July 24 – 28

Our Stay at Drummond Island Yacht Haven

Size statistics of Drummond Island:

• Second largest freshwater island in the United States. The largest is Grand Island, New York.
• Seventh largest lake island in the world, with an area of 134 square miles (347 kilometers.)
• Third largest island in Lake Huron, behind Manitoulin and St. Joseph. We have travelled to both.
• Fifth largest island in the contiguous United States, behind Long Island, New York; Padre Island, Texas; Isle Royale, Michigan; and Widby Island, Washington.

On the east side of Drummond Island, the Canada-United States border passes through the Detour Channel. On the other side of that channel, the Canadian Cockburn Island separates Drummond from Manitoulin Island.

Drummond Island Yacht Haven is family owned. If an employee isn’t family, they are a friend of the family. As one boater put it, “there’s no shortage of employees at the marina. They are home grown.”  The boaters and employees indicate that in addition to the marina operation, the same family owns most of what is on the Island.

We realize just how small town the Island is from a conversation with McKenzie, a marina employee who fills up Sunshine’s fuel tank.

“McKenzie, where do you go to school?”

“I just graduated. Next year is college. I went to high school in Grand Rapids, where my grandparents on my dad’s side live.”

“How many in your graduating class?”

“600.”

How many in the graduating class of Drummond Island?”

“Six! That’s why I opted to go to Grand Rapids. Drummond High School just wasn’t my cup of tea. Plus, I play golf and wanted to get a scholarship.”

Two factors lead to the Island’s population of 1,058 people – transportation to and from, and no future land development. There are only two ways to the island – by boat or ferry. The Drummond Island Ferry runs hourly to and from the mainland, 365 days a year.

Over two-thirds of the island is owned and protected by the State of Michigan and will never be developed. Islanders will never have to worry about Drummond becoming like Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire. The state land protection is to conserve more than thirteen ecosystems on the island including six forest types, five swamp-marsh types, inland lakes and rivers, and cobble beaches. Another rare environment of the Island is known as alvar, a grassy limestone plain found only in a few places worldwide.

An alvar is a biological environment based on a limestone plane with thin or no soil and, as a result, sparse grassland vegetation. Often flooded in the spring, and affected by drought in midsummer, alvars support a distinctive group of prairie-like plants. Most alvars occur either in northern Europe or around the Great Lakes in North America. This stressed habitat supports a community of rare plants and animals, including species more commonly found on prairie grasslands. Lichen and mosses are common species.

Drummond Island Yacht Haven is Truly a Haven

The Yacht Haven is the biggest employer on the island, and rightfully so, with the varied operations at the facility. The marina accommodates 100 seasonal boats with room for 50 to 60 transients – maximum length, 120 feet: maximum draft,12 feet. The mooring options include fixed and floating finger docks, dockage alongside a pier and mooring buoys. The resort features one- to four-bedroom cottages, some beachside with limestone fireplaces. There is also a campground and an RV park.

A 75-ton marine Travelift can handle power and sailboats up to 80 feet in length. This marina had its share of huge boats. Some are from Grosse Pointe, an affluent suburb of Detroit. Trivia: three of the richest people in the world live in Grosse Pointe: Hank and Doug Meijer – Meijer Supermarkets – $8.3B; Richard DeVos – Amway – 6.8 B; Daniel Gilbert – Quicken Loans – $3.9B.

A 40-ton hydraulic trailer, winter storage (inside/heated/outside/shrink wrapping) and full repair services – with mechanics on staff – for hulls, engines, propellers, canvas, electrical systems and sails are available.

A large marina store on site caters to power- and sailboats and sells charts, marine hardware, rope, electronics, cleaning supplies, engine parts, gifts, water sports and safety equipment, nautical clothing, fishing tackle, and live bait. Scuba tanks can be refilled, and they rent boats, wave runners, and stand-up paddle boards. There is a customs check-in office, and RV and camping lots.

Why the Name ‘Drummond?’

The township and island are named after Gordon Drummond, the first Canadian-born officer to command the military and the civil government of British Canada. As Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada, Drummond distinguished himself on the Niagara front in the War of 1812 and later became Governor-General and Administrator of Canada. The Ojibwe name for the island is Bootaagan-minising meaning “at the Mill Island.”  According to historians, Governor Drummond never even set foot on Drummond Island – he just named it.

History of Drummond Island The history of Drummond Island dates back centuries, but the more recent history of the past 200 years relates to the British occupation of the island during and after the War of

1812. The island was the last British outpost on American soil following the Treaty of Ghent (1814.)

British and American negotiators to the 1814 Treaty of Ghent ended the war of 1812 with no territorial concessions to either side. They returned instead to the boundaries set by the Treaty of Paris of 1783. To resolve territorial claims, negotiators at Ghent had land commissioners survey the boundary to determine the borders envisioned in the original treaty.

Based on these 1820 and 1821 surveys, and guided by the commission’s two principles that the boundary would not divide islands and that the number of islands would be apportioned equally between the two countries, in November and December 1821, commissioners agreed to grant St. Joseph Island and Cockburn Island to Canada and Drummond Island, which lies between them, to the United States.

On October 6, 1828, orders were sent out from Quebec that the post would be handed over, and the island was officially occupied by United States on November 14, 1828. Drummond Island is the only island in the Manitoulin Island chain which is part of the United States.

I have heard stories that the Canadian negotiator was inebriated when the boundaries for the three islands were determined, and that is why he conceded Drummond to the United States. I can’t find that in any research, so maybe it is just that – a story.

Puddingstones

Tourists enjoy looking for fossils along the shores of the Great Lakes in northern Michigan. One such fossil is the Michigan Puddingstone. Drummond Island is often dubbed the “Gem of the Huron” in reference to this stone.

Puddingstones get their name from British settlers stationed at area Forts like Drummond who thought the rocks resemble boiled suet pudding with berries (or raisin or plum pudding.) A puddingstone is a conglomerate of pebbles and stones that vary in color, surrounded by white quartz that took millions – some say billions – of years to cement itself around these pebbles.

According to the Greater West Bloomfield Historical society, “During the Ice Age, they were pushed down through Eastern Michigan from Ontario Canada by the glaciers…..some may even contain fossils…..another name for puddingstone is quartz conglomerate.”

The different hues of red jasper pebbles were deposited in small parts over an east west band in Ontario. The white quartz can even look translucent.

Puddingstones can be found as small as a pebble or larger than a truck!

Puddingstones are featured in many of the Drummond Island local shops in the form of jewelry, bookends, coasters and more.

Seagulls and Birds

Drummond Island is ideal for bird watching, as it is home to a host of avian species including loons, grebes, waterfowls, and owls. The island has eight designated bird watching areas on the North Huron Birding Trail.

I continue to be fascinated with the many seagulls and Canadian geese we encounter. One morning I awaken to birds squawking. At first, I think it is the Canadian geese. The last time I heard such a morning commotion was in Rome, New York, on the Erie Canal, when the geese there were upset at a brown lab chasing them.

I remember seeing a German Shepherd roaming the deck of the boat across from our slip. Perhaps that Shepherd is upsetting the geese. I soon realize the culprits are not geese but seagulls.

Half asleep I look up at the hatch and see webbed feet and hear something flapping against the glass. I jump up and call Patrick who is in the salon. We look out and there is a seagull on top of the boat with a fish! Another seagull is fighting him for it.

The fish somehow lands on the gunwale of the boat and another seagull grabs it. They really must fight for their breakfast!

Summertime Jobs at a Marina

I sit in the marina office to write my blogs because the internet reception is better there. Listening to the banter of the teen employees is quite entertaining. I am impressed with their confidence and how they respond to the most disgruntled seafaring customers. Boaters can be an impatient bunch. I am one.

The young women are quite comfortable handling the boats as they help transient boaters into their slips or those coming in for fuel or a pump out. (Just as comfortable or maybe more so than the guys.) You’d be surprised how many boaters have trouble just docking at the fuel pump, especially with precarious winds. The dock hands exude the joys of summer with their carefree attitude, sun kissed hair and skin, tank tops and black lulu lemon shorts that barely cover their bottom. Now I sound like my mother.

Gay is the owner/manager of the marina and you can tell the kids respect and appreciate her. I think some of them are her grandchildren. A couple of the employees are most responsible, folding t-shirts and straightening things out in the store during idle times. I imagine these are the children of the owners. Other employees take their time and are a little more laid back and tentative with answers to questions. But then again maybe I just have a big imagination. I think of our four granddaughters and wonder if they will ever work in a marina.

In the evenings after closing time, we see the teenagers – six to ten of them – pile into a pontoon boat. We ask them later what they are up to. They say they get takeout food – burgers or pizza or Mexican – and go out to swim and hang out and take showers in the lake. They are all good friends and are going to miss each other when summer ends and they go their separate ways.

Oh, to be young again.

Here are more photos from Drummond Island:

Drummond Island Historical Museum

Boats at the marina