Drummond Island: a border story and a rare alvar

At the far eastern tip of the Upper Peninsula, Drummond Island sits across a narrow channel from DeTour Village. The public ferry takes about ten minutes, which makes the island feel remote without making it especially hard to reach.

After the War of 1812, a British garrison moved from Mackinac Island to Drummond while surveyors and commissioners worked out the border. The British built a fort and town there. The commission eventually placed the international boundary east of Drummond, but the garrison did not leave until 1828. The U.S. Army then took possession, though it did not occupy the old town. That is the solid version of the island’s “British holdout” story: a border question that took years to settle.

Then there is the ground itself. An alvar is an open natural community where grasses, sedges, and herbs grow in cracks or a very thin layer of soil over exposed limestone. Michigan DNR calls alvar one of the state’s rarest natural communities and says the Drummond Island examples are the largest remaining high-quality alvars in North America. Maxton Plains also supports 10 Michigan state-rare plants. It is a genuine distinction, and a better reason to remember the island than an unsourced size ranking.