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Cemetery

Garden Island Indian Cemetery

Also Garden Island Cemetery · 20CX12

Draft — sources verified, prose evolving

Locator map: Garden Island highlighted within the Beaver Island archipelago
Within Garden IslandLocator plate © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL 1.0); depths NOAA; names USGS GNIS. How the plates are drawn.
TypeCemetery
Coordinates45.8034° N, 85.5074° WGoogle MapsDownload KML
WithinGarden Island
ErasIndigenous eraModern era
On this page
Locator map: Garden Island highlighted within the Beaver Island archipelago
Within Garden IslandLocator plate © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL 1.0); depths NOAA; names USGS GNIS. How the plates are drawn.
CemeteryNRHP 78001494
Coordinates
45.8034° N, 85.5074° WGoogle MapsDownload KML
Eras
Indigenous eraModern era
Concepts
heritageIndigenous eraModern era
Within
Garden Island

Summary

The Garden Island Indian Cemetery is a burial and archaeological resource on Garden Island, also identified as archaeological site 20CX12. It was listed in the National Register of Historic Places under reference 78001494 in 1978. The National Register finding aid establishes the listing, but the nomination text, exact boundary, burial count and chronology have not yet been located; those details should not be inferred from later summaries.

The listing’s reported historic context is Indigenous/Aboriginal, with a period of significance spanning 1850-1949. That designation is a statement about the resource’s evaluated significance, not a claim that the cemetery was founded in 1850 or that all burials fall within that period. Its relationship to the Anishinaabe community documented elsewhere in the archive is clear at the level of place and cultural history, while specific cultural-affiliation and archaeological claims require the nomination and consultation records.

Open questions

  • Acquire and ingest the National Register nomination and any Michigan SHPO archaeological documentation.
  • Confirm the cemetery’s mapped boundary and relationship to the state-managed Garden Island parcel.
  • Determine whether a current tribal, state or local source documents continued use, stewardship, access protocols or the number of marked and unmarked graves.

See also

Sources

  1. A visitor reported reaching the cemetery by boat and short hike with Island Hopper Charters, seeing marked and unmarked graves, and being told that thousands were buried there; the post also mentions more recent spirit houses and offerings. This is visitor testimony and hearsay, not a burial inventory, archaeological survey, or access authorization.
    forum · www.beaverislandforum.com · 00 · t000181
  2. Current mapped cemetery polygon used as the representative point; the polygon is not a surveyed historical boundary and the source record does not establish that every historic burial area is included.
    osm · cemeteries
  3. PIN 013-202-006-00 is a 40.1-acre exempt Garden Island parcel owned by MINISS KITIGAN DRUM INC. Its representative point lies near the mapped cemetery polygon and provides current parcel context, but does not prove that the parcel contains the full historic cemetery or establish a surveyed boundary.
    county · charlevoix · parcels_arcgis · 2026-08-01 · island_parcel_attributes
  4. Official finding-aid entry confirms the resource name and National Register reference; the nomination text and exact location have not been located.
  5. Convenience index used to record the listed resource's reported areas of significance, historic function and periods of significance; verify against the official nomination when acquired.
  6. Places Garden Island's surviving structures and Indigenous settlement history in the island-management context, but does not supply the cemetery nomination.
    internet_archive · beaver-island-master-plan-20231113
  7. Local visit describes the Indian burial ground, moss-covered wooden spirit houses, a latest grave dated 1938, the nearby Indian Village and school/church remains. It is an eyewitness travel account from 1965, not an archaeological survey.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1965-07_Beaver-Beacon
  8. The held six-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice or report; it does not expand the source-specific identity, event, or outcome claims.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1965-07_Beaver-Beacon

Added 31 July 2026 · revised 6 August 2026. Recent changes

Cite this article

Beaver Island Archive, “Garden Island Indian Cemetery”, https://beaverislandarchive.org/structures/garden-island-indian-cemetery/, accessed [date], citing Chris, “Garden Island Native American Cemetery,” Beaver Island Forum, July 28–August 3, 2004. (and 7 further sources listed on the page).

Last revised 2026-08-06. Fill in [date] with the date you read it — this page is static and cannot know that.

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