Big Bay de Noc is a bay in the
Upper Peninsula of the
U.S. state of
Michigan. The bay, which opens into
Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that o ...
's
Green Bay, is enclosed by
Delta County. The
Garden Peninsula
The Garden Peninsula is a peninsula of in length that extends southwestward into Lake Michigan from the mainland of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The peninsula is bordered by Lake Michigan on the east, and by Big Bay de Noc on the west. The base ...
is on the east side of the bay and the
Stonington Peninsula Stonington may refer to:
Places
;Antarctica
*Stonington Island, Marguerite Bay
;United States
* Stonington, Connecticut (town)
**Stonington (borough), Connecticut (incorporated borough)
*Stonington, Illinois
*Stonington, Indiana
* Stonington, Main ...
is on the west side. The small Delta County settlements of
Garden and
Nahma are harbors on the shore of the bay.
As with the more thickly-settled
Little Bay de Noc, the bay's name comes from the
Noquet (or ''Noc'')
Native American people (thought to have been related to the
Menominee of the
Algonquian language group), who once lived along the shores.
The bay is historically important for its 19th-century use as a center of the Lake Michigan
iron smelting industry. A former smelting complex has been preserved as
Fayette State Park. The state park's ''Snail Shell Harbor'', off Big Bay de Noc, offers a harbor of refuge for small boats and yachts.
A lighthouse, the
Peninsula Point Light, marks the entrance of the bay.
Climate
References
External links
Bays de Noc Convention and Visitors Bureau
{{Authority control
Bodies of water of Delta County, Michigan
Bays of Michigan
Bays of Lake Michigan