Bete Grise

Bete Gris or Bete Grise in French means "Gray Beast" and is the name of a Northern Michigan beach and bay on Lake Superior, where the unique sand is said to contain properties which enable it to "sing" in situ when pressed down with the palm of your hand or "bark" when struck. When the sand is removed from this beautiful beach, it loses its musical properties.

Local legend says that the musical "voice" that emenates from the sand is that of a Native American maid who lost her lover to the Great Lakes and still calls to him from the shore with the aid of visitors who "play" the sand.

Local legend also says that the beach got its name due to sightings of a strange gray creature that roamed the area. Another local legend says that when the Native Americans burned off the blueberry bogs next to Bete Gris after the harvest, the smoke rolling across the bay looked like a gray beast.

Bete Gris beach is located off US 41, near the inland lake "Lac La Belle," on the Keweenaw Peninsula of Northern Michigan.

The Northern half of the beach is easily accessible by paved road. The Southern half the beach, Bete Grise South, is most easily reached by boat and is part of a designated wild life refuge. The Beach is bi-sected by the dredged Mendota boat channel. The historic Mendota Light House is restored in private hands on Bete Gris South.

Bete Grise Bay is also a designated "Harbor of Refuge" on Lake Superior by the US Coast Guard.

source text: "Weird Michigan" by Linda S. Godfrey, Sterling Publishing Co., Inc. (2006)