Madeline Island Ferry and La Pointe

To the Ojibwe, or Anishinaabe, Madeline Island is a place of profound significance. In their migration story, told across generations, their ancestors were guided westward from the Atlantic to the place where food grows on the water, the wild rice country of the western Great Lakes, and Madeline Island, which they call Mooningwanekaaning, became a central gathering place and spiritual home.

That significance is not confined to the past. The Ojibwe remain present throughout this region, with the Bad River and Red Cliff bands' reservations nearby along the mainland shore, and the island continues to hold deep meaning in their history and identity. Visitors are guests on ground that is sacred to a living people, and understanding that is part of any respectful visit.

The island village of La Pointe grew into one of the great crossroads of the North American fur trade. For generations, French and later British and American traders came to this sheltered harbor to exchange goods for furs, working closely with, and often intermarrying with, the Ojibwe who controlled the trade. A trading post and mission made La Pointe a hub of commerce and cultural exchange in the western Great Lakes.

Today La Pointe is a small, walkable village with a museum that tells the layered story of the island, from Ojibwe heritage through the fur-trade era and the later days of logging and summer resorts. It retains the feel of an old lake community, its history close to the surface in its old buildings, cemetery, and quiet streets.

The ferry from Bayfield is the island's lifeline and a pleasure in its own right. The crossing is short but gives travelers a taste of Lake Superior, the cold clean air, the wide water, and the low green profile of the islands, and cars, bikes, and walkers all make the trip. Reaching an island by boat sets the tone for the slower, water-bound pace that defines Madeline.

In the warmer months the ferry runs across open water. In the depth of winter, when the channel freezes solid enough, an ice road has traditionally been plowed across the ice instead, a remarkable seasonal link that turns the lake itself into a highway, though shifting conditions and warming winters make it less certain than it once was. Between freeze and thaw, other means may bridge the gap.

Madeline Island is the largest and only inhabited member of the Apostle Islands, a cluster of some two dozen isles, most of them protected within the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. The islands are famous for their sandstone sea caves, old lighthouses, and wild forested shores, and Madeline offers its own share, most notably at Big Bay State Park, with its sandy beach and carved sandstone shoreline.

The island rewards a slow visit: a walk on Big Bay's beach, a wander through La Pointe's history, a quiet look across the water to the other islands. Paired with the mainland town of Bayfield and the wider national lakeshore, Madeline Island anchors one of the most beautiful and storied corners of the Great Lakes.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.