- Intersects
- North French Bay Road · West Side Drive
- Coordinates
- 45.5913° N, 85.6101° WGoogle Maps: South French Bay RoadDownload KML
- Eras
- Modern era
- Concepts
- transportationtoponymy
- Within
- Beaver Island archipelago
Summary
South French Bay Road is a named road on Beaver Island’s current OpenStreetMap
map. The three held ways carrying that name are merged here into one route
geometry of about 1.9 km. It meets two 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:
- Beaver Islands State Wildlife Research Area — Beaver Islands State Wildlife Research Area is a Michigan Department of Natural Resources public-land designation covering substantial state-managed land in the Beaver Island archipelago, dating from the 1970s. Local reporting places 9,195.5 acres of the Beaver Island portion within the 2024…
- Dan Boyle cabin — The remains of an old Dan Boyle cabin were described in a Beaver Island Net account reached by turning from West Side Road onto South French Bay Road. The account dates the cabin to 1886 and says that erosion had left no more than three logs standing at the bottom of the bluff. The map point marks the named road’s access setting, not the eroded cabin…
Research status
The local newspaper and website corpus contains exact-name mentions in 1 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 South 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 'South French Bay Road'; grouped OSM way ids: 1205118565, 17748375, 265424701. 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, “South French Bay Road”, https://beaverislandarchive.org/places/south-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 “South French Bay Road”RIS for “South French Bay Road”