date, or resulting damage?
- Can a plat or deed locate the orchard without deriving coordinates from the Historical Map alone?
See also
Footnotes
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
- Charlevoix Sentinel, July 23, 1914, “Beaver Island News.”Contemporary notice says J. J. Peffer of Lake Linden returned home after several weeks visiting his Beaver Island fruit farm. It proves the farm existed by 1914 but gives no acreage, orchard inventory, value, or exact site. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
- Charlevoix Sentinel, August 26, 1915, Beaver Island local notice.Contemporary notice says John J. Peffer of Lake Linden was on his fruit farm. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
- Charlevoix Sentinel, June 20, 1918, Beaver Island local notice.Contemporary notice calls J. J. Peffer of East Linden the visitor attending his fruit farm. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
- Charlevoix Sentinel, June 28, 1923, Beaver Island local notice.Contemporary notice uses the spelling John Peiffer and says he spent several days looking after his fruit farm. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
- Described in this archive: Beaver Island Net, “Pfeiffer’s Orchard”.Later account places the extensive orchard one mile east of East Side Drive near Kilty Point, recalls apples moved through the Nomad dock, and attributes tree death and reduced yield to advice from Michigan Agricultural College. It gives no dates, valuation, orchard inventory, or underlying record.
- Described in this archive: Beaver Island History Map, 1978 revision.Labels “Peiffer’s Orchard” and calls it a $55,000 apple farm producing from 1919 until ruined by spray. The 1919 start conflicts with contemporary fruit-farm notices beginning in 1914; the valuation and spray chronology remain unverified.
Added 7 August 2026. Recent changes
Cite this article
Beaver Island Archive, “Peiffer's Orchard”, https://beaverislandarchive.org/places/peiffers-orchard/, accessed [date], citing Charlevoix Sentinel, July 23, 1914, “Beaver Island News.” (and 5 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.