Harsens Island and the St. Clair Flats

Where the St. Clair River fans out into Lake St. Clair, it drops everything it’s been carrying and spreads into a maze of channels, marshes, and low green islands. This is the St. Clair Flats, the largest freshwater delta in the country, and sitting in the middle of it is Harsens Island.

You get there by ferry, a short ride across the channel that’s been running since the early 1900s, because there’s no bridge. On the island you’ll find a small year-round community that swells every summer, with cottages tucked along so many canals that people have long called it the Venice of Michigan. A century ago, wealthy Detroiters came by steamboat to hunt ducks, dance at the pavilions, and escape the city heat, and the island still carries that old-resort feeling.

It’s a remarkable spot for the outdoors. The marshes draw waterfowl, anglers, kayakers, and birdwatchers, and the island sits right on a major shipping lane, so you can stand at the water’s edge and watch thousand-foot freighters glide past close enough to wave at the crew. It’s one of the most unusual corners of Michigan, half wild delta and half quiet island town.