We turn now to a little-known and absolutely fascinating slice of Michigan history: Beaver Island.
It's a fairly remote island, plunked right there in the middle of northern Lake Michigan. Take a ferry northwest from Charlevoix, and you're there.
Fewer than 500 people live on Beaver Island year-round. A lot of them are descendants from Irish fishermen who fled the famine and troubles in 19th-century Ireland, and wound up on Beaver Island.
That's part of the fascinating history of Beaver Island. Later, years after settlement, one Mormon on the island proclaimed himself "King" of Beaver Island!
But how did Irish emigrants find their way to this island in Lake Michigan? And who was the island’s self-proclaimed king?
Listen to the full interview above.
