I admit I copied the text below from Wikipedia but I thought you would like to know some of the history of the island. We would take drives around it when I was a kid. Recently Tom, Jennie and Meghan and I went to the Conservatory - if you get a chance it is well worth the visit.
I remembered looking wistfully at the river when we would drive around, this time I was wistfully looking at the island and many memories.
Belle Isle is a 982-acre (1.534 sq mi; 397 ha) island park in the Detroit River, between the United States mainland and Canada, managed by theDetroit Recreation Department. It is connected to the rest of Detroit, Michigan by the MacArthur Bridge. It is the largest island city park in the United States and the third largest island in the Detroit River after Grosse Ile and Fighting Island.
It is home to the Anna Scripps Whitcomb Conservatory (1904), the Detroit Yacht Club on an adjacent island, the Detroit Boat Club, James Scott Memorial Fountain, the Dossin Great Lakes Museum, a Coast Guard station, and a municipal golf facility. The city maintains a Nature Center where visitors are able to traverse wooded trails and view wildlife natural habitats. The island includes a half-mile (800 m) swimming beach.
The island was settled by French colonists in the 18th century, who named it Île aux Cochons (Hog Island). The Island was once the estate of General Alexander Macomb, Jr., whose monument stands in the Washington Boulevard Historic District. In 1845 it was given its present name. It was named in honor of the Count of Belle Isle, physician in the party of Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac who founded Fort Ponchatrain in 1701.
A design for the island was created in the 1880s by Frederick Law Olmsted, a prominent urban park designer; only some elements of his design were carried out. The 1908 Belle Isle Casino building is not an actual gambling facility but rather, is used for occasional public events. A highlight of Belle Isle is a beautiful botanical garden and the Anna Scripps Whitcomb Conservatory (1904). Both the conservatory and the adjacent aquarium were designed by Detroit architect Albert Kahn, who designed city landmarks such as Cadillac Place and the Ford Rouge Factory.
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| It was still very misty, rainy when we approached the fork in the river that led around the Island |
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| you can understand why we took the far side channel - cool hand would never had made it under this bridge |
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